The impact of trauma and moral injures on journalists mental and physical health safety inside Egyptian media houses: A quantitative study on the Egyptian journalist

Author

Faculty of mass communication, Ahram Canadian University, Egypt

Abstract

The present study focuses on the impact of negative workplace on the Egyptian journalist inside media houses and how it affects negatively their physical and psychological conditions The research was based on a qualitative data in which 130 respondents were selected through questionnaire and in-depth interviews with Officials within the agencies that support journalists psychologically in Egypt and worldwide.
Results shows that poor salaries, irregular incomes, working long hours, late –night deadlines, unqualified bosses, lack of good health insurance, exposure to radiation in the studios, Low income after retirement, busy newsrooms with bad lighting and lack of fresh air, and other factors that caused moral injures and physical diseases.
Results revealed that Journalist testing psychological symptoms as Lack of sleep, nightmares, self-flagellation, loneliness, anger, fear, fuggy lack of focus, isolation, Thinking of suicide.  and physical symptoms as Headache, stomach ulcer, back pain, dizziness, lethargy, Temporary paralysis of the face, numbness, neck and back pain breast cancer. Also, negative social impact as Resignation from work, not presenting any creativity at work, changing the field of work, gossip, silence, divorce, moving away from family and friends, intense immersion in work therefore the study revealed that such incidents are significant factors in affecting the psychological wellbeing of journalists.

Keywords


Al Muala, Imad. (2017). Job Stress in Journalism: Interaction between Organisational Support and Job Demands–Resources Model. Journal of Management and Sustainability. 7. 150. 10.5539/jms.v7n4p150.
Anthony Feinstein, Blair Audet and Elizabeth Waknine.(2014).Witnessing images of extreme violence: a psychological, study of journalists in the newsroom, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open, available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2054270414533323
BBC Arabic service. available at https://www.bbc.com/arabic/tv-and-radio-61277344
Comprehensive mental health action plan - available at: https://www.who.int/ar/publications/i/item/9789240031029
Feinstein, Anthony et al.(2016) The Psychological Wellbeing of Iranian Journalists: A Descriptive Study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open. available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5140040/
Fredric F. Endres.(2016). Stress in the Newsroom at Ohio Dailies, sage journal, volume 10 , issue 1 Available at : https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/nrja/10/1
Hélène Brédart. (2020, November 05). Burnout among journalists, a symptom of discontent in newsrooms. In ETUI, The European Trade Union Institute. Retrieved 23:01, August 07, 2023, from https://www.etui.org/topics/health-safety-working-conditions/hesamag/journalism-an-increasingly-precarious-profession/burnout-among-journalists-a-symptom-of-discontent-in-newsrooms
Jonathan Hendrickx & Ike Picone (2020). Innovation Beyond the Buzzwords: The Rocky Road Towards Digital First-based Newsroom, Pages 2025-2041 | Published online: 19 Aug available at:
Kazi Huda.(2018). Job Stress Among the newspaper reports in Bangladesh, southern university in Bangladesh at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327305866 Job stress among the newspaper reporters in Bangladesh
Kazi Nazmul Huda, Abul Kalam Azad.(2015). Professional Stress in Journalism: A Study on Electronic Media Journalists of Bangladesh, Advances in Journalism and Communication. Vol.3 No.4
Maja Šimunjak (2021). Pride and Anxiety: British Journalists’ Emotional Labour in the Covid-19 Pandemic , Taylor and Francis online journalism studies , Volume 23, 2022 - Issue 3
Manuel Goyanes, Presentism & Eduardo Fco Rodríguez-Gómez (2021). in the newsroom: How uncertainty redefines journalists’ career expectations: sage up journal , Vol. 22(1) 52–68
Matthew Pearson ,veteran , Dave Seglins. (2022).Taking Care: a report on mental health, well-being and trauma among Canadian media workers the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC): the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma and Carleton University. Available at: https://www.journalismforum.ca/taking-care-report
Meera Selva, Anthony Feinstein. Osmann J. et.al (2021). How have journalists been affected psychologically by their coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic? A descriptive study of two international news organizations, BMJ Journal, Volume 11, Issue 7.
Mohammad Abdelwahid Riyad, Mohammad Elsayed Ramadan, Ramadan Abd-Al-Azeem (2019). Measurement of Psychological Stress in A Group of Journalists Working in One of The Private Journalism Institutes in Egypt, Department of Neuropsychiatry, The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine Vol. 76 (4), Page 3853-3858 Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University.
O'Donnell, Penny & Zion, Lawrie & Sherwood, Merryn. (2015). Where do journalists go after newsroom job cuts?. Journalism Practice. 10. 1-17. 10.1080/17512786.2015.1017400.
Roy peck trust organization, available at: https://rorypecktrust.org/ar-
Sam Dubberley Elizabeth Griffin Haluk Mert Bal.(2015). Making Secondary Trauma a Primary Issue: A Study of Eyewitness Media and Vicarious Trauma on the Digital Frontline, Eyewitness Media Hub pp.38-39.
Scott Reinardy, Lawrie Zion, and Annalise Baines.(2021). “It’s like dying but not being dead” U.S. newspaper journalists cope with emotional and physical toll of job losses :Sage journal Available at : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/07395329211030577
Solomon, Christiana.(2021).Assessing Perceptions of Media Persons on Stress Related Disorder and Influence on Performance: Ghana institute of journalism school of graduate studies and research , Available at : https://repository.gij.edu.gh/xmlui/handle/123456789/11
Susana Monteiro,Alexandra Marques Pinto &Magda Sofia Roberto.(2015). Job demands, coping, and impacts of occupational stress among journalists a systematic review, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, pp. 751-772
UNESCO Report on Safety of Journalists when Covering Trauma and Tribulation. available at : https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381200_ar
Wael El-Ashry. (2016). Occupational pressures in electronic newspapers in Egypt and their relationship to job satisfaction among journalists: a study in the light of the concept of psychological burnout, Egyptian Journal of Public Opinion Research, Volume 15. Issue 4, pg. 196-218.
WellDar. Handbook of mental health in the work environment: available at https://welldar.net/%D8%AF%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%82%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A6%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84/
World health organization. Doing What Matters in Times of Stress. available at: https://www.who.int/ar/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work
Yuta Aoki, Estelle Malcolm, Sosei Yamaguch.(2014).Mental illness among journalists: A systematic review, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, pp. 377–390