USA Today's editor in chief reveals that journalists carry trauma 'on our souls'

Journalists really are the worst. There are exceptions: We can understand how a war correspondent could face a stressful environment. But according to journalists themselves, they’re all war correspondents. As Katy Tur once famously said, they’re the firefighters running toward the flames.

USA Today’s editor-in-chief, Nicole Carroll, has a new opinion piece about the waves of trauma that lead to journalist burnout.

"Journalists carry trauma 'on our souls'," USA TODAY Editor in Chief Nicole Carroll for @usatodayopinion. “Our industry, of course, is not the only one. Health care workers, educators, first responders and many others face new pressures.”https://t.co/J0Dq1McFdw

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 23, 2022

Recently, USA TODAY had Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, come talk about trauma, burnout and how to cope. pic.twitter.com/8jWC29nJSd

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 23, 2022

Do an activity that involves deep rhythmic breathing … They’re actually doing it! They’re following the New York Times’ advice for dealing with election anxiety, such as “breathing like a baby” or sticking your face in a bowl of ice water.

Carroll writes:

Even if we don’t see things firsthand, we constantly write about shootings, edit graphic images and videos, interview those left behind.

“We are engaged in constant empathetic engagement with often profoundly traumatized and vulnerable sources and communities – and we carry those on our souls,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

“We are covering events that often breach our personal sense of safety or our personal sense of what’s right in the world and may disrupt our own sense of values.”

And to compound the stress: Journalists are under attack like no other time in American journalism. They’ve spent the past three years covering a pandemic while also dealing with their own or loved ones’ illnesses. The issues they cover for the public – racism, misogyny, LQBTQ attacks – become quite personal. The industry is squeezed by economic pressures and cutbacks.