Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group (JETREG)

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JETREG International Conference 2024

“On Sacred Ground: Journalism, Education, and Trauma Conference 2024”

June 13-14, 2024

Free Registration

The Journalism Education Trauma Research Group (JETREG) is issuing a paper/panel call for the first-of-its-kind conference to be hosted in the United States.  The conference will take place at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the site of the 1995 bombing.  It is the second annual international in-person conference organized by JETREG. UNESCO and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma are among the co-sponsors of the event.

“On Sacred Ground: Journalism, Education, and Trauma Conference 2024” features a workshop for educators facilitated by Elana Newman, McFarlin Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Faculty in Media Studies at the University of Tulsa; and Research Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Newman’s workshop will focus on trauma-informed practices for educators training future journalists in self-care and preparation for traumatic story content.  Anthony Feinstein is a is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the first researcher to study effects of trauma on war journalists. Feinstein will host a conversation with combat journalists at the event. Participants will also have a private tour of the National Memorial Museum and grounds.

We are inviting scholars to submit 250-word abstracts/proposals for individual papers or pre-formed panels by March 22, 2024. Registration is free, but space will be limited. Travel stipends will be awarded to top papers authors from countries that comprise the Global South (funded by a UNESCO grant).  Please state if you would like to apply for the funding when submitting your abstract.

Research demonstrates that almost every journalist will experience a traumatic story at some point in their career.  Producers, video editors, and digital journalists can experience emotional distress without leaving the newsroom, as they work with disturbing imagery, such as horrific scenes from the wars in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine and scenes of mass shootings.  As a result, JETREG challenges educators around the world to implement trauma-informed teaching and training in university classrooms. The conference takes on the topics of trauma, PTSD, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and emotional labor in journalism work, as well as research surrounding self-care, resilience, and organizational support.  We seek the perspectives of international scholars from different disciplines, practicing journalists/freelancers/editors on coping strategies and/or newsroom support that may have pedagogical relevance.

Launched in 2020 by Ola Ogunyemi at the University of Lincoln and Lada Price at the University of Sheffield, JETREG is a thriving international research group comprising over 250 members across the world with seven regional research hubs in Europe, North/South America, Africa, Australia/New Zealand, South Asia and MENA who will be represented at the event.

Topics of interest for this conference may include, but are not limited to:

•       Impact of journalists’ exposure to traumatic events
•       Stress, burnout and PTSD in journalism practice
•       Educational methods for preparing future journalists for trauma in their work
•       Addressing barriers to trauma literacy in journalism practice and education
•       Skills and capacity to cope with the effects of exposure to traumatic events
•       Enhancing resilience in journalism
•       Best practices and innovation in journalism pedagogy in building emotional resilience
•       Emotional literacy and psychological safety in journalism
•       Secondary traumatic stress regarding violent imagery
•       Institutional responses to trauma in newsrooms; support mechanisms
•       Issues surrounding burnout, turnover, and satisfaction in media work
•       Mental health/wellbeing among journalists and journalism students/trainees
•       ‘Moral injury’ in journalism

SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT by March 22, 2024 for consideration. Abstracts and questions may be directed to North American JETREG leaders Desiree Hill d.hill@ou.edu and cc’d to co-leader Matthew Pearson matthewpearson@cunet.carleton.ca .  Notification of acceptance will be sent out on April 15, 2024.

Proposals for individual papers must include an abstract (max 250 words) and a short speaker biography (max 100 words). Panel proposals must include a 150-word rationale for the panel and list of the panelists with short bio for each.

Conference sponsors:

Journalism Education Trauma Research Group

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma

Oklahoma City National Memorial

Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame

Tulsa Institute of Trauma, Adversity and Injustice (TITAN), at the University of Tulsa

Since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has announced the death of 57 journalists and media workers. 11 journalists were reported as injured, 3 journalists have been reported missing and 19 journalists have been reported as being arrested. The situation for journalists in Gaza is deadly and journalists face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict, such as airstrikes, supply shortages, ground assault and also indirect lines of communication. Journalists are facing a number of safety issues. They are also witnessing traumatic events unfold and this can potentially significantly impact their and their families’ psychological wellbeing. 

This online event will bring together media professionals, researchers and experts to explore the challenges that journalists in the region are facing. It will serve as a platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing and address the vital issue of journalist safety in conflict zones. You can find out more here and sign up here.

Dear all, 

Ola and I are looking forward to welcoming you at the 2023 JETREG symposium, hosted by the Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield, UK taking place on 15-16 June 2023.

It’s great to see that the majority of speakers will be joining us in person. A map and directions and address of the venue can be found here. For everyone who is not able to join us on campus and is presenting online, I will send a separate email with instructions on how to present on the day. If your plans change in any way, please contact me as soon as possible so I can make adjustments to the programme. Most of you have already made your travel and accommodation arrangements but if you need any help or guidance, please let me know. 

We will provide refreshments and lunch on both days and you have noted your dietary requirements at registration. If you haven’t, please let me know as I will need to amend the catering order. 

As you have seen from the programme, we have a tightly packed schedule with lots of interesting presentations. We request that you present for 10-12 minutes maximum to allow time for questions and discussion, and to ensure that we stay on time. This is really important because we have our keynote, special issue launch and the theatre performance on Thursday evening. This is going to be a professional performance with press attending and we are very excited about it! (See attached press release)

Please bring your presentations on a USB stick and upload them in this folder no later than June 10. I will grant you access as soon as you request it. 

Finally, one of our PhD students, Tom Parkin, will be making a podcast about the JETREG work presented at the symposium and he will be recording some of the proceedings, and asking you for very short interviews about your work. We hope that’s OK with you but if you have any questions, do let me know. 

That’s it for now and we look forward to seeing you in Sheffield in June! 

Sincerely yours, 

Lada and Ola

“Living to tell the tale – building community resilience in journalism”

CfP – Journalism Education Trauma Research Group (JETREG) 2023 event

University of Sheffield

15-16 June 2023

Free Registration

The Journalism Education Trauma Research Group (JETREG) is excited to announce its next international conference and knowledge exchange event on 15 and 16 June 2023 hosted by the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK in partnership with the University of Lincoln, UK. Keynote speakers will be announced in the New Year.

We are inviting scholars to submit 250- word abstracts/proposals for individual papers or pre-formed panels by 31 January 2023. Registration is free but places will be limited. We will have a travel bursary for one PhD/ECR researcher to take part in the conference. Please state if you would like to apply for the bursary when submitting your abstract.

This conference responds to the persistent work-related problem of emotional and psychological stress in journalism practice. Journalists are one of the first responders to traumatic events and the last to leave, but they are the least likely to receive training in trauma informed literacy and resilience, unlike their counterparts in the police, nursing, ambulance services and fire brigade. Previous studies show that many journalists are reporting either post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), associated symptoms, depression, and/or substance use while many journalists feel ill-prepared for assignments, which involve reporting on critical incidents and events that carry a risk of being traumatised. Some scholars have blamed journalism’s deep-seated objectivity norm, which is central to journalism education and the ‘macho’ views to be found in some newsrooms, as one of the reasons why journalists are reluctant to talk about the emotional and psychological effects of exposure to traumatic events on their health and wellbeing. Studies show that journalism students are also ill-equipped to deal with their own emotional reactions and to assess what they experience from an ethical perspective.

The academic conference aims to highlight current multidisciplinary research into trauma, emotion and resilience in journalism and media work; psychological and emotional safety of journalists/media workers, pedagogical approaches and best practice to trauma literacy in journalism education/training and the various experiences of trauma, emotional labour or (un)happiness in journalism/media. We also seek the perspectives of scholars from different disciplines, practicing journalists/freelancers/editors on coping strategies and/or newsroom support that may have pedagogical relevance.

Launched in 2020 by Ola Ogunyemi at the University of Lincoln and Lada Price at the University of Sheffield, JETREG is a thriving international research group comprising over 230 members across the world with seven regional research hubs in Europe, North/South America, Africa, Australia/New Zealand, South Asia and MENA who will be represented at the event. The event will bring together media practitioners and researchers from JETREG and the Journalism Safety Research Network (JRSN) at the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield.

Topics of interest for this conference may include, but are not limited to:

•       Trauma informed journalism practice and pedagogy and challenges to normative assumptions around objectivity and detachment
•       ‘Moral injury’ in journalism
•       Impact of journalists’ exposure to traumatic events
•       Stress, burnout and PTSD in journalism practice
•       Trauma and resilience during the pandemic
•       Skills and capacity to cope with the effects of exposure to traumatic events
•       Enhancing resilience in journalism
•       Addressing barriers to trauma literacy in journalism practice and education
•       Emotional literacy and psychological safety in journalism
•       Institutional responses to trauma in newsrooms; support mechanisms
•       Happiness and retaining staff in newsrooms
•       Best practices and innovation in journalism pedagogy in building emotional resilience
•       Mental health/wellbeing among journalists and journalism students/trainees

SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT by January 31, 2023 for consideration. Question may be directed to the organisers, Lada Price: l.t.price@sheffield.ac.uk and Ola Ogunyemi: Oogunyemi@lincoln.ac.uk Notification of acceptance will be sent out in February/early March 2023.

Proposals for individual papers must include an abstract (max 250 words) and a short speaker biography (max 100 words).

Panel proposals must include a 150-word rationale for the panel, a 250-word abstract for each of the papers, and a biography for each speaker of no more than 100 words.

Call for Papers

Trauma Literacy in Global Journalism: Toward an Education Agenda
Guest Editors: Ola Ogunyemi (University of Lincoln, UK) & Lada Price (Sheffield Hallam
University, UK)
Journalism and Mass Communication Educator is seeking empirically grounded and
theoretically focused research papers for publication in a special issue on a new pathway to an educational agenda in response to the persistent work-related problem of emotional and psychological stress in journalism practice.
Journalists are one of the first responders to traumatic events, but they are the least likely to receive training in trauma informed literacy and resilience, unlike their counterparts in the police, nursing, ambulance services and fire brigade. Trauma literacy in journalism, defined as an awareness of the potential effects of trauma and adaptive coping mechanisms, is central to the concerns raised in the UNESCO Director-General’s (2016) Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, including verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists and associated media personnel.
Previous studies show that many journalists are reporting either post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), associated symptoms, depression, and/or substance use while many journalists feel ill-prepared for assignments which involve reporting on critical incidents and events that carry a risk of being traumatised. Some scholars have blamed journalism’s deep-seated objectivity norm, which is central to journalism education and the ‘macho’ views to be found in some newsrooms, as one of the reasons why journalists are reluctant to talk about the emotional and psychological effects of exposure to traumatic events on their health and wellbeing. Studies show that journalism students are also ill-equipped to deal with their own emotional reactions and to assess what they experience from an ethical perspective.
This special issue is well-positioned to examine the awareness of trauma among journalism educators and the various experiences of teaching, learning and/or barriers to teaching trauma and emotional literacy and resilience. We also seek the perspectives of practicing journalists on coping strategies and/or newsroom support that may have pedagogical relevance through research or practice based manuscripts.
Founded in about 1945, JMCE is the largest, highest circulation, and oldest of any scholarly journal in the world devoted to education in journalism, public relations, advertising, mass communication, media studies and related fields.
Research papers for this issue will be peer-reviewed and may cover any aspect of journalism and mass communication education related to teaching students about how to cope with trauma journalism and how to prepare them for traumatic experiences that may occur in their future careers as practicing journalists. Manuscripts must adhere to the guidelines established for JMCE submissions and must be research-based. Topics of interest for this issue may include, but are not limited to addressing questions such as:
• What is journalism educators’ level of awareness of the dangers to personal
adjustment and physical health posed by prolonged exposure to traumatic events?
• How does teaching trauma informed literacy challenge the normative assumptions
around objectivity and detachment, considered core skills of journalism and
storytelling?
• Do journalism educators have the skills and capacity to train students to cope with the
effects of exposure to traumatic events?
• What are journalism trainers and educators’ experiences of teaching trauma informed
literacy?
• How should/can journalism educators overcome the barriers to including trauma
informed literacy in journalism curricula?
• To what extent can teaching trauma build resilience in journalism students?
• How do students or trainee journalists learn to cope with trauma journalism and how
are they prepared?
• To what extent has evidence of trauma in journalism practice informed journalism
pedagogy?
• What can journalism educators learn from trauma informed literacy in the newsroom?
• What best practices exist in journalism pedagogy to improve and embed emotional
resilience and mental health/wellbeing among journalism students/trainees?

SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT ONLINE AT: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmce Papers must be received by September 1, 2022 for full consideration. We looking for up to 7000 words including references for an academic paper. Question may be directed to the editors of the special issue Oogunyemi@lincoln.ac.uk or lada.price@shu.ac.uk

“We are really happy that this network is strengthening in the area of journalism and trauma education and can be even more connected with the work of UNESCO, the work of the academic conference, and more important than that, the work of safety of journalists that is coordinated under the United Nations system by UNESCO.  What this network is trying to do is very important and you have really the full support of UNESCO and lets keep the dialog going to understand how this connection of this network with UNESCO work under the UN plan of action on safety of journalists and the issue of impunity can move forward, can be fostered, and enhanced in the near future” (Mr Guilherme Canela, Chief, Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists Section for UNESCO and was formerly the Communication and Information Regional Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNESCO).

Safe Space for Journalists and Journalism Educators to talk about Trauma Informed Literacy.

Organiser: Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group (JETREG)

Host Institutions: School of English and Journalism, University of Lincoln, UK and Journalism Subject group at the Media, Arts and Communications Department, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Funder: BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant 2021.

Guest Speakers – Representatives of UNESCO; The Dart Centre Europe; Trauma Reporting Ltd; Journalists from all world regions represented in JETREG’s regional research hubs. (Names tbc)

Date: Thursday18^th and Friday 19^th November, 2021.

Time: 9.30hrs to 16.30hrs.

Synopsis

Trauma literacy is an unmet objective in the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists’ policy agenda. Since 2007, the Safety of Journalists’ agenda covers a range of issues from violence, conflict, physical and online abuse, harassment and impunity but overlooks journalists’ emotional and psychological responses to exposure to traumatic events. This is a pertinent research enquiry because scholarly studies consistently conclude that journalists who regularly cover accidents, natural disasters, crime, cases of rape and child abuse are susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and persistent fear. It is noted that reporters are often ill-prepared to cope with the consequences of covering these assignments and there is still some stigma attached to the conversations about mental health in journalism and high burnout rates among media workers.

JETREG aims to bridge gaps in research by working towards the development of a professional development course (PDC) to enhance journalism educators’ expertise and confidence to teach trauma; a trauma informed literacy module for journalism students;  and by conducting further research to enhance our understanding of work-related trauma and coping strategies in journalism practice. Trauma literacy is defined ‘as an awareness of the potential effects of trauma and adaptive coping mechanisms’ (Seely, 2020).

The Safe Space event organised by JETREG and its growing international network, brings together journalists and journalism educators to develop a common understanding of trauma informed literacy and how it can be embedded in teaching and professional practice. Moreover, the Safe Space event aims to engage with other stakeholders in the debate such as UNESCO, global media organisations, international NGOs and to overcome the stigma around the topic.

The Safe Space event is open to anyone who has an interest in these educational challenges.

Day 1 – Trauma Awareness and Challenges to Teaching Trauma: will feature welcome talk; guest speakers; presentation by the conveners; presentations from the regional research hubs; and Q&A session.

Day 2 – Charting a Pedagogical Approach to Teaching Trauma in Journalism Education: will feature focus group discussions between journalists and journalism educators about the content of a guidelines, trauma informed literacy PDC and module; plans for publication and JEREG’s next conference.

Attendance

If you would like to attend or for more enquiry, please contact Ola Ogunyemi oogunyemi@lincoln.ac.uk or Lada Price lada.price@shu.ac.uk

JETREG Steering Committee: Ola Ogunyemi, Lada Price, Roderick Orner, Stephen Jukes, Jo Healey.

Regional Research Hubs: Desiree Hill/Kim Walsh-Childers (North America); Archana Kumari/Mohammad Sahid Ullah (South Asia); Dele Odunlami/Qasim Akinreti (Sub-Saharan Africa); Marijana Markovikj/Eleonora Serafimovska (Western Europe); Karen Neill (Australia/Oceania).

Research Assistant – Kyra White

Project Website: https://jetreg.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/about-jetreg/

JETREG set up the above to capture the cultural nuances of journalists’ emotional and psychological responses to exposure to traumatic events.

I welcome the principal leads and co-leads that have been appointed to coordinate this important project in their region. There is more information about the purpose of the RRH and the names of the leads in the  About JETREG’ page.