Allie Miller is currently a reporter for CityNews Calgary, but has experience working as a foreign correspondent during instances like the New Zealand mosque shooting--where footage of the attack required vetting to ensure proper details were given. That level of detail required exposure to user-generated content, which can become a work-related stressor (Feinstein et al. 2014).
"This is real, you know, it's not just telling a story and it reminds you how important it is to tell those stories with tact when you are giving them because it's someone's kid, it's someone's mom, it's someone's dad."
Journalism requires knowing the full story to tell it properly, but some grizzly details cannot legally or ethically be published. That doesn't mean the journalist can tell the story without knowing them.
"There's a lot that doesn't go to broadcast that you know happened, and because of broadcast standards it will never be public, thankfully; but you've heard it. You know exactly what happened, to, you know, a two-year-old in the Crow's Nest Pass, you know those details and those are things that won't ever leave you."
"When I did the mosque shooting I remember one of my colleagues, she checked on me regularly. She had done this a lot, and she was like 'you won't notice if your colleague is being triggered, or has like, a trauma moment, because it might not happen right away'. So she was really great at checking in with me, and even here at City when we had stuff come out throughout the year, whether it be stuff that happened with Akim Aliu, our supervising producer was always really good at checking in and making sure, you know, 'is everyone comfortable?'."
Training that facilitated coping mechanisms and social networks (Novak & Davidson, 2013), the ability to control emotional reactions (Nelson, 2011) and the ability to endure difficult situations (Smith et al., 2017) can be especially prevalent in keeping a journalist from developing PTSD and other psychiatric symptoms.
It reminds you how important it is to tell those stories with tact.Miller's career started at Global News Lethbridge, hired after a week of her practicum in CTV Lethbridge. She says that within the first six months of her time in the city, there were multiple death-related cases including the Derek Saretzky case.
"This is real, you know, it's not just telling a story and it reminds you how important it is to tell those stories with tact when you are giving them because it's someone's kid, it's someone's mom, it's someone's dad."
Journalism requires knowing the full story to tell it properly, but some grizzly details cannot legally or ethically be published. That doesn't mean the journalist can tell the story without knowing them.
"There's a lot that doesn't go to broadcast that you know happened, and because of broadcast standards it will never be public, thankfully; but you've heard it. You know exactly what happened, to, you know, a two-year-old in the Crow's Nest Pass, you know those details and those are things that won't ever leave you."
One of my colleagues, she checked on me regularly.Miller says that when she encounters a challenging situation, she'll go to a place mentally to logically put things into boxes, like motive and mindset. This direct approach contrasts with an avoidant style of coping, which can be a risk factor for PTSD (Smith et al., 2017).
"When I did the mosque shooting I remember one of my colleagues, she checked on me regularly. She had done this a lot, and she was like 'you won't notice if your colleague is being triggered, or has like, a trauma moment, because it might not happen right away'. So she was really great at checking in with me, and even here at City when we had stuff come out throughout the year, whether it be stuff that happened with Akim Aliu, our supervising producer was always really good at checking in and making sure, you know, 'is everyone comfortable?'."
Training that facilitated coping mechanisms and social networks (Novak & Davidson, 2013), the ability to control emotional reactions (Nelson, 2011) and the ability to endure difficult situations (Smith et al., 2017) can be especially prevalent in keeping a journalist from developing PTSD and other psychiatric symptoms.
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