RESEARCH_FILE
Anthony Feinstein
University of Toronto / Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Known for:Establishing PTSD and depression prevalence in war correspondents, and introducing moral injury as a distinct construct in journalists covering crises
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“Journalism is dying and I’m going down with it”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“The industry shrinking is real. My reporting skill is real too, and it travels with me.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Open a notes app or scrap paper and write one headline idea, one source you would want, and one reason the angle matters. Then close it without sending anything.
Key findings
- 2002
In the first large controlled study of war correspondents, 28.6% had suffered PTSD in their lifetime and 21.4% had experienced major depression — rates comparable to combat veterans, and significantly higher than journalists who had never covered war. A Hazardous Profession: War, Journalists, and Psychopathology ↗
- 2014
Journalists who never left the newsroom but repeatedly reviewed user-generated video and images of extreme violence developed psychopathology comparable to war correspondents — with frequency of exposure, not duration, as the strongest predictor. Witnessing Images of Extreme Violence: A Psychological Study of Journalists in the Newsroom ↗
- 2018
Journalists covering the European refugee crisis showed low rates of classic PTSD but high rates of moral injury — guilt, shame and a shattered sense of one's own values — especially those with little organizational support or control over their assignments. Journalists Covering the Refugee and Migration Crisis Are Affected by Moral Injury Not PTSD ↗