DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS

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DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
M A G A Z I N E   O F   T H E   N AT I O N A L        U N I O N        O F   J O U R N A L I S T S

                                     WWW.NUJ.ORG.UK | APRIL-MAY 2021

                        DANGEROUS
                          WORK
                        The mental health risks of journalism
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
Contents

“
                                                                              Main feature
                                                                              14 Strains of stress
                                                                                 Mental health and journalism

                     S
                         afety has been on all our minds over the
                                                                              News
                         past year amid the pandemic.
                                                                              03 BBC moves jobs out of London
                            But while the coronavirus threat is                  Specialist teams to be relocated
                         thankfully receding at the moment,                   04 From Brixton to BLM
                         there are many other risks that                         A persepective on combatting racism
                journalists face on a daily basis.
                  The demands of a exacting, deadline-driven                  05 R
                                                                                  each closes newsrooms
job which can involve dealing with traumatic news events take                    Radical move to homeworking
their toll on mental health as our cover feature by Samir Jeraj               07 Members stressed by the pandemic
explores.                                                                        Survey finds isolation and anxiety
  And increasingly journalists are facing physical and verbal

                                                                              Features
intimidation for just doing their jobs as Neil Merrick reports
in his feature. We also have a report from the TUC’s women’s
conference on an NUJ motion about the spiralling abuse of                     10 Spotlight on Liverpool
women journalists.                                                               How journalism is faring in the city
  Help is hopefully at hand to tackle intimidation after the
creation of a government-launched national plan for the safety                12 Pandemic of abuse
of journalists. The NUJ contributed to the drafting of the plan                  How we can make journalism safer
and will help monitor how journalists are protected in the                    16 Weathering a storm
future.
                                                                                 Looking back to 1921
  In the wake of Piers Morgan’s resignation, Raymond Snoddy
looks at other high-profile departures and the reasons behind
them.                                                                         Regulars
  And on a lighter note now Spring is here, our regular media
anniversary feature looks at the rise of the weather forecasters.             21 Technology
  Wishing everyone a return to more normal life. Stay safe.                   24 Obituaries
                                                                              25 And finally...

                                                     ”
Christine Buckley
Editor
@mschrisbuckley

 Editor                         NUJ                                                               Arts
 journalist@nuj.org.uk          72 Acton Street                                                   Page
                                London WC1X 9NB
 Design
 Surgerycreations.com           info@nuj.org.uk                                                   20
 info@surgerycreations.com      www.nuj.org.uk
 Advertising                    Tel: 020 7843 3700
                                                                           Ray
 Melanie Richards
 Tel: 07494975239
                                Manchester office
                                nujmanchester@nuj.org.uk                   Snoddy
 ads@journalistmagazine.co.uk   Glasgow office                             Page 19
 Print
                                                                                                           Letters and
                                nujscotland@nuj.org.uk
 Warners                                                   Cover picture
                                Dublin office
                                                                                                           Steve Bell
 www.warners.co.uk                                         Gary Neill
                                info@nuj.ie
 Distribution
 GB Mail
 www.gb-mail.co.uk
                                ISSN: 0022-5541
                                                                                                           Page 22-23

02 | theJournalist
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
news

400 jobs moving out of                                                                                                                          inbrief...

London in BBC shake-up
                                                                                                                                                RECORD COMPLAINTS
                                                                                                                                                OVER PIERS MORGAN

                                                                                                           “
                                                                                                                                                Two episodes of Good Morning
                                                                                                                                                Britain in which Piers Morgan made
THE BBC is shifting 400 roles                                            moves, raising expectations                                            comments about the Duchess of
                                  BBC

out of London including                                                  that there could be a series of                                        Sussex’s interview with Oprah
whole specialist teams in one                                            high-profile departures.                                               Winfrey that led to him quitting the
of the biggest changes to its                                               There are plans to create                                           show, have attracted the most
structure. 150 jobs will be                                              56 new roles mostly in digital    Teams covering                       complaints to the TV regulator ever.
scrapped rather than moved                                               and and because some                                                   Ofcom said the episodes triggered
out of the capital.                                                      programmes will be regularly      the environment,                     57,121 complaints, surpassing the
   The cuts are part of 520 job
losses across news that were
                                                                         broadcast from outside
                                                                         London.
                                                                                                           technology and                       previous record of 44,500.

announced last year and part                                                Paul Siegert, NUJ national     education will
                                                                                                                                                FACEBOOK FACES
of a £800 million savings
package across the BBC. News
                                                                         broadcasting organiser, said:
                                                                         “We welcome more diversity
                                                                                                           move to Leeds,                       LAWSUIT IN FRANCE
is being asked to save £85              number of 6Music’s staff.        and creating more content         Cardiff, Glasgow and                 Reporters Without Borders, the
million.                                   A third of Radio 4’s Today    out of London is a good                                                freedom of expression campaign
   ’Teams covering the                  programme will broadcast         thing, as is extra investment     Birmingham                           group, has filed a lawsuit against
environment, technology,                outside London. Newsnight        in apprenticeships. However,                                           Facebook in France. It claims that
and education, will move to             and Radio 4’s PM will also       it’s strange that at the same                                          the platform is not providing the
Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow, and            regularly go to other regions.   time the BBC is talking about                                          ‘safe’ online space that it promises
Birmingham.                                The proportion of the TV      the importance of getting out                                          for journalists and the public.
   Daytime programmes on                budget spent outside London      of London and investing in
Radio 1, Radio 2, and 1Xtra             will increase from 50 per cent   the regions as a means of
will be broadcast from                  to 60 per cent in the next       better serving the audience, it                                        BURSARIES ON OFFER
elsewhere in the UK.                    seven years.                     has also axed 450 posts in                                             AT THE GUARDIAN
   Radio 3’s leadership team               Some specialists have         English regions and cut £25                                            The Guardian Foundation is offering
will go to Salford along with a         voiced doubts about the          million from that budget.”                                             bursaries for aspiring journalists to
                                                                                                                                                study for an MA in journalism. The
                                                                                                                                                awards aim to help those who face
 Plan to ensure journalists’ safety                                                                                                             financial difficulty in studying, and
                                                                                                                                                those from backgrounds that are
 THE NUJ has welcomed a national                   plan sets out a range of measures           attack and threaten journalists are              under-represented in the media.
 safety plan for journalists which was             designed to ensure freelance and staff      brought to justice.                              The application deadline is
 launched by the Government in                     journalists are protected and                 A survey of NUJ members last year              May 22. See https://workforus.the
 response to the growing intimidation              supported. It also calls on social media    found that more than half of                     guardian.com
 of reporters, photographers and other             platforms to do more to stamp out           respondents had experienced online
 media workers. The National                       online abuse, and on the criminal           abuse and nearly a quarter had been
 Committee for the Safety of Journalists’          justice system to ensure those who          physically assaulted or attacked.

Delegate meeting deadline
                                                                                                                          International drive
UNION branches have until               from 6.6 per cent to 12 per                                                           on Belarus
May 14 to put late notice               cent depending on members’
                                                                                                                       More than 50 leaders of journalists’ unions and
motions to the postponed                incomes.
                                                                                                                      associations across Europe have written to European
delegate meeting, which is                 Many of the motions in the
                                                                                                                          governments and heads of state to express their
being held online on May 21             agenda are already being
and 2. Late notice motions              implemented because                                                                    deep concerns about the intensification of
are to enable the agenda,               there was no opposition from                                                           the repression of journalists in Belarus. The
which was finalised early last          the NEC.                                                                                 initiative was organised by the European
year, to be updated.                                                                                                            Federation of Journalists to mark Freedom
  The union’s national                                                                                                             Day in Belarus on March 25. There are
executive council (NEC) is                                                                                                     currently 12 journalists in jail in Belarus and
asking delegates to approve                                                                                                           since the elections, which were
an increase in subscriptions                                                                                                         held last August 2020 some 480
after failing to achieve an                                                                                                         journalists have been detained.
increase at the last delegate
meeting in April 2018. The
proposed increases range

                                                                                                                                                                  theJournalist | 03
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
news

From Brixton to Black Lives Matter:
international resistance to racism

                                                                                                                                          “
                                                                       Johannesburg-based broadcaster Jacqui Hlongwane spoke
                                                                    about her late mother, Jane Hlongwane, who was general
                                                                    secretary of the Steel Engineering and Allied Workers’ Union
                                                                    and a Black Consciousness Movement activist, and growing up
                                                                    in apartheid South Africa: “As black children, we had to go to a      As black children,
                                                                    different school and even a separate swimming pool.”
                                                                       Hlongwane wanted to make a difference by working in the            we had to go to a
                                                                    media. After graduating from Witswaterand – “a top South              different school
                                                                    African university” – she got a job at a television station, where
                                                                    she became programme manager. However, she noted: “Since              and even a separate
                                                                    1994, we have had black majority rule but the privileged white
                                                                    minority population are doing a lot better than black people.”
                                                                                                                                          swimming pool
                                                                       Grassroots Black Left activist Sophia Mangera, born in South
                                                                    Africa and politically active in Lewisham from her teens, spoke       Jacqui Hlongwane
INTERNATIONAL speakers came together to mark the UN’s               about the racist activity of the National Front that culminated in
anti-racism day in a webinar organised by the NUJ’s black           the 1981 New Cross fire in which 13 young black people were
members’ council, writes Marc Wadsworth. They included a            massacred. The huge Black People’s Day of Action march resulted.
senior broadcasting executive from South Africa, a Jamaican         Police failed to find the murderers.
newspaper editor and a leading American civil rights lawyer.           Weekly Gleaner editor George Ruddock said The Voice, a
  The 40 Years of Resistance: From the Brixton Uprisings to         British black national newspaper, was founded a year after the
Black Lives Matter event heard from Pan Africanist Congress of      Brixton disturbances of 1981.
Azania activist Lindiwe Tsele, aged 86, who recounted what             Justice4Grenfell campaign co-ordinator Yvette Williams backed
happened in 1960 in Sharpeville, South Africa, when at least 69     US speaker Vanita Banks, who answered a question by NUJ
mainly young black protesters were shot dead by police.             national executive council member Natasha Hirst. Hirst asked
  The protesters were peacefully demonstrating against a law        what white people could do to give solidarity to black people.
that forced them to carry identity cards because they were black.      Participants felt the establishment of a sustainable anti-racist
“Many of them were shot in the back when they were fleeing          movement that would be a fitting tribute to fallen heroes
the scene,” said Tsele. “Apartheid was an evil form of white        should be explored. They were keen the incredible Black Lives
supremacy used to oppress black people in their own country.“       Matter momentum should not be lost.

  Rusbridger quits Irish media commission                                                                                                   Greenslade, a seasoned
                                                                                                                                          media commentator,
  ALAN RUSBRIDGER, a former        arising over his employment       Times, The Sun and the            concealed the fact to protect      left his role as honorary
  editor of The Guardian, has      of a columnist who, it            Daily Mirror, recently            his employment.                    visiting professor of
  left his role on Ireland’s       emerged, had supported            revealed that he had                 Rusbridger said he was          journalism at City, University
  Future of the Media              the IRA.                          supported the IRA’s use           leaving the commission so          of London, in March after his
  Commission.                        Roy Greenslade, a former        of violence during the            as not to distract from            support for the IRA was
    This followed controversy      senior editor at The Sunday       Troubles and had                  its work.                          made known.

    Scan here if you care
    about journalism.

04 | theJournalist
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
news

Reach closes newsrooms in                                                                                                              inbrief...

radical homeworking move
                                                                                                                                       TELEGRAPH PLANS TO
                                                                                                                                       LINK CLICKS WITH PAY

                                                                                                          “
                                                                                                                                       The Daily Telegraph wants to link
                                                                                                                                       some elements of journalists’ pay to
REACH, the publisher of the Mirror, Express           there have been real difficulties that require                                   the popularity of their work. An
and Star and more than 100 regional news              help and support – so listening to individuals                                   email to staff from editor Chris
titles, is closing most of its newsrooms and          and their circumstances will be important.                                       Evans said that the paper wanted
moving most staff permanently to largely                 “We should also not lose sight of                                             to use a system that graded reports
home working. Only about a quarter of its             the important symbol that the physical              There have been              and features by factors such as how
                                                                                                                                       many subscriptions they drive and
employees will be required to work exclusively
in the office even when the pandemic has
                                                      presence of media companies has for local
                                                      communities – something recognised by
                                                                                                          advantages for               how many clicks they get to link
receded.                                              the NUJ’s news recovery plan.”                      companies and many           performance to reward.
   The move follows a                                                   Reach intends to operate 15
survey of Reach staff                                                ‘hubs’, where some staff – mainly    employees. For
which found that 82 per
cent thought they did
                                                                     in production – will work and
                                                                      others can hold meetings. These
                                                                                                          others, there have           SHEFFIELD STAR
                                                                                                                                       WINS ON DIVERSITY
not need to be physically                                             will be in Belfast, Bristol,        been real difficulties       The Sheffield Star won top place in
with colleagues to carry                                              Birmingham, Dublin, Cardiff,                                     the Diversity and Inclusion
out their work.                                             Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London,                                   category at the NCTJ Awards for
   Reach said there would be no redundancies          Oldham, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth             Chris Morley                 Excellence after making ‘huge
in the shake-up and that homeworking would            and another location in the south east.             NUJ’s Reach coordinator      strides in working towards a
reduce costs and help protect the future of its          Mark Johnson, Reach NUJ group chapel                                          diverse workforce’ over the past
publications.                                         chair, said: “This is a massive project and our                                  year, which enabled the paper ‘to
   Chris Morley, the NUJ’s Reach coordinator,         members will have lots to consider and say                                       reach communities which have
said: “There have been some advantages for            about the proposals. A one size fits all solution                                not previously engaged with
companies and many employees in terms of              probably wouldn’t be the best way and we                                         local journalists’.
better use of time, quicker communications            appreciate that the company is stressing it will
and reshaping of work-life balance. For others,       listen carefully to individual circumstances.”
                                                                                                                                       ALDRIDGE TAKES ON
                                                                                                                                       SUNDAY EDITOR ROLE

 NI Assembly seeks press input                                                             long-term viability of the local
                                                                                           media and how the
                                                                                                                                       Mirror deputy editor Gemma
                                                                                                                                       Aldridge has been appointed editor
 THE NORTHERN Ireland          their views on the long-term   in Northern Ireland to       government can help.                        of the Sunday Mirror and Sunday
 Assembly’s All-Party Group on sustainability of media        respond to the consultation.   The call for evidence will                People. She succeeds Paul
 Press Freedom and Media       organisations.                   Media workers and outlets help to inform a recovery plan               Henderson, who left in December
 Sustainability has invited      The NUJ has been involved across the industry are         that will aim to ensure local               as part of a restructuring. Aldridge
 industry stakeholders to      in establishing this new group encouraged to submit written media outlets survive not just              remains deputy editor of the Mirror
 submit evidence on the        and is encouraging NUJ         evidence about their         beyond the coronavirus crisis               alongside Tom Carlin and
 impact of the pandemic and    members who live and work      experiences and views on the but also far into the future.               Paul Cockerton.

Union condemns Bloody                                                                                                   DMGT buys
                                                                                                                   New Scientist magazine
Sunday reporting ban                                                                                                 Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT),
                                                                                                                  publisher of the Daily Mail, has acquired
                                                                                                                   New Scientist magazine in a £70 million
THE NUJ has condemned a decision to ban the media from
reporting the opening statements and all witness statements in                                                     deal. It is thought that DMGT, which also
the case of Soldier F in the Bloody Sunday murder inquiry.                                                        owns the i and Metro, has guaranteed the
   Soldier F is the only ex-British army paratrooper facing murder                                                65-year-old title’s editorial independence
charges arising from the killings of 13 civilians in the Bogside area                                             and has ruled out job cuts and the sharing
of Londonderry on January 30 1972.                                                                                  of editorial content. The publisher said
   At a preliminary hearing, as well as confirming that the                                                        the acquisition was part of its strategy to
anonymity put in place last year would continue, District Judge                                                        boost its revenue through greater
Ted Magill banned the reporting. He said that it was a question                                                      subscriptions and digital capabilities.
of law.                                                                                                                    New Scientist employs about
   Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said the ruling                                                                  80 staff, including
went against the principle of open justice and the need for the                                                                    40 journalists.
criminal justice system to operate in public and be subject to
public scrutiny.

                                                                                                                                                        theJournalist | 05
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
news

TUC supports women journalists
over ‘highly damaging’ abuse

                                                                                                                                               “
THE TUC’s women’s conference has passed an emergency NUJ              and withdrawing from online spaces because of abuse.
motion on the spiralling abuse of female journalists.                    Trade unionists representing members in schools, shops and
   The NUJ highlighted the cases of Northern Ireland reporter         hospitals described the level of abuse many women experience
Patricia Devlin, who was subjected to threats including graffiti      during their working lives.
of her name against the crosshairs of a gun and Nadine                                         The conference heard how domestic abuse         Online abuse of
White (see story on the opposite page),                                                    has increased under the Covid-19 restrictions,
who was smeared online by government                                                       of the stubborn statistic that on average a         journalists is highly
minister Kemi Badenoch for asking a                                                         woman is killed by a man every three days          gendered and is a
question on a story.                                                                        and other findings outlined in the 2019
   The motion said: “Such attacks not only                                                  Femicide report.                                   form of discrimination
harm the individuals concerned but also
normalise and legitimise the harassment of
                                                                                                 Natasha said: “Online abuse of journalists
                                                                                             is highly gendered and is a form of
                                                                                                                                               and violence
journalists at work, which is highly                                                         discrimination and violence against women.        against women
damaging to the critical role that journalism                                                 It’s intersectional too, with black women
plays in our democracy.”                                                                      journalists being especially targeted.”
   Natasha Hirst, chair of the NUJ’s equality                                                     She said that, as female colleagues are      Natasha Hirst
council, called on other unions for support                                                    being forced to withdraw from online            NUJ equality council
in pushing for each recommendation to                                                          platforms, all our rights, freedoms and
be implemented.                                                                           opportunities are compromised when that
   She said: “We all know that abuse thrives behind closed            journalist’s voice is silenced.
doors. It thrives when people choose to look away. It thrives            The TUC’s women’s committee agreed to express solidarity
when we do not actively challenge it. This is why I am a trade        with women journalists and lobby for greater sanctions against
unionist.                                                             the perpetrators of abuse.
   “Collectively, we bring solidarity and action to challenge            NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet has played a key
gender-based violence in all of its forms. So, sisters, let’s use     role on the government and industry’s National Committee for
our voices to drown out the trolls and the abusers and take           the Safety of Journalists, and an action plan containing
action to make it stop.”                                              powerful recommendations to tackle violence, abuse and
   Hirst told the conference that female writers are self-censoring   harassment of journalists in the UK.

  Call to improve equality at work                                                                        women do not know if they
                                                                                                          are paid less than their male
                                                                                                                                              justice. This needs to change.
                                                                                                                                                 “As the #MeToo
                                                                                                          counterparts, she said.             movement has clearly
  TOUGHER laws are needed             the TUC’s women’s               equal pay, you need                    Lewis said the Equal Pay         shown, it can take a long
  to improve employment               conference.                     transparency”.                      Act needed strengthening            time for women to report
  equality, particularly as             Lewis highlighted the            That is why the NUJ,             because there are too few           incidents. The NUJ also has
  women have borne the                proposed EU directive on        unlike the government, had          sanctions for breaches.             evidence of employers
  brunt of the economic               pay transparency, quoting       supported Stella Creasy’s              She said: “The three-            delaying internal
  impact of the pandemic,             European Commission             private member’s bill to end        month time limit to bring a         investigations, deliberately
  Sara Lewis, vice-chair of the       president Ursula von der        the shameful situation              claim to an employment              putting victims outside the
  NUJ’s equality council told         Leyen who said that “for        where six out of 10 working         tribunal is a huge barrier to       time limit.”

                     Female Afghan TV workers killed
                                                                                                                                                                           GHULAMULLAH HABIBI/​EPA-EFE/​SHUTTERSTOCK

                     THE NUJ has joined the condemnation of the       in a string of targeted attacks on media workers
                     killers of three female journalists from         with the backdrop of US-brokered attempts to
                     Afghanistan’s Enikass TV. They were shot by      negotiate an end to the country’s civil war.
                     unknown gunmen in two attacks as they               Ekinass had earlier informed Afghanistan’s
                     attempted to return home from work in March.     national intelligence agency about threats to
                        Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz        its staff. The International Federation of
                     Roafi, who worked in Enikass TV’s dubbing        Journalists and its affiliate the Afghan
                     division, were gunned down in different          Independent Journalists’ Association called for
                     locations in the eastern city of Jalalabad in    urgent measures to improve the safety of
                     Nangarh’r province. The murders are the latest   media workers in the country.

06 | theJournalist
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
news

Majority of members feel                                                                                                             inbrief...

stressed by pandemic
                                                                                                                                     REVENUE AT REACH
                                                                                                                                     DROPS 14.6 PER CENT

                                                                                                      “
                                                                                                                                     Reach, publisher of the Mirror,
                                                                                                                                     Express and Star and many regional
MORE than half of NUJ members have been                                                                                              titles, reported a 14.6 per cent fall
concerned about their mental health during                                                                                           in revenue for last year to £600.2
the pandemic, according to a survey.                                                                                                 million and an adjusted operating
   Many members found that juggling work                                                                                             profit of £133.8 million (down 12.8
during the coronavirus restrictions caused                                                            Almost three-quarters          per cent). It had an adjusted
                                                                                                                                     operating profit margin of 22.3 per
stress and anxiety.
   They said feelings of isolation, anxiety about
                                                                                                      said there had been            cent, up from 21.8 per cent, and a
losing their jobs, symptoms of long Covid and                                                         redundancies and               net cash balance of £42 million. .
higher workloads led to depression and
insomnia. Juggling childcare, home schooling                                                          85 per cent believed
and getting work done was taking its toll, with
45 per cent saying they had problems coping.           Compared with last spring, fewer editorial
                                                                                                      the continuing crisis          FIRST WOMAN EDITOR
                                                                                                                                     OF FT’S THE BANKER
   Almost three-quarters (72 per cent) said         staff were on furlough – 14 per cent compared     would lead to further          The FT’s The Banker magazine has
                                                                                                                                     a female editor for the first time in
there had been redundancies and 85 per cent
believed the continuing crisis would lead to
                                                    to 45 per cent. However, some staff at
                                                    JPI Media have been off work since April.
                                                                                                      job cuts                       its 95-year history. Joy Macknight
further job cuts.                                      Some of those working from home said                                          has succeeded Brian Caplen who
   Some 61 per cent said their income had           employers made few or no allowances for                                          retired after 18 years in the role.
been affected by the pandemic, with 13 per          coping with home schooling. Some had been                                        She joined The Banker in 2015 as
cent losing all their income and 35.5 per cent      encouraged to take holidays or unpaid leave                                      transaction banking and
earning less than half. One in six freelances       to look after their children.                                                    technology editor and was then
said their work had decreased sharply or dried         The survey, which had 840 respondents,                                        promoted to deputy editor and
up completely, with 13 per cent saying their        was carried out between the end of 2020 and                                      managing editor.
work had increased or there had been little         the beginning of 2021.
impact.                                             Strains of stress, pages 14-15
                                                                                                                                     FIELDING AND GIGGS
                                                                                                                                     RECEIVE DAMAGES
 Third of LGBT+ members harassed at work                                                                                             Noel Fielding and Rhodri Giggs,
                                                                                                                                     Ryan Giggs’ estranged brother, have
 ALMOST one-third (29 per           at work because of their          However, almost 70 per cent       Two-thirds had not           accepted ‘substantial damages’
 cent) of NUJ members               sexuality or gender identity.     said their workplace was an     experienced any workplace      from the publisher of the News of
 surveyed during February’s           Colleagues were the worst       inclusive, safe space to be     policies denying them equal    the World over phone hacking. A
 LGBT+ History month said           perpetrators, followed by         open about their sexuality.     access to employment rights    solicitor said Fielding thought
 they had experienced               senior managers; one in 10        Just under half (49 per cent)   or workplace benefits.         articles published in 2006-2010
 bullying, harassment, ill          said an interviewee had been      said the same about gender        There were 284               contained private information.
 treatment or discrimination        discrimintory or bullying.        identity.                       respondents to the survey.

NUJ Extra extends Covid help                                                                                          Nadine White goes
                                                                                                                      to the independent
NUJ EXTRA, the union’s             is available). It doesn’t matter                                             Huffpost reporter Nadine White has been
welfare charity, has started a     whether or not you have
                                                                                                            appointed the first race correspondent for The
third wave of support for          claimed before.
                                                                                                           Independent. White experienced a large amount
members who have suffered             If you are claiming for the
                                                                                                             of online abuse after equalities minister Kemi
financially as a result of         first time and would have
Covid-19 and lockdowns.            benefited from previous                                                 Badenoch tweeted screenshots of the reporter’s
   It has committed to helping     support, your payment will                                                emails asking why the minister hadn’t taken
with funding until restrictions    be backdated.                                                             part in a video encouraging ethnic minorities
are due to end on June 21.            NUJ Extra trustees are                                                   to get the Covid-19 vaccine. It is thought to
   Members should contact          concerned that members may                                                    be the first time a news organisation has
NUJ Extra using the form on        be unaware of the scheme or                                                    appointed a correspondent specifically
the website (a paper version       feel they do not deserve it.                                                  focused on race. The Independent said it
                                                                                                                     wanted to increase its coverage of
                                                                                                                        issues affecting the lives of
                                                                                                                             people of colour.

                                                                                                                                                      theJournalist | 07
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
Russia

                                                Moscow raises
                                                                                                                                                           on Russia from Lenin to Putin. That
                                                                                                                                                           something related to the Soviet role in
                                                                                                                                                           the war. “Any kind of suggestion that
                                                                                                                                                           their World War II record is not spotless

                                                the temperature
                                                                                                                                                           is badly received here.”
                                                                                                                                                              The approach taken when the
                                                                                                                                                           Western media raises questions about

                                                amid pandemic
                                                                                                                                                           Russian or Soviet narratives has
                                                                                                                                                           evolved since the Cold War. The
                                                                                                                                                           Kremlin has gone on the offensive.
                                                                                                                                                              As Dmitri Trenin, the director of the
                                                                                                                                                           Carnegie Moscow Center, put it in his
                                                                                                                                                           2016 essay, Should We Fear Russia?
                                                                                                                                                           “Rather than hushing up criticism of
                                                                                                                                                           Russia and its leaders, which the Soviet
                                                                                                                                                           Union practised all the time, the
                                                                                                                                                           Russian state-run media attack this
                                                                                                                                                           criticism immediately, head-on, and
                                                                                                                                                           seek to demolish the western story.”
                                                                                                                                                              Matthew Chance has reported from
                                                                                                                                                            Moscow for CNN since the late 1990s.
                                                                                                                                                                His experience in the latter part of
                                                                                                                                                                   his time there tends to confirm
                                                                                                                                                                      that. “We’re seen more as
                                                                                                                                                                       hostile actors in their world,”
                                                                                                                                                                        he told me. “It translates into
                                            Pressure on foreign reporters in Russia                                                                                     the way we’re spoken to, into
                                                                                                                                                                        the access we’ve got, which is
                                            has been growing, says James Rodgers                                                                                        negligible, and just the
                                                                                                                                                                       general climate of distrust of
                                                                                                                                                                     the foreign media that is

                                                T
                                                              he pandemic has            with the UK, continue to sour. The                                        cultivated by the authorities and
                                                              sparked the latest         distrust and disapproval are mutual.                                   by pro-Russian outlets.”
                                                              flashpoint between the       “The growing anti-western rhetoric in                              The way the Financial Times and the
                                                              Kremlin and Moscow’s       Russia makes reporting from here                                  New York Times reported Russia’s
                                                              foreign press corps.       challenging,” says the reporter. “The                             coronavirus death toll is a case in point.
                                              The race to create and distribute          portrayal of the West in the Russian                              Although the papers based their stories
                                            vaccines has become a matter not just        state media as waging some kind of                                on data released by officials in Moscow,
                                            of public health but also national pride.    campaign to undermine Moscow means                                in May last year, the Russian foreign
                                            The Sputnik V vaccine has been Russia’s      that western journalists are often viewed                         ministry dismissed the reporting as
                                            representative in the competition for        here, wrongly, as having an anti-Russia                           ‘anti-Russia allegations’.
                                            perceived scientific supremacy (and          agenda – simply not the case.”                                       “These publications are incorrect,
                                            commercial gain).                              In at least one case, journalists have                          biased and provide an unacceptably

                                                                                                                                     “
                                              Because that competition has played        been threatened with prosecution.                                 lopsided picture,” said ministry
                                            out in the international media, Moscow       Take the sensitive issue of the Soviet                            spokesperson Maria Zakharova
                                            correspondents have been dragged in.         victory in World War II – sensitive as it                         (pictured), although she stopped short
                                              “That’s where we in particular have        has become a cornerstone of President                             of acting on suggestions from some
                                            felt most pressure – in our reporting of     Vladimir Putin’s idea of Russia as a                              Russian parliamentarians that the two
                                            both the development of the vaccine          great and courageous nation, capable                              papers be stripped of their accreditation.
                                            and its distribution around the world,”
                                            says a news editor for a major
                                                                                         of withstanding threats of invasion
                                                                                         from the west.
                                                                                                                                     That’s where we          In all this, there is good news for
                                                                                                                                                           today’s Moscow correspondents. They
                                            international media organisation. “In          Even today, journalists mention the       have felt most        may be offered negligible access, but
ITAR-TASS NEWS AGENCY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

                                                                                                                                     pressure – in our
                                            fact, on that latter subject, we have come   Molotov-Ribbentrop pact – a non-                                  their work does get read at the highest
                                            under a good deal of official pressure.”     aggression agreement reached between                              level – and taken seriously. Why else
                                              A foreign reporter based in Russia         Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s          reporting of both     would the Russian state media try to
                                            agrees: “The Russian authorities are         Germany in 1939 – at their peril.                                 ‘demolish’ their stories?
                                            increasingly sensitive to criticism            “I once had somebody send to me on        the development of
                                            on a wide range of topics from the
                                            coronavirus pandemic to human rights.”
                                                                                         WhatsApp, statutes from the Russian
                                                                                         Criminal Code when we’d written
                                                                                                                                     the vaccine and its   James Rodgers completed postings
                                                                                                                                                           in Moscow for Reuters TV and the
                                              The history of the treatment of            something that they didn’t like,” one       distribution around   BBC during the 1990s and 2000s.
                                                                                                                                                           Assignment Moscow: Reporting
                                                                                                                                     the world
                                            western correspondents in Russia is also     long-serving western correspondent in
                                            the history of Russia’s relations with the   Moscow told me in an interview for my                             on Russia from Lenin to Putin, is
                                            west. Today, those relations, especially     book, Assignment Moscow: Reporting                                published by IB Tauris

                                            08 | theJournalist
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
viewpoint

Ethics should be at the
centre of journalism
A charity is working to make this happen, says David Hencke

     I
                   n an age of fake news   Network (EJN), a small charity                                    ethics module or, more ambitiously, a
                   and when the            operating at both national and                                    book alongside Essential Law
                   distinction between     international levels, is so very                                  for Journalists.
                   professional            important in this very dangerous,                                    Another issue that the EJN is
                   journalists and         difficult age.                                                    highlighting (in a series of online
bloggers is becoming blurred, the            On the international stage media is                             panels) is the highly controversial
ethics of publishing information are       under threat, whether it is the 119                               question of regulating social media.
becoming increasingly important.           journalists murdered by corrupt                                   Should it be self-regulating, should it
   How do journalists distinguish          politicians or drug cartels in Mexico or                          be regulated by national governments
between fact and fiction, comment and      censorship of the free press in Hong                              or should the giants of social media set
reporting? Does the internet foster a      Kong or Hungary.                                                  up proper accountability mechanisms?
greater exchange of views or confirm         The charity is being revamped. It has                           And, since it is an international issue, is
people’s prejudices in their own silos?    a very ambitious agenda and plans to                              there a role for the UN?
   Thirty years ago, it was much           reach out to schools and universities as                             Since it is such a huge subject, the
simpler. Print newspapers and TV were      well as to working journalists and                                possibilities for bringing the issue of
the gatekeepers – if professional          photographers. It holds webinars with                             ethics into journalism are endless.
journalists didn’t report or comment       experts to address the reporting of                                  The diverse EJN committee is
about something, it didn’t exist in the    controversial issues, whether domestic                            buzzing with ideas. I am keen to link
public mind. The main issue then was       abuse, the science of Covid 19 or the                             with the Migration Museum - the UK’s
the conglomeration of media power          power of internet moguls in the                                   first museum celebrating the diversity
within fewer and fewer hands.              information age.                                                  of migration – to debate the coverage
   Then there was a short, liberating        I am one member of the 20-strong                                of this issue, which can be extremely

                                                                                      “
period with the spread of the internet     UK national committee of journalists                              toxic.
when anyone could say and report           and academics that is drawing up a                                   Or there is another toxic issue –
what they wanted. Citizen journalism       programme which, if successful, could                             reporting racism – including
exploded on the scene and traditional      make journalistic ethics mainstream                               everything from Black Lives Matter and
mainstream media was put on                rather than a side issue or an option.                            the so-called ‘woke’ culture to the
the defensive.                               The charity has signed up with                                  government’s defence of what it
   Now we have the worst of all worlds.    Speakers for Schools so its members        Ethics are reduced     believes is British history and culture.
Mainstream media is owned by               can go out and talk to young people                                  The charity is going to set up an
oligarchs, hedge funds and powerful        about being a journalist and working       to an algorithm.       international committee that will deal
individuals. Social media is dominated     for media organisations. They can          Your moral compass     with the problems and ethical issues
by the duopoly of Facebook and Google      discuss issues such as fake news                                  journalists face when reporting abroad.
which are so powerful that whether         and how to distinguish it from             is whether what           Without doubt, there is a real need
you are the president of the United
States or a nation state like Australia,
                                           fact-based news as well as how to
                                           source and rate information from
                                                                                      you write leads to     for journalism, from mainstream
                                                                                                             media to the individual blogger, to
the owners can silence you with one        the internet.                              mass acceptance or     regain the trust of the general public.
keystroke.                                   The charity also wants to work                                  That can be done only with a proper
   In this day and age, ethics have been   with universities that run journalism      bombs. Fact or fake,   grounding in ethics. Without it, all that

                                                                                      ”
reduced to an algorithm – your moral       courses. The EJN is asking the 75 UK       it matters not         is left is propaganda, fake news and a
compass is whether what you write leads    journalism course providers whether                               culture of mutual distrust and hate.
to mass acceptance or bombs without        they include any teaching on ethics
trace. Fact or fake, it matters not.       and, if they do, what this includes. The                          https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.
   That is why the Ethical Journalism      ultimate aim is to create a national                              org

                                                                                                                                       theJournalist | 09
DANGEROUS WORK The mental health risks of journalism - MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
Liverpool
     Spotlight on...

                        Ruth Addicott asks                                               printing presses in Old Hall Street at 11.30am, 12pm, 12.30pm,
                                                                                         2pm and finally at 3.30pm,” he says. “You could get a good
                        journalists what it’s like to                                    story overnight and still preserve its exclusivity until the

                        live and work in Liverpool
                                                                                         paper hit the streets the following day.”
                                                                                            “In 2020, pre-coronavirus lockdown when football matches
                                                                                         were still being played every three or four days, barely
                                                                                         30,000 copies of the Liverpool Echo were being printed. But,

                          A
                                         s sports editor at the Liverpool Echo, David    crucially, the Echo attracted more than two million readers
                                         Prentice has an enviable patch, including two   to its website every single day, with 900,000 readers alone
                                         of the most successful clubs in English         clicking sports stories. If there was a big match that night, you
                                         football, Everton and Liverpool. He has been    could effectively double those figures. These were stories that
                                         to the Olympic Games, World Cup Finals,         could be uploaded within seconds of having been created.”
                       Grand Nationals and covered all kinds of stories from                Aside from the pandemic and potential further cuts, the
                       relegation battles to Liverpool’s European Cup triumph            challenges for journalists are the increasing barriers and
                       in 2005.                                                          levels of control put up by football clubs, and online abuse as
                          “I’m not sure I would have had as many sporting career         a result of their higher profile on social media.
                       opportunities writing in any other provincial city,” he says.        The Echo’s building in St Paul’s Square, off Old Hall Street,
                       “It’s my dream job.”                                              is also home to Liverpool FC’s official match day programme
                          For a sports journalist, Liverpool has plenty to offer.        and monthly magazine (published by Reach Sport) and other
                          “The national newspapers always want quality writers with      Liverpool FC books and publications. This Is Anfield is an
                       innate knowledge of the city and its teams,” says Prentice.       Liverpool FC website.
                       “Former Echo sports writers like Brian Reade, Tony Barrett,          Paul Salt, breakfast show presenter at BBC Radio
                       Chris Bascombe, Paul Joyce, Dominic King and Andy Hunter          Merseyside, also started out as a sports journalist. He began
                       have all gone on to enjoy successful careers nationally.”         his career on Liverpool’s commercial station Radio City and
                          Born “a goal-kick from Goodison Park”, Prentice has lived      moved from sport into news and presenting, having covered
                       in Merseyside all his life and worked at the Daily Post and       stories such as the Louise Woodward trial, the Hillsborough
                       Echo since 1987. He began his career on weeklies, including       verdicts and Liverpool’s European successes.
                       the Formby Times, Southport Visiter, Crosby Herald and               Salt, originally from Stafford, moved to Liverpool 25 years ago.
                       Bootle Times.                                                        “My main motivation for moving here was football,” he
                          While the weekly print titles have almost all closed and the   says. “My dad is a Liverpool fan, I’m a Liverpool fan, so I tried
                       Daily Post ceased publishing in 2013, he says the Echo is now     to pick a university near Anfield.”
                       employing more sports journalists than ever because of its           One thing he likes about the city is its village feel. “I live in
                       online reach.                                                     Crosby, about six miles from the city centre. I can be in town
                          He talks about the changes at The Echo in his book A Grand     in 20 minutes but, when I come home, I don’t feel close to
                       Old Team to Report, which recounts his journey following          work,” he says. “We’ve got a beach, which everyone is amazed
                       Everton as a fan, then as a reporter.                             by, and very quickly you can be out of Liverpool and into the
                          “In 1990, the Liverpool Echo sold 200,000 copies of a          countryside. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
                       printed newspaper every day and editions rolled off the              Stephanie Power, a freelance journalist, producer and

10 | theJournalist
opportunities

 Finding work                                                       Football
                                                                    Liverpool Echo sports editor
                                                                                                       in 2011, now employs 11
                                                                                                       people full time and attracts
                                                                                                                                        city can be a good starting
                                                                                                                                        ground. “If you want to
                                                                    David Prentice says the            more than 80,000 listeners.      cut your teeth in music
 Local news                        Power believes her audio         internet has opened up             There are Everton versions       journalism, it’s perfect.
 Journalist and documentary      abilities gave her a head start.   opportunities for fans to          too – The Blue Room, Toffee         There are a lot of blogs and
 maker Stephanie Power             “I think it’s great to have      generate and monetise their        TV and All Together Now.”        titles in Liverpool where you
 looked around her area and      audio skills. I’ve got my own      own content.                                                        can get experience, get your
 uncovered stories on John       studio and I’m self sufficient        He says: “The Anfield           Music                            feet on the ladder, then pitch
 Lennon, The Beatles and         when it comes to making            Wrap, a Liverpool FC-themed        Elliot Ryder, editor of music    to publications on a national
 Liverpool FC.                   radio,” she says.                  podcast, which was launched        magazine Bido Lito!, says the    scale,” he says.

                                                                      QUOTES
documentary maker, left her BBC staff job in London to move                                          and culture, whether this is music or galleries such as Tate
to Liverpool in 2007. She now works for Radio 4, including the                                       Liverpool or the Walker. Another upside is the cost of living
World at One, PM and the Today programme.                                                            compared to London.
   “I had no connections with Liverpool – I just fancied a            Elliot Ryder,                     “It’s a very modern city. I think a lot of people outside
change,” she says. “Liverpool became the European Capital of          editor of music                Liverpool don’t realise how much culture there is,” he says.
Culture in 2008 and there were so many stories, I set up my           magazine Bido                  “When we had our decline in the 1990s, post-Thatcher, the
own production company and winged it.”                                Lito!                          city had to reinvent itself very forcefully as a leisure, culture-
   Power did podcasts for the Health and Safety Executive,            “I’d say Liverpool is          first destination, so we have lots of artists, makers, people
which is based in Merseyside, and for football fans group             probably one of the            doing things.
Spirit of Shankly. With Salford only an hour away, she also           best springboards to              “I think the atmosphere is a lot more laid back as well, it’s not
worked on documentaries for the BBC – one on Hillsborough             move to if you wanted          as intense – there’s not quite as strong a middle/upper class
and another on Muslims in the Premier League.                         to make your name at a         ownership of the art, there is a lot of community art in Liverpool
   “I could have picked Glasgow, but I would have walked              title or arts organisation     which is on a par with the offer of the institutional galleries.”
into a massive pool of journalists because it’s a media hub,”         as a writer, curator              Although the Baltic Triangle made its name off the back of
she says. “Cardiff is a hub. Manchester and Salford is a hub.         or producer.”                  venues and arts spaces, the residential development has seen
Liverpool isn’t a hub and that worked to my advantage.”                                              many pushed out “with more in danger”, according to Ryder.
   As well as being close to Wales, the Lake District, Derbyshire     David Prentice,                It is now deprived areas such as Toxteth leading culture-led
and the coast, Power says another big appeal is the people,           liverpool Echo                 regeneration, with Birkenhead and Anfield following suit.
who are always happy to chat.                                         sports editor                     “People are using culture and arts to lead the regeneration
   Prentice agrees: “Scousers are naturally inquisitive and           “The greatest benefit of       rather than lots of residential money changing the place,”
rebellious, nosy and engaging, nostalgic and passionate –             working on Merseyside          he says.
and we love to talk,” he says. “We are naturally suspicious           is the readership.                Journalist, entrepreneur and events director Amanda
of authority and cultural elites, yet attempts to attack the          Football isn’t just a          Moss says: “Liverpool is one of the most creative cities in the
city from the outside see a shared and united reaction and            passion – it’s a religion, a   country, if not the most creative.”
community support.” Opportunities and pay vary. The city              way of life.”                     Moss founded Liverpool Fashion Week in 2009 and runs
has a large number of independent magazines and online                                               Lifestyle magazine. She moved to Liverpool in 2001 to work
publications including YM Liverpool (https://ymliverpool.             Stephanie Power,               on Hollyoaks, and set up the magazine after being made
com), Liverpool Noise (liverpoolnoise.com), His & Hers                reporter and                   redundant. She now runs the Liverpool Lifestyle Awards, the
Magazine (www.hisandhersmag.co.uk), arts website The                  producer                       Fashion & Beauty Awards and Manchester Fashion Week.
Double Negative (www.thedoublenegative.co.uk) and music               “People will talk to you          Salt concludes: “I think a big thing is the pride in local
magazine Bido Lito! (bidolito.co.uk).                                 and, as a journalist,          identity which, when you’re working in local radio, is brilliant.
   Editor of Bido Lito! Elliot Ryder grew up in Liverpool and         that’s great.”                 It’s such a buzz working here – it’s one of the best news
says one of the biggest draws for him is the diversity of art                                        patches in the country.”

                                                                                                                                                         theJournalist | 11
Pandemic of
Intimidation of journalists is increasing,                                                          A study in 2020 by Samantha Harman, former editor of the
                                                                                                 Oxford Mail, found cases of journalists being diagnosed with
especially online. Neil Merrick reports                                                          anxiety or depression after receiving abuse. Some had been
                                                                                                 forced to move home, or even left the profession.

     L
                 ike many journalists, Anna Riley is used to                                        Harman, now a freelance and course leader in journalism at
                  being criticised on Facebook and other                                         Oxford Brookes University, surveyed more than 400
                  social media.                                                                  journalists, mostly through regional publishers. Four out of
                     Her writing has been compared with that of                                  five said online abuse had increased since they had started in
                  a 13-year-old, while one person called her a                                   journalism. Eighty-nine per cent had received abuse on
‘real life Miss Hitler’. She has also been urged her to ‘go die’.                                Facebook and 67 per cent on Twitter.
   But should any reporter be required to put up with this                                          For Harman, the problem became starker when she realised
type of trolling or abuse? Riley, who works for Hull Live,                                       it was affecting her view of the world. Driving home at night
enjoys writing opinion pieces that both entertain and inform.                                    after deleting abusive comments left by readers, she began
They also lead to having a relatively high local profile.                                        to wonder if the people leaving such messages might attack
   She once lived off a food bank parcel for a week, and then                                    her or her house. “You wonder if the person who left that
did the same with petrol station food. She also wrote about                                      abusive message is standing behind you in the coffee shop,”
her boyfriend moving in with her during lockdown, as well as                                     she says.
people’s reactions when she wore a face mask on a bus.                                              Female journalists seem to bear the brunt of attacks.
   While Riley accepts it is legitimate for people to have                                       Last year, right-wing activist James Goddard was given a
opinions about what she writes, too often it degenerates into                                    restraining order by magistrates after shouting abuse at
personal attacks. Even on a day off, she can find herself                                        Lizzie Dearden, The Independent’s home affairs and
deleting comments on Facebook after one of her pieces                                            security correspondent.
goes live. “I don’t think the news desk has the capacity,”                                          Amy Fenton was forced to leave Barrow-in-Furness after
she says.                                                                                        facing a torrent of abuse, including a threat of rape, for court

                                                                    51%
   There seems little doubt that abuse and harassment of                                         stories she wrote as chief reporter of the Mail, the town’s
journalists is increasing, especially online. An NUJ survey last                                 daily paper.
year found that 51 per cent of journalists had experienced                                          According to a study by the International Centre for
online abuse during the previous 12 months. Of these, one in                                     Journalists, female journalists face daily online abuse, which
five said it was a regular experience – sometimes weekly or         of journalists               can invade their private lives and lead to psychological
even daily.                                                                                      problems as well as physical violence.
   When Riley wrote about being trolled, it led to a hate           had faced abuse                 It is not only female reporters who suffer harassment. Liam
group being created on Facebook. “On Twitter you can block          in the previous              Thorp, political editor at the Liverpool Echo, used Twitter to
people. On Facebook, you must read it before you delete it,”                                     publicise the contents of an email he received warning him
she says.                                                           12 months                    his ‘judgment will be due very soon’.

 Attacks on the streets
                                                                                   responsible for the            Parkinson, who works   Hirst, chair of the
                                                                                   lockdown and pandemic.      mainly for Associated     NUJ’s photographers’
                                                                                      Anti-lockdown            Press and Getty Images,   council, says hostility
 FREELANCE video             central London he once   Lives Matter, someone        protests by conspiracy      believes it is vitally    from the public is
 journalist Jason            had both his head and    threw a large rock at his    theorists are especially    important to tell the     especially worrying.
 Parkinson is used to        camera smashed with a    knee. “It was clearly a      dangerous.                  story – whether it is a      “Sometimes it’s a
 facing harassment and       broomstick during an     targeted attack,” he says.      “There is constant       far-right protest, or     problem when you take
 abuse when he is            anarchists’                 Things have got worse     harassment by               people breaking           pictures of people
 out filming.                demonstration..          over the past few years,     everyone,” he says.         lockdown rules by not     shopping or in the park,”
    In 2011, he was            Last summer, while     partly due to ‘fake news’    “I have been verbally       socially distancing in    she says.
 detained by secret police   covering the far-right   and Covid-19. Some           abused by elderly women     a park.                      “They assume the
 in Cairo while covering     protest in Trafalgar     people claim, as a           and people try to rip the      The element of risk    photographer is trying to
 the Arab Spring. In         Square against Black     journalist, he is            mask off your face.”        is growing. Natasha       make them look bad.”

12 | theJournalist
safety

abuse
                                                                  “
   The problem can be exacerbated by pressure on journalists                         liaison officer, while online platforms that fail to protect users
to gain a high profile, in the community. Publication of their                       will face sanctions, including fines of up to 10 per cent of
pictures makes them even more vulnerable. This is not                                turnover or having services blocked. A forthcoming online
something young reporters are generally prepared for, which                          safety bill will enshrine protections for journalistic content
creates pressure on news editors and editors to offer pastoral    Levels of public   and free debate online in law.
support.                                                                                NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, a committee
   “We don’t build it into our training programmes,” says         discourse are      member, says the action plan must be the start of a process
Harman. “We say ‘you must have a Facebook profile and have
people connect with you’. The more high profile you are, the
                                                                  parlous and        that leads to journalists working without fear of abuse
                                                                                     or harassment.
more abuse you attract. It shouldn’t be the price you pay.”
   In January, Harman presented her findings to the National
                                                                  have been for         “It’s a major plan that involves a lot of major stakeholders,”
                                                                                     she adds. “It addresses a lot of difficulties our members are
Committee for the Safety of Journalists, set up by the            many years.        finding on the ground.”
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Its                            By and large, says Michelle, the response of publishers has
members include representatives from the police and the           Journalists are    been poor, although there are isolated examples of publishers
Crown Prosecution Service.
   The police, she says, are keen for journalists to report       at the sharp end   taking steps, such as paying for a reporter to move home.
                                                                                        Ian Murray, former executive director of the Society of
serious incidents of abuse, especially when they include
                                                                  of that            Editors, believes threats to journalists have grown because of

                                                                  ”
threats of violence. “They are taking it really seriously,” she                      social media and politicians such as Donald Trump using the
says. “The problem before is that we were not reporting                              mantra of ‘fake news’ to cast aspersions on journalists’
it enough.”                                                                          credibility. “What’s fuelling it is a lack of respect for
   A national action plan, approved by the committee,                                journalists which, a fair amount of time, comes from
was published by DCMS in March. Measures include                                     politicians and other leaders,” he says.
better training for police officers, plus a commitment                                  In January, equalities minister Kemi Badenoch used Twitter
from social media platforms to take tough action                                     to attack Nadine White, then of the Huff Post, describing her
against abusers.                                                                     reporting as “creepy and bizarre”. The minister published
   Every police force will have a designated journalist safety                       letters that White (now at The Independent) had sent to
                                                                                     Badenoch, asking for a quote for a story about Covid-19
                                                                                     vaccinations. Allegra Stratton, press secretary to Boris
                                                                                     Johnson and a former journalist, later defended Badenoch,
                                                                                     claiming her response had been civilised.
                                                                                        The NUJ survey found examples of journalists censoring
                                                                                     their own copy because they feared the abuse they would
                                                                                     otherwise receive. “Levels of public discourse are parlous and
                                                                                     have been for many years,” adds Michelle. “Journalists are at
                                                                                     the sharp end of that.”
                                                                                        Publishers are generally reluctant to discuss the problem.
                                                                                     Reach said in a statement that all incidents of abuse are
                                                                                     recorded, and journalists offered emotional support via its
                                                                                     employee assistance programme. It was unwilling to go into
                                                                                     further detail, while a reporter at a Reach title questioned
                                                                                     whether the process works effectively.
                                                                                        So, it is inevitable that journalists must learn to cope with
                                                                                     trolls, abusive comments or worse, and perhaps treat it as
                                                                                     part of the job? At what point do you say that enough is
                                                                                     enough and call it a day?
                                                                                        For Riley, it is partly a matter of reputation. She fears calling
                                                                                     somebody and being recognised as the person who receives
                                                                                     regular abuse on Facebook, though this has not happened yet.
                                                                                     “So long as it doesn’t affect my professional reputation, I will
                                                                                     carry on,” she says.

                                                                                                                                        theJournalist | 13
Strains of stress
Stressed-out journalists don’t have to                                                        moderators and support staff, we would undoubtedly get a

suffer in silence, says Samir Jeraj
                                                                                              higher figure. That said, it is important “not to corelate the
                                                                                              work of journalists with their decision to kill themselves”, says
                                                                                              Dr Sallyanne Duncan, a senior lecturer in journalism at the
                                                                                              University of Strathclyde. “Suicide is a very complex issue

   D
                   avid had struggled with mental health                                      with many factors in their lives that cause them to take that
                   problems since he was a teenager and, by the                               decision,” she adds. However, the lack of robust data means it
                   time he became a journalist, his main source                               is extremely difficult to see if there is evidence of such a
                   of support was his partner.                                                correlation.
                     The unpredictable hours and stressful                                       “I think that education in covering trauma and interviewing
situations that are routine in journalism started to have an                                  victims of trauma is lacking in higher education,” says
impact. There were also harrowing stories that he covered,                                    Professor Natalee Seely, who studies the effects of everyday
such as the hunt for murderer Raul Moat across Northumbria                                    trauma on journalists in the US and found its frequency and
in 2010. Moat went on the run after killing one person and                                    intensity were linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
wounding two others, finally committing suicide. “I heard the                                 problems, even when taking into account previous personal
gunshot that he killed himself with,” he says. The shock was                                  trauma. She worked as a reporter for four years, covering crime
almost immediate: “I remember going back that night and                                       on her first job. “I wasn’t trained or prepared to interview
sitting on the balcony of my home and my partner waking up                                    victims or their family members,” she remembers.
at nine o’clock in the morning and finding me drinking                                           “There’s this idea in society that journalists are superhuman,
whisky on the balcony – I had no idea what I was doing.”                                      that they are not affected by what they do,” she says, they were
   Things continued to get worse as David moved home and                                      not meant to let things get to them. Stories that involved
went freelance, just as his relationship started to break down.                               harm or violence to children and animals, shootings and
“I think the nature of starting to freelance – you’re trying to                               serious car collisions were the stories that stuck with the
make an impression, trying to ingratiate yourself – so I was                                  reporters she interviewed. “One reporter said she didn’t let her
doing lots of shifts, lots of night shifts,” he says. There was no                            husband drive the car any more after a really bad car accident
guidance or support around how to work night shifts and                                       she covered,” she says.
look after your health, he adds.                                                                 Some journalists cope through exercise, cathartic activities
   The relationship breakdown led him to focus more and                                       – writing or crying to ‘get it out’, or talking with colleagues, a
more on work, leading to yet more night shifts and more                                       partner or therapist. Many start off talking to their spouse or
strain. “It just got to a tipping point where there was a night                               close personal friend but quickly stop. Seely explains: “They
where I was considering killing myself and, luckily, rather                                   didn’t like to burden their spouses or their significant others
than doing it, I rang up a friend.”                                                           with the things they had seen and done, and what they were
   He was prescribed antidepressants and went into therapy                                    feeling.”
for three and half years. He feels things since have gone “very                                  She adds that several journalists she interviewed took
much upwards”.                                                                                comfort from the fact their role was important in serving the
   The reporting of mental health has improved, although
there are still frequent examples around the world of

                                                                     How the BBC helps
distressing and damaging stories. In the newsroom, a                                                                               which includes a confidential
prevailing macho culture sits alongside a growing recognition                                                                      24hr helpline, and access to a

                                                                     worker wellbeing
of the long-term effects of trauma among war                                                                                       remote GP. This is also open
correspondents.                                                                                                                    to freelances. Employees are
   However, little has been done about the effects of the job                                                                      also able to access trauma
on domestic reporters covering traumatic crimes, major               THE BBC uses a counselling     health and wellbeing of all    support sessions through
events with significant injury or loss of life, horrific car         programme based on the         those who work for us”.        occupational health.
collisions or just dealing with the stresses of an increasingly      Ministry of Defence’s Trim        Its support includes online    Most recently, the
casualised and high-pressure sector. Since 2020, journalists         programme to support           mental health and resilience corporation has established
have been under even greater pressure, reporting on a global         journalists who are feeling    sessions, access to more than an online platform that
pandemic while job security vanished.                                emotionally affected by        1,000 staff mental health      provides a confidential
   At least eight UK journalists have died from suicide since        stories they are working on.   first aiders, wellbeing        service to help individuals
2015, four of those in 2019. That number is almost certainly           In a statement, the BBC      courses for staff and          track and understand their
an underestimate for a number of reasons. There is no clear          says it places “the utmost     managers, an employee          wellbeing and mental health
boundary of who a journalist is – if we include the production       importance on the mental       assistance programme,          specialists.
staff who sift through images and video, the comment

14 | theJournalist
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