Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group (JETREG) is a research infrastructure to respond to the body of research which shows that practising journalists are at risk for physical, emotional, moral and psychological injury due to exposure to traumatic events in the course of their career.
To address this problem, journalism educators have a role to play in providing a safe space for journalists to talk about work related trauma and to prepare young journalists to be aware of the problem and cope with it.
JETREG aims to explore trauma awareness among journalism educators and their attitudes to the inclusion of trauma literacy in journalism curriculum.
JETREG is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in a range of methods including systematic reviews, mixed methods for research, evaluation and implementation.
Our objectives are:
- Share insights and learning from the trauma awareness survey of journalism educators and attitudes to the inclusion of resilience training in journalism education.
- Share insights and learning from previous studies on journalism and trauma – where there are evidence of trauma and why?
- Use these insights to design a module in trauma literacy/resilience training in journalism education.
- Offer opportunities through research seminars, symposia, and conferences to discuss and consider options and solutions that enable us to promote resilience training in journalism education.
- Conduct a 5-year resilience training in journalism education longitudinal study (mixed methods approach) and publish the result.
- Connect a community of journalism educators, practising journalists and media organisations, both nationally and internationally, that can aid and support each other to build resilience among journalists.
JETREG’s current project is funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant 2021
Endorsement from UNESCO Chief
“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).
Steering Committee
Ola Ogunyemi (Lincoln School of English and Journalism, University of Lincoln).
Lada Price (Centre for Culture, Media and Society, Sheffield Hallam University).
Roderick Orner (School of Psychology, University of Lincoln).
Stephen Jukes (Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University)
Jo Healey (author of Trauma Reporting, A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Sensitive Stories).
Regional Research Hub (RRH)
The Regional Research Hub (RRH) is a platform for JETREG members to collate research evidence (ie secondary data including literature review, documents, etc; and primary data including podcast interviews of journalists; interviews with journalism educators; analysis of the awareness survey for their region; to participate in the design of an online professional development course for journalism educators; to participate in the design of a trauma informed literacy module; to present at our conferences, and contribute to scholarly publications.
Principal Leads and co-leads of Regional Research Hub
North America – Desiree Hill (PL); Matthew Pearson (co-lead)
South Asia – Archana Kumari (PL); Mohammad Sahid Ullah (co-lead)
Sub-Saharan Africa – Dele Odunlami (PL); QASIM O. AKINRETI (co-lead)
Europe Hub – Elfi Heinke (PL); Marijana Markovikj (co-lead); Leire Iturregui Mardaras (co-lead)
Australia/Oceania – Karen Neill (PL); Alexandra Wake (co-lead)
North Africa/Middle East/Arab World – Saadia Izzeldin Malik (PL);
South America – Paula Melani Rocha (PL); Gabriella Zauith Leite Lopes (co-lead)