Mental health for journalists: Are newsrooms and classrooms doing enough?
Faras Ghani - 2025
When breaking news breaks the journalist
A staggering 93% of journalists surveyed for this research said they’ve faced mental health challenges on the job – a stark reminder of the emotional toll this profession can have on people.
Journalism is a profession of choice. Typically, it offers limited financial returns and almost always puts peace of mind at risk. Long hours, hostile environments, and the potential for more adversaries than allies have long been hallmarks of a journalist’s life,
The increased competition among peers, for speed and exclusivity, also puts extra pressure on individuals to perhaps work beyond their capacity in return for what they consider success and achievements.
For some, the reward is almost instant – reporting on an exclusive story, seeing a published byline or the efforts bringing about a change. However, with rewards come risks and danger – physical and mental – as illustrated in the glaring statistics throughout this paper.
Just over 54 percent of respondents of the survey mentioned above said they are always working under stress, with 66 percent citing workload as one of the many reasons why they have experienced some sort of stress at work or while working.
Inside the pressure cooker: The realities of newsroom life
Journalism is inherently demanding, requiring journalists to be constantly “switched on”, on-call, and aware of all major news and events, whether at work or on a day off.
This “on-call” expectation can be an employer’s demand, requiring journalists to stay abreast of news and events outside office hours, possess detailed knowledge, and be ready to jump on instantly.
In most cases, based on the survey and interviews, there has not been a formal request by the employer to do this but rather an expectation. Additionally, there is an unseen pressure to “get the work done” and also not seen leaving the office before managers or colleagues.
Additionally, the need to deliver news and create content around the clock has increased due to the rapid advancement in the digital world and increase in social media use. Financial constraints at some media outlets have resulted in overworked staff – in the newsrooms and on the field – which then requires the journalists to put in significantly higher number of hours than what they are contractually obliged to.
This extra workload and time commitment profoundly affect journalists’ physical and mental well-being, with almost 48% reporting they work more than they should.
Journalists are also exposed to situations that enhance stress and tension, ranging from road accidents, political and social demonstrations, burglaries and murders, situations involving the abuse of children to greater critical events such as natural and human disasters and war.
Stories from the edge: When newsrooms become toxic and too demanding
“I was just there 24/7. You’re just not letting me go home,” recalls a young entertainment journalist in India, describing a toxic newsroom where expectations spiraled beyond reason.
A* (name changed to protect identity), started off as an entertainment journalist in India at the age of 22. Soon after joining a well-known organisation, they quickly discovered the harsh realities of that newsroom.
Contractually, they were supposed to work nine hours a day for six days a week, finishing by 10pm.
“What really happened was that I, together with my team, would stay in the office till early morning. All of us had the suffering of sitting in that newsroom. This was because of this particular manager who set daily targets (number of stories) which were impossible to achieve.
“If you do not meet those targets, the manager will come, yell at you and leave. And they expected us to share all those stories across four or five social platforms of the brand.
“It was a lot of work. On top of that, we were asked to write video scripts, which we were not even supposed to do. We were sub-editors. Then writers then had to edit others’ copies too.
“That just blew me out. I was like, what’s happening? I cannot be writing this much, editing this much, and then doing a video script.”
In Albania, journalist Alice Taylor also experienced workplace challenges that continue to affect her deeply. She said she resigned from her job “due to bullying, toxicity and a really terrible, terrible work environment”.
She was not the only one, though. Taylor said that in the span of three months, 11 people either left or were fired, while “there are a number of staff who are on long-term mental health leave because of the environment there”.
“I’ve taken a couple of months off to put myself back together again after the stress of being there. I find myself struggling with a writer’s block, which was caused directly by the situation that was going on in the previous workplace.
“All this was caused by anxiety, stress, and some kind of post-traumatic stress, caused by long-term bullying and toxicity in that workplace.”
The experience has left Taylor hesitant to apply for another job, resulting in a major “knock” to her confidence.
“So I’m not sure if I’m even quite ready for that yet.”
In an article for Women in News, Bokani King wrote: “As journalists, we dedicate time to covering other people’s mental health struggles but seldom focus on our well-being. The demands of the job often overshadow our mental health needs, raising the question: are we so focused on others’ stories that we ignore our own?”
In 2025, a study published by Muck Rack – The State of Work-life Balance in Journalism – revealed that “stress levels for journalists remain high” with half of the more than 430 respondents considering leaving their job this year and more than one-third unsure of how long they’ll stay in the industry.
The same survey found that 38% of journalists said their mental health has declined over the last year.
These findings clearly indicate that mental health largely remains a taboo topic in newsrooms and for journalists themselves. Additionally, newsrooms generally lack workflows or systems for addressing some of these challenges that staff face.
In a survey, The Self-Investigation, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting well-being and mental health at work, reported high levels of anxiety (60%) among journalists, with one in five respondents reporting signs of depression. It added that levels of post-traumatic stress disorder and burnout are on the rise, and ended with saying that “tackling mental health in the media is an urgent issue”.
“I think what happens in newsrooms when it comes to the freedom to talk about mental health is a reflection of what’s happening in society in general,” said Aldara Martitegui, co-founder of The Self-Investigation.
Martitegui, who is also a journalist, psychologist and coach specialised in emotional intelligence and mindfulness, said that while the taboo was lessening, “there’s still a long way to go to destigmatise mental health in newsrooms as well as in society in general”.
She stressed that “taking this issue seriously in a newsroom and giving it the same importance as writing, editing, reporting and audience interaction would be a huge change in journalistic culture”.
“Historically what has been rewarded is being able to tackle all kinds of topics, working 24/7 without flinching, and being permanently connected to current events, which, as you can see, are very toxic dynamics that are deeply rooted and do not help our mental health.
“We can’t easily eliminate them.”
Below, you can listen to current and former journalists sharing their stories of mental health challenges:
When passion turns into pain
Research published in the International Journal of Communication confirmed that “there is a mental health crisis across all media industries worldwide”.
Depression, as well as stress and burnout, tend to “score high” on industry reports and scholarly research on the mental health and well-being of media professionals. Overall working conditions across the media industry are frequently touted as the main contributing factor to these challenges.
Key findings from the published research include:
- A global mental health crisis across all media industries.
- Media professionals report higher-than-average rates of depression, anxiety, burnout, substance abuse, and suicidality compared to the general population.
- The very passion and meaning that draw people to media work are also the elements that make it emotionally and mentally harmful.
- The biggest risk factors across sectors are: effort-reward imbalance, low organisational justice, and high job demands, which account for up to 90% of the risk for stress-related disorders at work.
- Journalists often experience trauma from witnessing human suffering and operating in dangerous or emotionally intense environments, yet objectivity norms push them to suppress emotions.
- Freelancers, women, LGBTQ+, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by poor mental health outcomes in media.
Mariam Amini describes the life of a freelance journalist when it comes to finances, flexibility and mental health.
“Working as a freelance journalist is a constant juggling act. I love the flexibility to work from anywhere and the freedom to cover stories I am interested in but it can be a very isolating experience.
“It is especially difficult when working on sensitive stories or with vulnerable communities which you have personal associations with. For instance, at times it can be quite triggering for me to report on Afghan issues. Often, you only have your editor to talk to, but it may not feel appropriate to bring up mental health or they might not know how best to support your situation.
“During such instances, professional mental health support would go a long way, but once again it is down to you to source this since media outlets do not hold the same level of responsibility for freelance staff. When you’re already in a negative headspace, it is even harder to muster the energy to start seeking support from scratch. Moreover, there is no compensation if you were to take any time off. Over the years, I’ve also been reluctant to take on private counselling due to the costs. Since your income varies month by month, it’s hard to justify an ongoing therapy commitment.”
Catalina Coates, Interim Chief Emergencies Officer at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), says mental health should be thought of as part of the safety of journalists.
“It’s difficult to have these conversations internally. Journalists feel that if they open up and if they have honest conversations about their mental health, there could be some repercussions. It means they will feel that they may be perceived as weak, not ready to continue working. So they prefer not to be open and transparent about talking about it.
“I think this is also about our society, talking about mental health will never be as easy as talking about an injury or going to the doctor.”
Surveys underscore these concerns. A 2020 Reuters Institute survey found that 70% of international journalists reported psychological distress, and 11% showed symptoms of PTSD.
A global pandemic-era survey by the International Center for Journalists revealed that 67% of journalists reported anxiety, burnout, or a sense of helplessness.
What’s more is that journalists frequently bear witness to human suffering, whether covering mass disasters or individual atrocities, and are sometimes the direct targets of violence. This type of work can affect their health and well-being.
Dr Erum Irshad, head of Peshawar University’s psychology department in Pakistan, conducted a pilot study a decade ago with 20 Pakistani journalists, finding that 14 suffered from severe stress.
“The journalists that came to us were facing mainly stress disorder and depression,” said Dr Irshad. “They were covering areas where there were bomb blasts and disasters and they were under a high level of stress.
“This continued stress leads to a negative impact on interpersonal relationships, including with their family members. The pressure [accumulated due to work and the environment] was too much and they used to displace this on family members.”
Financial pressure also adversely affected the journalists’ mental health, “resulting in problems in personal and professional lives”, she added.
A perfect storm: Burnout, anxiety and the passion trap
The Muck Rack study mentioned earlier also revealed high stress levels for journalists, with “50% of the respondents having thought about leaving their job this year and over a third are unsure how long they’ll stay in the industry”.
The study, which surveyed over 400 journalists about stress, burnout and support, revealed that:
- 38% of journalists reported their mental health had declined over the last year.
- 58% of journalists report getting six hours or less of sleep each night, with 85% citing the inability to “switch off” as a contributing factor.
- Half of them considered quitting because of burnout
- 48% had left their previous job due to exhaustion or burnout
Conversely, 17% reported improved mental health due to therapy, access to remote or hybrid work, and stronger support networks.
Below are some of snapshots from the Muck Ruck study:
Financial stress
As part of the survey, the 38% saying their mental health had worsened in the last year, the common reasons cited included “uncertainty about the future, general work stress, and financial issues including poor pay”.
Makhosi Sibanda, a Zimbabwean journalist and mental health podcaster, noted a decline in funding and support for newsrooms and journalists.
“You notice that funding for the newsrooms or for the media, or the support for journalists, is declining,” said Sibanda. “As a result, a lot of journalists are now in distress. While they are expected to deliver, the operating economy is putting them in distress.
“There are no safety nets for them. They’re facing a lot of challenges with balancing their work, their personal lives and their mental health. So, there is a big gap there that is affecting journalists in terms of their well-being, their livelihoods, especially their mental health.”
Hannah Storm, founder and director of Headlines Network, wrote a book titled Mental Health and Wellbeing for Journalists which highlighted that while mental health in journalism is slowly becoming less taboo, newsrooms must continue to normalise these conversations.
“By the age of 30, I would endure a lot of trauma and toxic behaviour, but I kept going back into these environments, believing I was not quite good enough,” she was quoted as saying during an interview with journalism.co.uk.
“It was as if my career was becoming something of an abusive relationship. It took me completely breaking down to realise that journalism was important to me, but it could not be my everything.”
The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma reports that “despite repeated exposure to work-related traumatic events, most journalists exhibit resilience”.
It clarifies that strong reactions to harrowing events, including war, disasters and human suffering “is not necessarily a problem, but simply a signal of the emotional challenges of news gathering, and a signal to practice self-care”.
Complementing the research already shared on the state of affairs in newsrooms, Elana Newman, Research Director at the Dart Center, reinforced that “lack of respect and feeling unsupported by management” are also driving factors behind issues cropping up in newsrooms.
“From research that we are doing, it turns out that the kinds of pressures in the past, like deadlines, rushing around, working in spurts, working evenings, those things journalists can handle pretty well. It seems like the toxic combination is doing trauma-related work plus being in an organisation that you somehow perceive as not supportive, messed up or problematic,” said Newman.
Studies cited by the Dart Center confirm journalists’ risk of exposure to work-related traumatic events.
They recommend increased organisational support for journalists, which “may result in a reduction of mental health harm, as well as a reduction in occupational dysfunction and an increase in job performance (and likely work satisfaction)”.
“Aiding connectedness to social networks within and outside of an organization may also be of benefit.”
Work stress leaks out at home
Dr Jason Wang, a psychotherapist, noted that in the toxic workplaces prevalent among journalists and media workers, psychological safety is scarce. Journalists battle not only stressful content but also internal organisational conflicts and environmental pressures, he said.
“You’re fighting a stress battle on multiple fronts,” he explained. “It’s not only the content you’re working on but also trying to maintain your position. You’re fighting colleagues who are ambitious and trying to do things to you that might be detrimental to your career. You’re just fighting on all fronts and that’s just not good for you in the long run”.
He added that while not taking work stress home and keeping work-life boundaries intact only works to a certain extent, it acts as a coping and defence mechanism.
“But when the stress and the anxiety and everything else is too much, it’s impossible to compartmentalise in a healthy way. And so things start leaking out. Stress leaks out at home, even though you’re trying not to let it leak out.
“All that stress becomes activated every time you have to deal with it in your home life. So people have this idea that they can leave work at work but even in the most successful cases, if there’s just too much going on at work, it leaks out whether or not you want it to when you’re at home.”
The African Women in Media (AWIM) reported that one in 10 journalists has considered taking their life. Additionally, two-thirds are negatively affected by the graphic and disturbing stories, and 80% are worn-out from trauma coverage.
Aisha Wakaso, a Nigerian journalist-turned-mental health campaigner, was quoted as saying by AWIM that “the majority of journalists are not even aware of their mental health, and unfortunately the majority of us in Nigeria don’t care about our mental health”.
“We don’t understand what it is. We take it as a joke. It doesn’t know race or gender.”
For journalists working in Africa’s conflict zones, security concerns, harassment, and surveillance are some of the initiators of mental health problems for journalists, according to an article on Al Jazeera Journalism Review entitled Journalism and mental health problems in Africa.
Garaobe Salomon, a Cameroonian psychologist and blogger, was quoted as saying in the article: “Operating without adequate mental health support, Cameroonian journalists routinely expose themselves to traumatic events, particularly in conflict-affected regions”.
“They document violence, human rights violations, and civilian suffering while struggling to maintain professional objectivity. This constant exposure to trauma, combined with job insecurity and low wages, creates a perfect storm for psychological distress.”
Journalists participating in this research’s survey also shared common issues impacting their mental well-being at work:
“Burnout is on the rise, anxiety levels are on the rise, so is depression within the journalism community,” said Kim Brice of The Self-Investigation. “It has to do with workplace culture, which is distressing, pushing people into distress.
She identified workload, lack of communication from managers, unclear roles, and job insecurity as key factors.
“But when it comes to addressing those challenges or even acknowledging that these challenges exist, it doesn’t seem to be a priority or the coping mechanism is not there in newsrooms. There are not many people to talk to.”
AI and the future of journalism: Relief or replacement?
The rise of AI, particularly since the introduction of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs), has become a significant topic in journalism.
AI applications and technologies, ranging from transcribing, translation, and report summarisation to SEO headline creation, idea generation, and video editing, have been widely adopted in numerous newsrooms globally.
While AI has automated processes, sped up tasks, and streamlined workflows, its use in large-scale content generation has sparked fears among journalists and writers about job displacement.
A study on the Impact of AI Integration on Journalists’ Mental Health found “significant correlations between the perceived threat of AI replacing jobs and higher levels of depression among journalists”.
The study observed “mixed effects regarding the impact of AI integration on job roles, with associations found between AI integration and both increased depression and reduced stress levels”.
It concluded that “AI integration in journalism presents both opportunities and challenges for journalists’ mental health”, emphasising that “strategies to address job security concerns, enhance comfort with AI tools through training and establish mental health support systems are crucial for fostering a supportive environment in AI-driven newsrooms”.
The study attributed increased apprehension to “rapid technological changes” and suggested that shifts in workflows, roles, and potential pressure could “impact journalists’ mental health”.
K* (name changed to protect identity) left their job in a newsroom because of the “detrimental” effect of “how much AI we had to use”.
They felt “it was really stifling me in terms of creativity and using my skills which made me feel quite low some days”.
K described a new cost-cutting initiative where they were assigned to a social media team: “this role involved using AI to rewrite my work, and then I’d edit it”.
“I’d go from writing eight unique stories myself a day to writing four stories myself and then having AI rewrite it for tonnes of different websites. So, the vast majority of the role was just rewriting what AI’s done, because it spits out a load of rubbish all the time.
“So I felt like I could have done a better job. It felt like it was replacing us in a way. It felt like they were trying to make it so that they didn’t need as many reporters as what they have, and it didn’t make the work I was doing valuable anymore.”
Trauma by proximity: Fieldwork in war and conflict zones
War and conflict reporting profoundly impacts a journalist’s physical and mental well-being.
Research showed journalists exposed to extreme danger during a decade-long career in war zones have lifetime prevalence rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression of 28 and 22%, respectively.
This research also revealed significantly higher weekly alcohol consumption among both male and female war journalists, who were less likely to receive treatment for these disorders and experienced significantly more psychiatric difficulties than those not reporting on war.
Israel’s silencing of journalists in Gaza
Since October 2023, at least 232 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza (targeting infrastructure and individuals).
This human cost – an average of 13 journalists killed per month – has made this war the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project.
The report indicated that more journalists were killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the United States war in Afghanistan combined.
“Across the globe, the economics of the industry, the violence of war, and coordinated censorship campaigns are turning more conflict zones into news graveyards, with Gaza being the most extreme example,” the report said.
While the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) put the figure slightly lower due to differing identification criteria, it still classified Israel’s war on Gaza as “the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992”.
“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth.”
Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) is an organisation dedicated to supporting investigative journalists, editors and fact checkers in the Arab world.
In November 2024, it released a report concluding that “mental health is not a priority for Media employing journalists in Gaza”.
“This investigation documents, through testimony and statements by journalists in Gaza, the severe mental impact that covering the war has, given the absence of the necessary psychological support that should be provided to them by media institutions,” the report said.
ARIJ’s data, collected from 125 journalists in Gaza, revealed that:
- 105 “urgently needed to talk about what they had witnessed during the current war on Gaza”
- 69 journalists thought their social relationships were impacted by covering the war
- 77 reported having severe mood swings
- 75% of journalists cannot free themselves from what they have witnessed and experienced, even after they stop working”
Rawan Damen, Director General of ARIJ, noted that requests coming in from Gaza for help were unprecedented.
“But the genocide is continuing and the war is continuing so there’s nobody available for mental support.
“Even the fact checkers and the journalists who are covering Gaza from outside started being very traumatised. One of my colleagues at the office started crying watching the news and another told me she felt like she started having nightmares that her kids died and so she would go to the room and check on them repeatedly.”
Plight of journalists in Indian-administered Kashmir
Indian-administered Kashmir is another location where journalists are being continuously targeted for reporting on atrocities.
Since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 by the Indian government taking away the autonomy of the region, press freedom has sharply declined. Local journalists face harassment, surveillance, and charges under anti-terror laws, while foreign correspondents are denied access or deported for critical reporting.
The above mentioned report by Al Jazeera Journalism Review highlighted that those measures “aimed at controlling the region’s narrative and projecting normalcy” have drawn widespread criticism from international watchdogs, “who warn of increasing suppression of both domestic and foreign media”.
Journalists in Kashmir have been detained, questioned and harassed by authorities. Some have been threatened while others have had their passports confiscated. Independent media outlets have been targeted and closed.
A freelance journalist based in Indian-administered Kashmir describes the immense difficulty of not only reporting from the region but also the struggle to survive and lead a healthy and sane life.
“Reporting in Kashmir is extremely difficult. You are under surveillance all the time. I have been called and interrogated countless times. Monthly calls by security agencies are a norm, where they summon you and ask questions about political ideology or even the use of words like ‘Indian-administered’,” the journalist said.
“We have nothing to do with the style-sheet of news organisations but we pay the price. It brings great trauma when you get a call suddenly and are hit with a barrage of questions.
“One time I got so much anxiety that I could not sleep or eat for a week and was put on medicines. I felt I was being choked. My heart was beating so fast.”
Mirroring the ARIJ report findings, freelance or independent journalists in Kashmir felt let down and unsupported by the media outlets they contributed to.
“Being an independent journalist, the media outlets do not support us. I am at my own mercy and have never got any support from the outlet I reported for. To report from Kashmir, I have taken a great personal risk and have suffered in ways that I cannot even explain. When a story gets published, I cannot sleep for nights, anticipating a call from authorities.
“A random beep on my phone scares me. This is how things are.”
Substance abuse and use of antidepressants has also become common among journalists in Kashmir, according to some journalists based in the region. In addition to personal safety, the fear of harm coming to one’s family is also a worry that stays with journalists in Kashmir, affecting the physical as well as mental well-being.
“This is a very helpless situation. All this adds up to be a very traumatising experience.”
Workplace behaviour: The other battle
Pakistan is a country which Reporters Without Borders (RSF) classifies as one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists due to multiple murders each year that are often linked to cases of corruption or illegal trafficking and which go completely unpunished.
But beyond field dangers, newsroom environments can also be detrimental to healthy reporting.
Kamal Siddiqi, former editor-in-chief and bureau chief at various media outlets in Pakistan, said bullying and harassment are endemic to newsroom culture there.
Workplace bullying is defined by the union as “offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means intended to undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient”, according to the National Union of Journalists in the UK.
“It’s a sort of a culture in Pakistani newsrooms that a senior person can scream and shout,” said Siddiqi, who is also former director at Centre for Excellence in Journalism in Pakistan. “I called out a few people at one of my previous workplaces and told them they cannot do that. They would think I’m joking.
“There were also people who would use the kind of language they would [which is unacceptable] in newsrooms. Generally, people think that in a newsroom, this is the culture. That is where much of the problem lies. Most people think this is part of a newsroom. A lot of people just took it as part of the newsroom culture because it used to be male dominated, and they could use that kind of language.”
Below, you can hear more from Kamal Siddiqi on the state of newsrooms in Pakistan and what needs to be done:
Shekufe Ranjbar, an Iranian journalist now living in Germany, said she also experienced male-dominated newsrooms in Iran.
She found that being a woman added an extra layer of pressure, on top of the emotionally taxing work she did in a TV newsroom.
“There was the advancement of Daesh [ISIS, ISIL]. With it, we had Syria’s civil war. We had the refugee crisis. And of course, there was the Israel-Palestine conflict on and off,” she recalled.
“I worked in the newsroom at a time that we had so many stories taking an emotional toll on me. It was very difficult for me because that was also my first experience in journalism. I had jumped into the deepest end of the pool. Broadcast journalism is also about working under time pressure, apart from the content that you cover.
“And if you work in a male-dominated environment, like I did, you’re under another layer of pressure. It’s all about power and fighting over authority. And men there put extra pressure on women, trying to portray them as less qualified.
“This is related to that emotional part of the story. So, imagine if I felt like this story is too much for me. I just can’t cope with it. I can’t write it because I cannot even watch the footage. They wouldn’t consider it as something that has to be dealt with. They considered it as a weak point for me.”
Anne Godlasky is a former USA Today journalist and current president of the National Press Foundation. She shares some insights on the state of mental health in US newsrooms, why it’s not so much of a taboo anymore and what journalism schools need to do. Listen to her comments below:
What, then, should journalists do?
Given the state of affairs, the world of journalism – in newsrooms and on the field – looks unlikely to change. Demands will likely increase, and despite evolving consumption habits, journalists, driven by passion, need and pressure, will continue to strive for more.
But ultimately, how much is too much? And how can journalists care for themselves amidst demanding conditions that are breaking them down? What should they do if they exhibit symptoms of mental distress?
“Detox yourself regularly and mentally declutter your environment,” said Dr Asma Naheed, an educational psychologist based in the UAE.
“Keep your work area and work life clean and safe so you can feel calm. Increase water intake, sleep, keep boundaries, and attend regular therapies. If you start seeing any symptoms, or any emotional burden or confusion in your thoughts, start seeking therapy.”
Dr Naheed, who is also a special needs consultant, emphasised on three points:
- Exercise
- Shut down
- Switch off
“You need to have a circle outside of work. Work extra hard on your relationships. Journalists work in a toxic and scary environment. You need to have your me time, your quality time with family, and playful activities. Go running, swimming, hiking, and take part in playful activities.
“Normalcy is a luxury. Be normal. Don’t be exceptional.”
Dr Wang, the US-based psychotherapist, highlights that the pervasive stress, anxiety, workload, and toxicity within the journalistic “environment” create unsustainable pressure, making it impossible for a journalist to perform their entire job without burning out.
“It’s not sustainable to be in an environment like that,” said Dr Wang. “And so something has to give. Usually that’s your mental health or you just have very little personal life. There’s just no way to do everything that the environment requires of you and a negative effect happens somewhere.”
While work-life boundaries and compartmentalisation are often discussed, Dr Wang explains that when stress and anxiety become overwhelming, healthy compartmentalisation is impossible, leading to “leakage” into home life, regardless of intent.
RSF reported that working in “high-intensity environments, encountering distressing news and images, and undertaking dangerous front-line assignments can lead to long-term psychological trauma for journalists”.
It emphasised that “there is no shame in this”, asserting that the condition is manageable “if journalists remain aware of their mental health”.
This awareness would include monitoring themselves for stress, including “revisiting memories repeatedly, feeling low or depressed, or experiencing anxiety, panic, irritability, or numbness”.
RSF added that when stress “starts to disrupt day-to-day activities, journalists should take a step back from their duties and consider taking a leave of absence”. They should then:
- Rest and engage in relaxing activities
- Assess and address trauma with professional support
- Rebuild connections and establish healthy routines
- Build mental resilience
However, experts contend that improving the situation should not fall solely on individual journalists.
The contributing factors are multiple and often out of their control – newsroom environment, management behaviour, flawed workflows and workload management. Therefore, remedial measures need to be taken across the board and not not just on an individual basis.
Storm, an expert in journalism safety and mental health, suggests that part of those measures should be “training for managers, buy-in from senior leaders, spaces for cross-generational meetings, sharing of stories, greater access to therapists”.
“I am constantly surprised by the number of conversations I host or facilitate where colleagues say to me this is the first time in 10, 20, 30 years anyone has asked them how they are and they felt like they really meant it.”
Preparing for the pressures: The role of journalism education
With so much at stake when it comes to well-being in the newsroom, are students and recent graduates entering the demanding world of journalism well informed and well prepared?
Are universities and institutions offering journalism, media or related curricula doing enough to make students not only aware of the challenges but also equip them with coping mechanisms?
A survey conducted for this research found that just over 55% of journalism or related curriculum students reported no classroom discussions on mental health challenges.
Only 1% had a separate course on mental health as part of their curriculum, and only 33% had ever received a visit from a working journalist to discuss mental health challenges in the field or newsroom.
In 2018, Noah Richardson, a journalism student at Carleton University in Ottawa, wrote that “a foundation for resiliency needs to be built up before journalists are in the field”.
“While journalism school has helped me prepare to cover breaking news events, press conferences and politics, it barely addressed the ways in which I may be physically, emotionally and mentally impacted by my chosen career,” Richardson wrote.
He noted that he only had one full lecture discussing journalism and mental health up until nearing the end of his four-year course.
Hamna Shakeel, an undergrad Liberal Arts student in Pakistan, believes topics like mental health and ethics are life skills and “should be taught regardless of the programme”.
“I think it should be included as part of the curriculum,” said Shakeel. “I’m 100 percent aware of what’s to come but honestly, I don’t know how I will navigate. Because when you enter the newsroom, the kind of pressure you will have, you don’t know what’s the next step you can take.
“So, maybe I’m equipped, I’m well aware and I’m fortunate enough to call mental health concern as a mental health concern. But I don’t know if I will be able to handle the situation.”
Almost 92 percent of respondents said mental health needs to be a more important topic in journalism schools. Why then is it not taken as seriously as writing, editing, reporting, ethics, or photography?
Dr Samia Manzoor, Assistant Professor at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan, attributes this to a lack of awareness among educators.
“It’s because we don’t know about it, we don’t know the severity of the situation or its impact,” said Dr Manzoor. “This is why we’re unable to educate the students. We cannot teach them something that we ourselves are unaware of. We don’t have a course, we don’t talk about it.”
She argued that courses developed by academics “will definitely have major deficiencies” because “being an academic, I can only have a remote idea of the kind of stress that a journalist is enduring when they are in the field”.
“I don’t know the extent of it, I don’t know how lethal it can be, its intensity and how many journalists are affected.
“Sitting in my air-conditioned office, I won’t know these things like a working journalist would. So to devise these courses and curriculum, there needs to be a team which includes working journalists and academics.”
Dr Manzoor likened the role of classrooms to a military training academy, where a soldier is trained and prepared for all likely scenarios in order for them to deal with any situation in an appropriate manner.
“Journalists are also soldiers, fighting their own battles. The way of war is different but it’s war. We’re not equipping them in the same way. The work in the newsroom is difficult. You are under stress, deadlines, in situations that leave an impact.”
Pheladi Sethusa, a lecturer at Wits Centre for Journalism in South Africa, echoes these sentiments.
She noted that mental health topics are not prioritised in journalism schools because educators themselves were “molded in environments that were not open to conversations about mental health illnesses, about how to look after your mental health, about giving people the time and space to treat any diagnoses that they might be under”.
“So I think it’s not something that is common in their experience so it naturally wouldn’t be something that trickles down into curriculum, especially because it’s seen as such a personal issue,” added Sethusa.
Mental Health in College Journalists: Recognizing Causes of Trauma and Recommendations was a study undertaken in 2024.
What it revealed was that “many journalism schools rely heavily on teaching methods such as lectures, readings, videos, and discussions, but they are not teaching methods such as role-play exercises”.
The authors interviewed a licensed therapist for their study who observed that trauma among their journalism patients “did not start in the professional field but at the college level”.
“They suggest that because of the lack of coping techniques taught at the college level for basic signs of mental health that these are crucial skills that journalists at the college level need to be taught in order to not succumb to their trauma in the professional field.”
CPJ’s Coates advocated for journalism schools to initiate and hold “open and transparent conversation about the impact that this can have physically and mentally” on journalists”.
“It’s a work that demands a lot from you in terms of time, energy, emotionally, and there will be an impact. How you start understanding how all this is linked to your safety and how you have to prepare to make the right and more informed decisions. I’m not saying that doing this will eliminate it. But it will minimise the risk,” she explained.
“The more you understand your profession, the more you understand the risk you are facing when you are a journalist. The more you understand the risk when you are doing a story or covering something specifically, the more prepared you will be to make decisions when you are in the field.”
A quarter of journalism students surveyed for this research said they do not feel prepared to address mental health challenges as professional journalists.
A significant majority said they would like to see more mental health resources and training as part of their studies.
“This is something that journalism schools don’t talk a lot about: the risk of this profession, the risk in terms of what risk you are facing when you are out there, physical, digital and absolutely psychological,” Coates added.
While most faculty interviewed and surveyed for this research heavily supported a broader, more inclusive curriculum incorporating mental health related topics, Chris Arsenault, Chair, Master of Media in Journalism and Communication Program at Western University in Canada, argued that “it’s not valuable” to the course he is heading.
“I don’t suggest having it as a standalone course as I don’t think it’s valuable. Adding it would mean taking away something else that is fundamental to their technical education and that would mean less time on learning how to make a podcast, less time on video editing, etc,” he said.
“Discussions about mental health end up being woven through some of those courses we do anyway.”
Arsenault added that emphasis on mental health challenges that only those who actually go on and take up jobs in the newsrooms will be affected by will lead to more students opting to not take up newsroom roles.
“I do think there’s, this almost sounds cynical, a genuine concern that a lot more and more students are just opting to go right into communications and not journalism. So I think there’s a worry that if you spend a whole course on that, you’d lose half of your students.
“It’s hard to teach students how to deal with a problem they haven’t fully encountered yet without just potentially creating more fear and anxiety and mental health challenges in the process. I’m not convinced having this like a separate course on mental health is a way to address this.”
Sethusa, from Wits Centre for Journalism in South Africa, argues that despite some opinions against it, the research on how journalists are affected by trauma shows “there is an obvious need arising for there to be some kind of teaching about how journalists’ mental health can be affected by the profession as well as how to cope with it”.
Fixing the broken system: What needs to change?
But while most of the education is delivered in classrooms, nearly all working journalists confirm that the real training starts when the individual enters a newsroom.
Most of the skills learnt in classrooms – including writing, editing, reporting, interviewing, filming – will be recalled in practice. The inverted pyramids, the smooth transition, catchy headlines, SEO keywords and audience-first methods, all the classroom memories will come back.
However, what happens while that work happens is what starts moulding young journalists in that testing and demanding environment – the interpersonal skills, handling difficult colleagues, learning to cope and also preventing overwork and burnout.
“No one’s prepared you for a clash of personalities, of egos, and how to navigate these kind of things,” said Robin Adams, a journalist who has worked in South Africa, Turkey and Qatar for major news outlets.
“No one teaches you this. It’s all trial and error. It’s all learning on the job and learning fast. Whatever you learn in school won’t take into account how lonely it becomes, how overwhelming it becomes.
“How are we nurturing these young graduates and trainees? How are we moulding them, shaping them to get into this world of journalism which is a scary, dark place for us.
“We’ve been doing it for 25 years. But the young ones coming through, how are we helping them navigate the personalities, the egos, the shouting, the swearing? Because we can shout and swear but you and I know because we’ve been here for 20 years that we’re friends again in the next five minutes.
“We know that. But a new graduate might not. And they might take it to heart thinking why that person shouted and swore at me? Why is this one so rude? And how can I approach this person again?
“We really need this psychology part of it. But also, we need to teach graduates so that there’s a softer landing for them when they enter this very scary world of journalism. Your colleagues can even turn on you in minutes.
“It’s such a difficult and tricky place. I really think more needs to be done at the universities and colleges, and certainly by the managers as well to make sure that we usher in a more welcoming space.”
Hear more from Robin Adams below:
Media Helping Media reports that journalism schools and training programmes must prepare aspiring journalists for the psychological realities of the profession, including:
- Teaching coping mechanisms and self-care strategies.
- Raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of PTSD.
- Providing ethical frameworks for reporting on trauma.
- Creating a culture of open dialogue about mental health
“What they want is for someone to tell them that this space can be a very dark space but I don’t want you ever to feel that it’s a dark space. I want you to feel welcome,” said Adams.
You can download a PDF version of this research paper here.
TITLE
Mental health for journalists: Are newsrooms and classrooms doing enough? – Faras Ghani – 2025
ABSTRACT
Journalism is a profession of choice. Typically, it offers limited financial returns and almost always puts peace of mind at risk. Long hours, hostile environments, and the potential for more adversaries than allies have long been hallmarks of a journalist’s life. The increased competition among peers, for speed and exclusivity, also puts extra pressure on individuals to perhaps work beyond their capacity in return for what they consider success and achievements.
Working on conflict zones as well as covering wars and natural disasters has a negative effect on a journalist’s life. However, in addition to that, workload, office stress, anxiety, bullying at work, long working hours and increasing work demands can negatively affect a journalist’s mental health. But do journalists have coping mechanisms? Is mental health being discussed in newsrooms?
Away from the newsrooms, is any of that being discussed in classrooms? Are journalism institutes preparing the journalists and content creators of tomorrow incorporating mental health into their curriculum as an essential part? Is the focus more on telling other people’s story instead of focusing on their own self too while at it? In addition to learning data journalism, reporting, interviewing techniques and adapting to various social media platforms, is enough being done to instill survival skills, identify red flags, and the importance of stepping back without fear of repercussion or embarrassment?
INTRODUCTION
For newsrooms across the globe – from print to broadcast to digital – the stress of deadlines, workload and increase in gruesome content to sift through is taking a toll on journalists and content creators.
With falling budgets and rise in competitiveness for share of advertising revenues and clicks, a lot of newsrooms are facing redundancies which often result in overworked staff. With an increase in demand of consumption due to additional publishing avenues (print, digital, social media, audio), journalists are expected to adapt a single piece of content across platforms, resulting in extra work. That may help with polishing of skills and an increase in the skillset, but with an understaffed newsroom, the pressure of meeting expectations as well as the deadlines can take a toll.
Now, with an increasing number of conflicts globally, the emotional side of things take a hit as well. Gory content, news and visuals of death and destruction, demands of an under-staffed shift and overload of newslines will affect reporters, sub-editors, editors and even interns who want to have a taste of the real working life in the newsroom.
This leads to loss in quality, increase in stress levels, inferior meaningful discussions in the newsroom and a possible effect on professional relationships among staff.
Journalists play a vital role in shaping the audience’s opinion. Often, what the audience consumes is what forms their opinion. With an affect on journalists’ mental health, and the subsequent fall in output quality, a domino effect may happen on the audiences, with struggles when it comes to impartiality and keeping their bias away.
Away from the newsrooms, is any of that being discussed in classrooms? Are journalism education institutions preparing the journalists and content creators of tomorrow incorporate mental health into their curriculum as an essential part? Is the focus more on telling other people’s story instead of focusing on their own self too while at it? In addition to data journalism, reporting, interviewing techniques and adapting to various social media platforms, is enough being done to instill survival skills, identify red flags, and the importance of stepping back without fear of repercussion or embarrassment?
This paper will look to examine where classrooms and newsrooms stand on the very important matter that is a journalist’s mental health in these demanding times.
We speak to academia and students to see how far classrooms and trainers are going to prepare the students for the real world, physically and psychologically. And we will also look at newsrooms where mental health is an integral part of the day as well as organisations that send the regular “look after your mental health” emails purely for optics and without any credible efforts to undertake that.
In addition, do newsrooms have help on hand? Do universities provide professional psychologists to impart knowledge and deliver the course? Also, do journalists really care about mental health or they want to look “macho”?
The importance of mental health is not only for an individual, but also the newsroom as well as the subjects the newsroom and the journalist tackle. It is also important for the future of the industry and the world of journalism. Therefore, the paper will also look at how mental health was being looked at in the past, comparing it to today and look into the myths that reporting on these types of content for long hours on end “is part of your job”.
METHODOLOGY
Research was done in the form of three different surveys that were carried out:
- Journalists (working in newsrooms, field or freelance) – 185 respondents
- Journalism (or related curriculum) students – 100 respondents
- Faculty (journalism or related subjects) – 15 respondents
In addition to the above, analysts and experts relevant to the study (including academia, mental health experts as well as journalists who quit the profession) were shortlisted for detailed interviews about their experience and suggestions.
CONCLUSION
A staggering 93% of journalists surveyed for this research said they’ve faced mental health challenges on the job.
More than 50% have experienced work-related stress. Just under half have taken time off due to mental health challenges. Around 77% said their personal life has been affected by workload and work-related pressure.
Another survey done found that 38% of journalists said their mental health has declined over the last year. Research by The Self-Investigation, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting well-being and mental health at work, reported high levels of anxiety (60%) among journalists.
A 2020 Reuters Institute survey found that 70% of international journalists reported psychological distress, and 11% showed symptoms of PTSD.
These surveys, research and interviews point to a grim situation in newsrooms, where journalists are facing uphill battles to produce content round the clock while neglecting their mental health or having it not featured on the priority list for the management.
The surveys and respondents have also pointed to lack of help in newsrooms where journalists are also wary of bringing up the topic for fear of repercussion.
There also seems to be a lack of importance given to this topic in journalism schools, where the emphasis seems to be on equipping students with skills such as writing, editing, filming, photography and the likes but neglecting, overlooking or totally ignoring the mental health challenges that exist in the newsroom and field and also failing to equip them with coping mechanisms.
REFERENCES