Seminar for journalists covering disasters held
TNT correspondent Nestor Burgos Jr. (2nd row, extreme left)
with other members of the Visayas media who attended the
seminar.
CEBU CITY--Journalists have called on news organizations to institute care programs for reporters covering disasters and emergencies to avoid being traumatized by the events they cover.
Around 20 journalists, coming from regional newspapers in the Visayas, who attended a three-day seminar on reporting on disasters and emergencies organized by the Philippine Press Institute and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said reporters who extensively cover traumatic experiences and deal with victims face the risk of psychological trauma.
The journalists recommended in a workshop that news organizations should be required to orient their reporters before they are sent to cover emergencies and disasters. The orientation should include tips on dealing with disaster victims and survivors especially those suffering from trauma.
The reporters should also undergo debriefing after covering disasters and emergencies. There should be a rotation of reporters assigned to cover disasters and emergencies to avoid trauma and other psychological effects of regularly covering these events.
Disasters and emergencies are among the biggest stories covered by journalists in the Visayas. Reporters last year extensively covered the Ginsaugon landslide in Southern Leyte and the massive oil spills in Guimaras.
Reporters, while conscious of maintaining objectivity and detachment from the events they cover, are not immune from mental and emotional stress that could result to trauma, said trauma expert Dr. June Pagaduan Lopez of the University of the Philippines Department of Psychology.
Pagaduan-Lopez, one of the seminar's speakers, said journalists are among the most vulnerable to psychological trauma because they are expected to be present even in the most harrowing experiences and events.
"Journalists cannot be immune (to the impact of the disasters, armed conflicts and emergencies) even if there is pressure to be detached from situation," she said.
She said she has known of cases where reporters who were exposed for a long time to remains of flood or landslide victims manifest signs of trauma only when they have returned to newsrooms or their homes.
Journalists who are expected to take even the most gruesome sights in stride could manifest their trauma through drinking, gambling and on verbal and physical abuse of their family members.
She said reporters could also experience "vicarious traumatization" because they listen to the accounts of victims and survivors during interviews. The psychological and emotional impacts accumulate when these are continuously suppressed.
"We don't know what toll it is taking on reporters," said Pagaduan-Lopez.
She said traumatic events could "shatter" the spiritual values and beliefs and sense of safety of a person. These also lead people to isolate themselves.
Aside from de-briefing sessions for reporters returning from the field, news organizations should also rotate the reporters assigned to cover disasters and emergencies to remove them from the potentially traumatic environment, she said.
But the psychiatrist said one of the most effective ways of dealing with stress and trauma in covering disasters and emergencies is for reporters to write positive stories especially of survivors and those showing and re-affirming human courage, sacrifice, faith and goodness.
"Positive stories are also healing for reporters," she said.