News workers in Canada are experiencing ‘alarming’ levels of work -related stress and trauma, the new report says, and researchers are calling for more support to help journalists cope with the scope of COVID -19 and other news crises.
The findings, based on 1,251 volunteer responses to an online survey conducted between November 1 and December 18, 2021, show that information workers have faced a high number of mental health issues in the past. which is four years. .
Nearly 70% of respondents said they were anxious, 46% said they had experienced depression and 15% said they had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to the project’s leading researchers, the report highlights how the turmoil of a pandemic-accelerated news cycle increases work pressure, in a profession full of competition and tragedy.
Our results confirm our greatest fears and suspicions about the industrysaid Matthew Pearson, a professor of journalism at Carleton University, at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Wednesday.
It is up to all of us now – from front lines to news editors, executives and journalism professors – to understand the gravity of this situation and address it in a meaningful way, to reduce harm to information workers in Canada.
The report’s other co-author, Dave Seglins, a journalist at CBC News, believes the information age increases the stress of journalists faced with increasingly demanding job freight, but job security is less certainty, while opening the doors to misinformation and online harassment.
More than half of the participants surveyed said they experienced online harassment and threats, and 35% said they experienced harassment while on field assignment.
The harms of this harassment are particularly pronounced on women, transgender and non-binary journalists, according to the report. Black, Arab, South Asian and Filipino journalists reported higher rates of online harassment.
Workers who are better known as members of the media, such as video reporters and photographers, are more likely to be targeted in the field.
The survey also found that exposure to trauma causes harm to news workers: 80% of respondents say they have experienced burnout as a result of reporting cases of death, injury and suffering. Some respondents also reported experiencing other side effects, emotional and psychological, such as suicidal thoughts or using substances to you are numb.
More than half of the participants said they saw a doctor to deal with work stress and mental health issues, while 85% of respondents said they had never received mental health and trauma training in the area of work.
There is a certain culture in many newsrooms that encourages journalists suffer in silence instead of asking for help, out of fear of their careers, Mr Seglins said. Also, many employers lack the expertise, resources and benefits to ensure and support the welfare of journalists, he said.
He urged the news media to work with their staff to identify and address these shortcomings, to ensure the smooth functioning of the Fourth Estate.
All of this has a profound impact on the health of the people working in the news industry – the guardians of our democracy.said Mr. Seglins.
The Canadian Press provided photos for the report, and the survey was distributed to employees of the national news agency.
Research and methodological experts believe that it is impossible to assign a margin of error to an online survey, because the sampling method is not probability.
Source: Radio-Canada
