34. How can newsrooms support journalists' mental health?

Journalists are confronted with many threats, from being exposed to hostile environments – on the field or online – or through the continuous pressures that their job can entail. And these threats have a cost. And while the physical safety of journalists has been a major focus in the profession in the last 30 years, the impact the job can have on journalists' mental wellbeing has been overlooked.

But is this now changing? 

This episode explores the different threats to journalists’ mental wellbeing and dives into the question of how newsroom leaders and news managers are addressing it in their organisations, and what forms of support have been put in place in the last few years.

This episode comes off the back of the MediaStrong symposium for journalists' mental wellbeing, an initiative created by Leona O’Neill, which was co-curated by the Public Media Alliance and Safely Held Spaces. During this event, the MediaStrong Newsroom Wellbeing Charter was launched. Find out more here: https://sites.google.com/mediastrong.uk/mediastrong/sign-our-charter

Guests: Aya Ibrahim from Deutsche Welle, Dave Seglins from CBC/Radio-Canada, Fran Unsworth from the International News Safety Institute and the founder of MediaStrong, Leona O’Neill. Presenter: Charlotte Pion. Music: Tom Brazier, Lucas Thompson & Rachel Still.