The hidden threat: Journalism and resilience in the age of ‘information disorder

Authors: Fowler-Watt, K., McDougall, J. and Murphy, J.

Editors: Bradley, L. and Heywood, E.

Publisher: Peter Lang

Abstract:

Resilient journalism plays a vital part in sustainable societies. But the global pandemic shone a stark spotlight on journalism’s already precarious state, exacerbated by information disorder and conspiracy theory, a lack of trust and less cohesive societies. In 2020, an international survey of journalists raised ‘red flags’ for journalism( Posetti et al, 2020) with 81% citing mis/disinformation as a key stressor, triggering anxiety and liable to cause moral injury when reporting, for example, a public health crisis (Seeva & Feinstein, 2020). Journalism was already walking wounded: From 2016 journalists had been labelled ‘the opposition’ by peddlers of Trump’s ‘truths’ and journalism practice seems unable to recover from spiralling levels of trust and accusations of dissonance and elitism. Now, journalism is arguably in intensive care, inhabiting a precarious space in which journalists need resilience to navigate the age of ‘information disorder’ (Wardle et al, 2017 ) with its often subliminal obstacles and anxiety-inducing threats. Across the world, the professional work of journalists is now conducted in unhealthy information ecosystems. For journalists covering traumatic events, the impact of this difficult context should not be under-estimated.

Situated in this context of precarity, our chapter investigates the interrelationship of factors that have led journalists to experience a sense of moral injury. It examines how the fragility of journalists’ working and living situation combines with anxiety about lack of trust in their work, with the aim of devising strategies and tools to build resilience when dealing with trauma, to foster responsible journalism (and healthy democracy) and engender self-care. Drawing on our research into the storied lives of journalists reporting prior to, during and post- pandemic, we elicit the lived experiences of journalists, to engage with 2 key questions: What is the impact of information disorder on the trauma experienced by journalists seeking to report with truth, accuracy and fairness? What strategies are required to combat these challenges to build resilience in journalists and journalism practice? The chapter concludes with some tentative ideas for journalism practitioners, educators and students seeking to build trauma and resilience awareness into their practice and to strengthen their professional identities as journalists working in unhealthy information ecosystems.

Source: Manual