Summit on mental health in journalism a big, global first
October 8-10: News industry examines how to better protect its people
Summit organizer Mar Cabra, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, is a leading global advocate for improved mental health in journalism. (Photo: supplied)
The first-ever Mental Health in Journalism Summit coming up October 8-10, 2024 marks a profoundly important milestone for the global news industry.
It is a world first – a free, open discussion on an international stage. It’s also a step toward a vital reckoning that’s underway.
This is a marvel to those of us who until recently endured decades of denial and inaction to address burnout, trauma exposure and stress in daily news and investigative journalism.
Mar Cabra, one of the Summit’s organizers, says the time for ignoring high rates of work-related psychological injury are over.
“Since the pandemic, more and more voices have arisen within the journalism community about the need to prioritize media professionals’ mental health. This Summit aims to be the annual convening that our industry needs to learn from each other on what's being done so that we can all push for broader change as a global movement,” Cabra told Well-being In News.
The Summit’s program includes 170 speakers from around the world, in 70 different sessions. Topics include: the mental health challenges of journalists in exile, safeguarding psychological health while working in global hotspots, setting boundaries when working with vulnerable sources, best practices in trauma aware journalism, to practical sessions on taking care of oneself, peer support and strategies for how newsrooms and media employers can better support their people.
“Our ultimate goal is that, within the next few years, every media company in the world incorporates proactive actions to take care of the wellbeing of their most valued asset: its people,” said Cabra.
Cabra knows first hand how an adrenaline-soaked career in journalism can take its toll. She’s been very public about her battle with severe burnout, after winning a Pulitzer Prize for her role working on the Panama Papers project for the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists). Read more on Mar Cabra’s story.
During the pandemic, she and some partners created The Self Investigation , a global non profit that aims at change how journalists and media companies understand and tackle psychological safety on the job.
“It's important that we tear apart deeply rooted myths on what it means to be an amazing journalist, so that we stop losing great talent and our health due to toxic narratives,” she said.
“I see many media companies providing psycho emotional support for their employees if they are in need. Some are also very responsive to specific situations, mostly related to their duty of care on war or violence scenarios.” said Cabra.
“However, we finally have data that show that there are record levels of burnout, anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. This means mental health challenges can affect anyone, covering any beat and working in any part of the organization. In order to mitigate those, we now need to focus more on preventative actions and training.”
I am extremely excited to be presenting at the Summit on Fixing Newsrooms: 10 Best Practices from Around the Globe, and on a new free online resource Trauma Aware Journalism: A News Industry Toolkit
Similar to Cabra, I’m also a veteran journalist who suffered psychological injury on the job, a decade ago. During the pandemic I proposed - and have had solid support from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - to shift job focus to become a “Well-being Champion” full time to build better training, newsroom protocols, supports and improved mental health literacy within CBC and across the industry.
I encourage all newsroom leaders, supervisors, managers, human resource professionals, and frontline workers to check out the program and register for sessions that can offer you practical ideas for individuals and teams.
Journalism is like other first responder professions - police, fire, paramedics. We literally and figuratively race toward danger, tragedy and trauma, under profound deadline pressure and stress. But unlike other first responder professions, journalism has been very slow to recognize and address the lasting impacts of chronic stress and trauma exposure.
This Summit is a major step in journalism’s evolution. Change won’t happen overnight. But that we’re beginning a global discussion is a cause for celebration – and hope.
