Communications 2022; 47(3): 350–374

Lambrini Papadopoulou*, Theodora A. Maniou and

Eleana Pandia
Economic crisis and trauma journalism:
Assessing the emotional toll of reporting in
crisis-ridden countries
https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2020-0050

Abstract: This article discusses the relationship between the post-2008 global eco-
nomic crisis and trauma journalism through a quantitative study of reporters cov-
ering austerity’s everyday manifestations and examines the effects on the media
professionals involved. The findings indicate that journalists who cover economic
crisis-related incidents suffer specific symptoms of trauma. As such, the study
re-conceptualizes the economic crisis as primarily affective for media workers,
it establishes a direct correlation between the economic crisis and emotional
trauma, and provides an insight into the kind of trauma that stems from covering
austerity and its impact on society. A regression analysis of symptoms indicates
trauma journalism as an emerging field of research into the economic crisis.

Keywords: trauma journalism, economic crisis, journalists, PTSD

1 Introduction
Trauma journalism, which explores the impact of traumatic events on media
professionals (McMahon, 2001), has gained unprecedented momentum in recent
years, with an abundance of studies focusing on the emotional toll that stems
from covering tragedies and disasters (e.  g., Buchanan and Keats, 2011; Feinstein,
Owen, and Blair, 2002; Seely, 2019). Interest in the intersection of journalism and
trauma emerged as a focus of research for academics and practitioners in the late
1990s (Beam and Spratt, 2009). Until then, notions of objectivity as well as the
professional ideologies of detachment and distanced observation were prevalent

*Corresponding author: Lambrini Papadopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of

­Athens, Athens, Greece, E-Mail: Lpapadopoulou83@gmail.com.
Theodora A. Maniou, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus,
E-Mail: maniou.theodora@ucy.ac.cy.
Eleana Pandia, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece,
E-Mail: eleana.pandia@gmail.com.

Open Access. © 2022 Papadopoulou et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is

licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   351

(Rentschler, 2010), resulting in a widespread hesitance to address and examine

the relationship between trauma and media professionals’ mental health (Fein-
stein, 2006). This hesitance has given way to a new strand of literature that
records the traumatic impact that covering death or suffering may have on media
professionals (e.  g., Konow Lund and Olsson, 2015; Tandoc and Takahashi, 2018).
This article takes these findings a step further and discusses the relation-
ship between journalists and the economic crisis, which is conceptualized as
an explicitly traumatic event, arguing that covering economic crises could be as
traumatic for journalists as covering death and suffering.
It presents a quantitative study of media professionals (journalists and pho-
tojournalists) covering the recent economic crisis, focusing on the effects on the
media professionals involved. The findings clearly indicate that journalists who
cover economic crisis-related incidents suffer trauma. As such, the study estab-
lishes a direct correlation between the economic crisis and emotional trauma.

2 Literature review

The intersection of journalism and trauma: From the culture of

objectivity to the re-conceptualization of journalistic practices

For many years, emotions had been a somewhat taboo and stigmatized topic in the
media sector (Brayne, 2008), and journalists were expected to report objectively
on crises, without including subjective opinions and, most importantly, without
being affected emotionally by the events they were covering (Backholm, 2017).
However, as Thomson (2018) points out, journalism is produced by humans with
emotions, and despite their efforts to ignore them in favor of framing themselves
as rational beings able to objectively document the world (Schudson, 2001), they
cannot detach themselves from the overwhelming emotions that can stem from
the traumatic stories they cover and their encounters with survivors or relatives of
victims. Gradually, the notion of the objective and distant observer journalist has
given way to a reconfiguration of media workers as first respondents, whose work
involves reporting on crises and disasters, bearing witness to human tragedy, pro-
viding a truthful and a morally compelling narrative of it, and thereby presenting
the struggle and suffering of those caught up in such events as a cause of emotion
and political action for their publics (Chouliaraki, 2006; Andén-Papadopoulos
and Pantti, 2013).
School shootings, terrorist attacks, and large-scale natural disasters in the
late 1990s reaffirmed the emotional connection between journalists and their
352   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

work (Rentschler, 2010) and prompted media scholars, who until then had under‐
theorized and under‐researched this field, to acknowledge the intellectual and
non-material dimension of journalism and re-conceptualize journalistic profes-
sionalism as primarily affective (Kotisova, 2019; Siapera, 2019; Wahl‐Jorgensen,
2016). Following this line of thought, it can be understood that the current artic-
ulation of trauma journalism not only emphasizes the reporter’s agency and
involvement in the events and issues on which he or she reports but goes one step
further to identify and re-code journalistic practices as primarily affective, and, in
some cases, extraordinarily so (Rentschler, 2009).

Moving from war correspondents to the ‘war zones’ of everyday

reporting

The role of emotion in media is without question a very broad and exciting line
of inquiry holding promise for a vast array of communicative contexts (Nabi and
Wirth, 2008). For instance, a strand of literature in recent years has focused atten-
tion on journalists’ reactions when covering war conflicts (Feinstein, Owen, and
Blair, 2002; Feinstein and Nicholson, 2005), large-scale natural disasters (Castle,
1999), or terrorist attacks (Strupp and Cosper, 2001). In terms of specific case
studies, a series of studies focuses on events such as the 9/11 terror attacks in
New York (Zelizer and Allan, 2011), the Iraq war (Feinstein and Nicholson, 2005),
the terror attacks in Norway (Backholm and Idås, 2015; Konow Lund and Olsson,
2015), typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines (Tandoc and Takahashi, 2018), hurri-
cane Katrina (Moritz and Crapanzano, 2010), the refugee crisis (Feinstein, Pavi-
sian, and Storm, 2018), and the Syrian war (Feinstein and Starr, 2015).
Traumatic stress symptoms, however, are not limited to reporters who cover
war and other large-scale disasters. Balzarotti and Ciceri (2014), for instance,
stressed that the threatening impact of traumatic events can even extend to the
public at large.
Other researchers have tried to shift the focus from war reporters and shed
light on the effects of routine trauma coverage on domestic reporters who witness
violence and tragedy (e.  g., fatal accidents, robberies) almost every day (Dworznik,
2006; Pyevich, Newman, and Daleiden, 2003; Seely, 2019).
Recent studies also suggest that there has been an increase in the likelihood
of exposure to everyday traumatic events due to the changing conditions in media
professions, which have increased the demands put on journalists, making them
more likely to cover traumatic stories and more likely to cover these types of
stories more frequently (McMahon and McLellan, 2008; Seely, 2019).
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   353

Moreover, as Chouliaraki (2008) points out, the media, abiding by the well-
worn newsroom adage that if it bleeds, it leads (Kay, Reilly, Amend, and Kyle,
2011), confront people every day with the suffering of distant others. Indeed, the
audiences’ gluttony for violence-filled programs (Simpson and Coté, 2006), as
well as the political economy of the profession, has played its part in enhancing
fierce competition among media organizations and forcing journalists and pho-
tojournalists to display material with strong emotional content, which has been
proven to be the most profitable, especially if it points to danger or loss (Richard
and Rees, 2011). Based on this analysis, this work initiates from the following
hypothesis:

H1: The coverage of crisis-related news stories and events may cause emotional trauma to
journalists covering these stories.

Coping strategies of silence and stigma in the newsrooms

Talking about emotional trauma and admitting vulnerability has proved to be

an effective way of mitigating the effects of trauma and, indeed, according to
McMahon (2001), the majority of media professionals would welcome an oppor-
tunity to talk about their traumatic experiences at work.
However, research in the field has found a prevalent ‘macho culture’ in the
newsroom, stemming from a widely held belief that admitting emotional inju-
ries is a sign of weakness and a career liability (Feinstein et al., 2002; Keats and
Buchanan, 2009). Simpson and Boggs (1999) were among the first to describe an
unwritten code among journalists that says no assignment, no matter how brutal,
can interfere with one’s ability to take a picture, gather facts, and tell a story.
These rigid organizational norms and unwritten codes that stigmatize emotional
expression and define emotions as taboo, lead journalists to suppress their feel-
ings so as not to be perceived as weak (Buchanan and Keats, 2011). The result is
the creation of a newsroom culture that promotes silence and suppression rather
than expression and relief (Seely, 2019).
In their effort to control, minimize, or prevent emotional distress and trau-
ma-related symptoms, many media workers adopt a number of coping strate-
gies. In their study on journalists who covered the July 22, 2011 terror attacks in
Norway, the deadliest in Norway since World War II, claiming a total of 77 lives
and wounding a further 319 people, Konow Lund and Olsson (2015) found that
coping mechanisms in times of organizational stress will range from the expected
(routine, habit) to the unexpected (improvisation, bricolage), and that the indi-
vidual must pick up where the organization leaves off. Not all media workers,
354   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

however, can effectively buffer the effects of covering traumatic events. On the
contrary, Buchanan and Keats (2011) found that media professionals used strat-
egies that could be labeled as maladaptive (e.  g., denial, disengagement, using
substances) and which are not only ineffective but can also lead to exacerbation
of trauma symptoms (Norris et al., 2002).
Yet, even the effective adaptive coping strategies and mechanisms (e.  g.,
planning, positive reinterpretation, use of black humor) are largely individual,
and none of them are usually institutionalized. Trauma training and resources
are often an afterthought for most newsrooms, which rarely take responsibility
for journalists’ work-related stress and its consequences (Buchanan and Keats,
2011; Kotisova, 2019; Zeng, 2018).
Bearing in mind the above, studies suggest that journalism programs and
courses should incorporate education on the impact of covering potentially trau-
matic events and also on the ways that journalists could cope with emerging
trauma-related symptoms (Ikizer, Karanci, and Kocaoglan, 2019). However, cri-
sis-reporting education and trauma-related resources are still lacking in many
journalism programs (Seely, 2019). To this end, we can assume that this lack of
emotional literacy, compounded with a newsroom and professional culture that
fosters silence and stigma, leaves media workers suffering in silence (Buchanan
and Keats, 2011).

PTSD among media professionals

Research on the impact that traumatic experiences may have on media profes-
sionals has recorded numerous short- and long-term problems such as panic
attacks, alcoholism, substance abuse, depression, and burnout (Feinstein et al.,
2002; Keats and Buchanan, 2012; McMahon, 2001). Most of the studies in the
field of trauma journalism use the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symp-
tomology to measure the trauma inflicted on media professionals (Backholm
and Björkqvist, 2012b; Smith, Drevo, and Newman, 2018). Previous studies that
focused on the emotional responses of audiences to disaster reporting (Murphy,
1984; Putnam, 2002) also used the PTSD symptomatology to point to the increased
substantial stress reactions after media coverage of dramatic incidents such as
the Gulf War (Nader, Pynoos, Fairbanks, Al-Ajeel, and Al-Asfour, 1993), the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing (Pfefferbaum et al., 1999), school shootings (Haravuori,
Suomalainen, Berg, Kiviruusu, and Marttunen, 2011), and the 9/11 terror attacks
(Ahern et al., 2002; Bernstein et al., 2007). According to Rentschler (2010), this
preference can be attributed to the fact that much of the assumed knowledge on
trauma’s status as both a subjective/corporeal state and a cultural condition is
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   355

constructed and codified through the symptomology of PTSD, which constitutes

the main source of medical classification for trauma and in turn is used as diag-
nostic proof of victimized subjectivity.
In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor-
ders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013), trauma is defined as exposure to actual or threatened
death, serious injury or sexual violence in one or more circumstances, regardless of
direct involvement. Events that happened to others, information about traumatic
events happening to relatives or close friends, systematic exposure and dealing
with traumatic events for professional reasons also tend to cause trauma. This
definition is of great importance since it establishes a direct relationship between
traumatic experiences – that may not involve actual bodily pain – and emotional
distress.
According to APA (2013), the individual must report symptoms that span four
categories. These symptom domains include (1) intrusion symptoms (i.  e., when
the trauma is re-experienced in a sudden and involuntary manner), (2) avoidance
of reminders of the trauma, (3) changes in cognition and mood, and (4) altera-
tions in physiological arousal or reactivity. Of these symptoms, one should occur
for at least one month to indicate PTSD. PTSD is unique among psychiatric disor-
ders because it requires exposure and fearful response to traumatic events as the
proximate precipitants of the syndrome (Neria and Sullivan, 2011).
Regarding the parameters that could lead to PTSD, existing data suggest
that the central risk factors include the type of stories covered (Dworznik, 2011),
number of years working as a journalist (Backholm and Idås, 2015), total assign-
ments (Newman, Simpson, and Handschuh, 2003), personal identification with
an event, geographical connection to a location, and lack of post-event social
support (Pyevich et al., 2003).
It is important, however, to stress that not all journalists who experience
work-related trauma will be adversely affected. As Marais and Stuart (2005) point
out, individual parameters such as temperament profile and sense of coherence
can significantly impact whether a media worker will suffer.
Based on this analysis, the second hypothesis for the study is the following:

H2: Emotional symptoms and coping strategies may vary among journalists based on their
socio-demographic characteristics.
356   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

The post-2008 global economic crisis as a source of trauma:

The cases of Greece and Cyprus

During the past two decades, studies on trauma and journalism have continu-
ously added to the collective knowledge base (Backholm, 2017). Although we
acknowledge the significance of these studies, we argue that current research has
failed to address and study one of the most dramatic and multilevel traumatic
events that media professionals around Europe and beyond have been covering
for the last decade, namely the ongoing economic crisis.
According to Gezgin (2006), to be characterized as traumatic, an incident
should be unexpected, immediate, untimely, and intimidating. Moreover, as
Konow Lund and Olsson (2015) point out, genuinely unprecedented and shock-
ing events may be termed ‘frame breakers’, whereby people suddenly and deeply
feel that the universe is no longer a rational, orderly system (Weick, 1993), and
which thus immediately challenge and undermine both preparations and jour-
nalistic routines. Following this line of thought, we argue that the economic
crisis constitutes a traumatic frame breaker that can lead to extreme responses in
society, such as the establishment of aggressive rhetoric against the state as well
as the outbreak of violence and lawlessness (Gerodimos, 2018) and may also have
a severe traumatic impact on media professionals.
Nowhere other than Greece and Cyprus has the impact of the economic crisis
been more evident and profound. Indeed, Greece was the first country to be hit by
the crisis, suffering a depression as deep and long as the 1930s US Great Depres-
sion (Raudon and Shore, 2018). During this period, social services evaporated,
taxes were increased, and salaries, pensions, and disability benefits were reduced
(Madianos, Alexiou, Patelakis, and Economou, 2014). Consequently, increasing
numbers of people relied on food banks and turned to charities or community
organizations for basic primary health care. By 2016, Greek unemployment had
reached 23.6 % (Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2016), with an estimated 3.8 million
citizens living in poverty (Vaiou and Kalandides, 2017).
Sochos (2018) points out that as economic crises typically affect large parts of
the population, they may potentially elicit traumatic responses on a mass scale.
Indeed, suicide rates in Greece reached “epidemic” levels (Davis, 2015). Par-
ticularly between 2007, the year before the crisis, and 2011, a 55.8 % increase in
suicide mortality was observed (Madianos et al., 2014). Moreover, Greeks reacted
against the impoverishment of society at large, and the country experienced
violent anti-austerity protests, vandalism, and repeated unrest (Chryssochoou,
Papastamou, and Prodromitis, 2013).
Three years after the onset of the Greek economic crisis, Cyprus’s large indebt-
edness and oversized banking sector culminated in the banking crisis of March
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   357

2013 (Maniou & Photiou, 2017). The agreement reached between the government
and the Troika, the decision group formed by the European Commission (EC),
the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
stipulated the closing of the already bankrupted Laiki Bank and its takeover by
the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) as well as restrictions on the bail-in to the newly merged
entity and to all accounts above €100,000. All deposits at Laiki Bank above
€100,000 were largely lost, and all deposits at the BoC above €100,000 were cut
by 40 %. These financial measures resulted in societal changes in every sector
of everyday life, leading most Cypriots to a different notion of reality (Maniou,
Photiou, Eteokleous & Seitanidis, 2017). Social inequality rose steeply, and there
was a significant shock in terms of the uncertainty that prevailed and in the sense
of insecurity that was widespread for several months, peaking in the two weeks
during which the banks were closed (Ioannou and Charalambous, 2017).
Unemployment rose from 5.4 % in 2009 to 16 % in 2015 (Ioannou and Sonan,
2016), irregular and precarious employment expanded and several strikes took
place. It comes as no surprise that many researchers argued that the social shock
produced by the bail-in process brought to mind images of the 1974 Turkish inva-
sion of Cyprus (Ioannou and Charalambous, 2017). Although Bryant (2016) is
more hesitant to compare the loss of money to loss of life and ancestral proper-
ties, she argues that, as in 1974, Cypriots are again living in an unfamiliar present
reality in which the current moment is experienced with abnormally acute fore-
boding, anxiety and an inability to predict the future.
Journalists and photojournalists from both these crisis-ridden countries
inevitably experienced this devastating reality and covered its everyday mani-
festations to inform their audience, which, as usually happens in times of crisis,
showed an increased interest in information flow to be able to assess the damage
and plan for the future (Author citation, 2017 (Maniou et al., 2017)). Despite the
absence of research on the impact that exposure to such stories may have, neg-
ative effects may reasonably be expected, since journalists not only experience
media coverage, but produce it and are therefore part of the equation (Verhovnik,
2017). To this end, we argue that economic crises should be regarded and assessed
as explicitly traumatic events that can have a severe impact on media profession-
als’ mental health.
358   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

3 Method

RQs and scope of study

This study seeks to build on past scholars’ work by expanding the object of inquiry
to the economic crisis realm and by exploring whether media professionals cov-
ering crisis-related events and stories suffer from PTSD symptoms. Additionally,
this work aims to investigate PTSD symptoms related to the various aspects of
economic crisis reporting and the ways in which media professionals mitigate
their effects. The research focuses on the following research questions:

RQ1: Do Greek and Cypriot media professionals who cover crisis-related stories suffer from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms? Which sociodemographic characteristics
relate to PTSD symptoms among media professionals?

RQ2: Which coping strategies are used by Greek and Cypriot media professionals to mitigate
the effects of PTSD? Which sociodemographic characteristics relate to these strategies?

To assess the amount of trauma and PTSD symptoms which the research partic-
ipants reported, we used the revised Impact of Events Scale (IES-R), which con-
tains questions that closely follow the DSM-V criteria for PTSD as well as the APA
revised list for PTSD characteristics (APA, 2013). Finally, a regression analysis
was conducted regarding the data of our survey to test the observed symptoms,
with a dependent variable of the main area of reporting covered by study partic-
ipants.

Participants

This study draws on a combined group of two national samples of journalists and
photojournalists covering crisis-related stories and events in Greece and Cyprus.
The two countries were selected because they were the ones most affected by the
economic crisis in the European south (see analysis in previous section) and there-
fore constitute a compelling case that offers critical insights into the impact that
economic crisis coverage may have on media professionals. Full usable records
were obtained from 302 journalists and photojournalists in Greece (n=234) and
Cyprus (n=68) from a survey conducted in 2018. In both countries, participants
were approached via the journalistic unions to safeguard their anonymity, given
the nature of the study. All journalists who expressed interest in participating in
the study received full information about the aim of the study, RQs, issues to be
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   359

examined, procedures for handling personal data, etc., and all their questions
and concerns were addressed.
Of the 600 journalists who expressed interest in participating in the study
(482 in Greece and 118 in Cyprus), 102 did not respond when they were sent the
link to the questionnaire. A further 196 (50 in Cyprus and 146 in Greece) of the
responses were omitted due to missing data, resulting in a final response rate of
50.4 %. After the research, we shared with our respondents a list of information
and resources that could help them address their experiences and seek the kind
of help they might need.
In the case of Cyprus, it was relatively easy to recruit the journalists cover-
ing crisis-related events, since the number of journalists in this small country
is limited: 500 in total (retired and unemployed journalists included), according
to the data of the Union of Cypriot Journalists1. As such, it was not difficult to
locate the 70 journalists (68 of them agreed to participate in the research) who
mainly dealt with crisis-related events on a daily basis, as identified by data
deriving from the country’s journalistic union, cross-checked against data pro-
vided to the researchers by the editors-in-chief of the 5 national newspapers and
the 5 national media entities (including television channels, websites and radio
channels). In the case of Greece, the questionnaire was distributed using a rand-
omized sampling frame, through journalistic unions as well as key staff members
of the major news entities, who agreed to inform journalists and photojournalists
covering crisis-related stories and events. Informed consent was received from all
participants in the study. The final sample distribution, regarding gender, age,
monthly income, media sector, years of experience and type of news coverage
agrees with the relevant reports for Greece and Cyprus of the Worlds of Journal-
ism (Dimitrakopoulou, 2017; Milioni, 2017). The sample consists of 51 % men and
49 % women, 30.5 % aged 25–35, 35.8 % 36–45, 25.5 % 46–55, and 8.3 % 56–64.
Most of them (30.5 %) stated that they work in more than one media sector. Of the
others, 21.2 % were working in the printed media, 9.3 % in radio, 17.5 % in televi-
sion, 16.9 % in online media, and 4.6 % in news agencies. Of the 302 participants,
12.3 % had up to five years of experience, 15.2 % 6–10, 12.9 % 11–15, 20.5 % 16–20,
and 39.1 % more than 21.
Based on the retrieved data, the average profile of the journalist covering cri-
sis-related news stories in Greece and Cyprus is a man in his early 40s, earning no
more than € 1,200 a month, working in more than one media sector (consequently
earning his monthly income from at least two work placements), having more
than two decades of journalistic experience and of center-left political beliefs.

1 http://www.esk.org.cy/meloi.htm
360   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

Initially, a t-test carried out between the two independent samples of journal-
ists in Greece and Cyprus revealed no significant statistical differences (p>0.05)
in the variables examined. Analytically, an independent sample test (Levene’s
test) for equality of variances was conducted related to PTSD findings (Variables
5.1–5.20 as presented in the Questionnaire-Appendix A). Variable 20 (“Which city
do you work in?”) was used as the grouping factor. A dummy variable was created
based on the data of Variable 20 (“Which city do you work in?”), in which the
answers ‘Athens’, ‘Thessaloniki’, and ‘Rest of Greece’ were coded as 1 (Greece),
whereas ‘Nicosia’, ‘Limassol’, and ‘rest of Cyprus’ were coded as 2 (Cyprus). The
two independent samples were therefore analyzed jointly as one.
As regards the statistical analysis, descriptive statistics for variables regard-
ing PTSD symptoms include results (%) per variable, means, and standard devi-
ations. As regards the correlations tests conducted, when ordinal variables were
included (political affiliation and years of experience) Spearman’s and Cramer’s
V-tests were also conducted to test the size of the effect.

Measures

For the measurement of PTSD symptoms, we used the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5)
Standard developed by Weathers et al. (2013) to correspond with symptoms of
PTSD according to the criteria in the most recent version of the Diagnostic Statis-
tical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013), the tool used by clinicians
and researchers to diagnose and classify mental disorders. The PTSD Checklist
was developed in 1990 and has become one of the most widely used, extensively
validated PTSD questionnaires. It was adapted in 2013 to fit new diagnostic crite-
ria in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (APA, 2013). The PTSD Checklist has been widely used
to identify PTSD symptoms in populations, including journalists (Backholm and
Björkqvist, 2012a; Pyevich et al., 2003). It is a 20-item self-reporting scale that
asks participants how often they have experienced a variety of different physi-
cal and psychological symptoms, which also reflect the diagnostic symptoms for
PTSD recognized by the American Psychological Association.
The full questionnaire (see Appendix A) comprised 23 key questions, includ-
ing another 23 sub-questions (46 questions overall), divided into three main clus-
ters: Questions in cluster A were to distinguish and verify that all participants
had covered crisis-related news stories after 2013 (Questions 1–4), those in cluster
B were to measure PTSD symptoms (Questions 5.1–7), while those in cluster C
(Questions 8–14) were to record the ways in which media professionals handle
their trauma. For questions in cluster A, participants were asked to choose an
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   361

answer indicating how often they had covered crisis-related news stories after
2013 (1=Never, 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Often, 5=Every day). For questions in
cluster B, participants were asked to choose an answer describing their feelings
on crisis-related news stories using the same scale. Finally, for the questions in
cluster C, participants were asked to describe the period these symptoms lasted
as well as their coping strategies.
The dependent variable for the regression analysis was Variable 5.1 (“Remind-
ers of it – the traumatic event – caused me to have physical reactions”), as a key
measure indicating PTSD (APA, 2013). It is an interval/scale variable, ranging
from ‘Never’ (1) to ‘Daily’ (5).
Independent variables included Variables 2.1 to 2.13, which describe the fre-
quency of reporting crisis-related news stories (e.  g., soup-kitchens, demonstra-
tions, bankruptcies) as well as other news stories (e.  g., national issues, natural
disasters) to fulfil the main aim of this study: to assess the emotional toll of
reporting on crisis-related events.

Findings

The findings of the study show that media professionals covering crisis-related
events experienced symptoms of PTSD. Almost 25 % of all media professionals
reported that they had experienced several PTSD symptoms often or even every
day. As shown in Table 1, more than half of the participants admitted experi-
encing fear or guilt/shame, of whom 18.5 % did so every day and 36.1 % often
(Mean=3.50, SD=1.09); almost one in two (47.3 %) felt powerless (Mean=3.34,
SD=1.12), and 23.2 % said that reminders of covering the news stories caused them
to have physical reactions often or every day (Mean=2.32, SD=1.12). In addition,
27.5 % of the participants reported having had negative thoughts connected to the
crisis-related events covered (Mean=2.97, SD=1.36). Overall, the mean value in 6
of the 20 symptoms of PTSD examined (avoiding memories, negative thoughts,
self-blame, feeling powerless, experience of fear-guilt-shame, feeling watchful)
exceeds 2.5 (Mean) and in another three (physical reactions, irritated and angry
and endangered myself) is close to 2.5 (Mean), indicating the existence of these
symptoms on a regular basis.
362   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

Table 1: Observation of PTSD symptoms in media professionals covering the economic crisis.

PTSD symptoms Never Rarely Some- Often Every day Mean SD

times

Reminders of it caused me to have 29.1 % 29.5 % 24.2 % 14.2 % 9 % 2.32 1.127
physical reactions.

Any reminders brought back feel- 29.8 % 33.4 % 22.5 % 12.6 % 1.7 % 2.23 1.06
ings about it.

I tried to avoid memories of the 25.5 % 27.2 % 24.8 % 17.5 % 5 % 2.49 1.189
events.

I tried to avoid circumstances 40.1 % 23.8 % 20.2 % 11.9 % 4 % 2.16 1.190
connected to the events.

I had negative thoughts connected 19.9 % 19.5 % 18.5 % 27.5 % 14.6 % 2.97 1.361
to the events.

I blamed myself/others. 25.8 % 23.8 % 25.5 % 19.2 % 5.6 % 2.55 1.221

I felt powerless. 6.3 % 29.1 % 29.1 % 31.1 % 16.2 % 3.34 1.129

I experienced fear, guilt/shame. 6.0 % 11.3 % 28.1 % 36.1 % 18.5 % 3.50 1.099

I lost interest in work/other 43 % 21.9 % 20.9 % 9.9 % 4.3 % 2.11 1.221
activities.

I felt cut off from other people. 40.4 % 25.8 % 15.2 % 14.2 % 4.3 % 2.16 1.303

I felt watchful and always on my 20.9 % 16.2 % 25.2 % 26.8 % 10.9 % 2.91 1.303
guard.

I felt irritated and angry. 25.2 % 31.1 % 23.2 % 16.9 % 3.6 % 2.43 1.144

I took risks/put myself in danger. 35.8 % 26.8 % 22.2 % 11.9 % 3.3 % 2.20 1.148

I was jumpy and easily startled. 42.1 % 29.1 % 16.2 % 9.6 % 3.0 % 2.02 1.113

I had trouble concentrating. 38.4 % 29.1 % 22.2 % 8.3 % 2.0 % 2.06 1.056

I had difficulty remembering 56.3 % 24.2 % 13.9 % 4.0 % 1.7 % 1.71 0.962
details of the events.

I had trouble falling asleep. 42.7 % 25.2 % 17.2 % 10.3 % 4.6 % 2.09 1.193

I had dreams about it. 49.0 % 27.8 % 13.6 % 7.3 % 2.3 % 1.86 1.054

I felt upset when remembering the 41.4 % 28.8 % 18.9 % 8.6 % 2.3 % 2.02 1.077
events.

Other things kept making me 45.0 % 26.8 % 18.2 % 8.6 % 1.3 % 1.94 1.047
think about it.
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   363

To assess the relationship between the frequency of covering crisis-related news

stories and the emotional toll, a regression analysis was performed, which
showed that the frequency of reporting on specific crisis-related news stories can
indeed cause PTSD symptoms. As Table 2 indicates, reporting often on issues
directly connected to the economic crisis such as soup kitchens (Sig.=0.002) and
personal stories related to the crisis (e.  g., unemployment) (Sig.=0.06) can affect
the appearance of PTSD symptoms.

Table 2: Regression analysis.

Model summary
Change statistics

Model R R square Adjusted Std. error of R square F change

R square the estimate change

1 .374a .140 .101 1.068 .140 3.601

Coefficients a

Unstandardized Standardized t
Coefficients coefficients

Model B std. error Beta

1 (Constant) 1.276 .301 4.236

House auctions and evictions –.079 .073 –.074 –1.084

Business bankruptcies –.012 .076 –.012 –.155

Refugee crisis –.011 .064 –.011 –.170

Crime reports (burglaries, .018 .047 .025 .392

murders …)

Soup kitchens .219 .068 .224 3.199

Personal stories related to the .122 .066 .128 1.856

economic crisis (homelessness,
unemployment …)

Demonstrations/violent clashes –.037 .062 –.038 –.602

Developments in the financial –.086 .079 –.106 –1.095

sector

Developments in the banking .104 .089 .125 1.157

sector

Stock market .135 .080 .142 1.689

364   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

Table 2 (continued)

Model Sig.

1 (Constant) .000

House auctions and evictions .279

Business bankruptcies .877

Refugee crisis .865

Crime reports (burglaries, murders …) .696

Soup kitchens .002

Personal stories related to the economic crisis .064

(homelessness, unemployment …)

Demonstrations/violent clashes .547

Developments in the financial sector .274

Developments in the banking sector .248

Stock market .092

a. Dependent Variable: 5.1 Reminders of it caused me to have physical reactions (e.  g., sweat).

The analysis revealed specific sociodemographic variables that seem to directly

relate with PTSD symptoms. Cramer’s V-test showed that the journalist’s politi-
cal affiliation plays a significant role (value=0.196, appr.sign.=0.046) in blaming
themselves or others (‘I blamed myself/others’) and the journalist’s ability to con-
centrate (‘I had trouble concentrating’) after the traumatic event (value=0.205,
appr.sign.=0.012), with journalists affiliated with the left appearing more affected
than others.
The journalist’s gender seems to be significant when ‘trying to avoid mem-
ories of the event’ (x2=0.002), ‘feeling powerless’ (x2=0.011), ‘feeling jumpy and
easily startled’ (x2=0.003), and ‘having trouble concentrating’ after the event
(x2=0.001), with women more affected than men in all four PTSD symptoms.
As regards the coping strategies Greek and Cypriot journalists use, some inter-
esting findings refer to the ways journalists themselves manage these symptoms.
In general, only 7.6 % of the participants reported to have consumed stress relief
medication, while only 18.9 % of the participants admitted that they had asked
for help after the traumatic incident, although only 6.3 % of those addressed a
mental health professional. The only demographic variable that seems to play
a significant role as regards coping strategies that journalists tend to employ is
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   365

gender, since more women admitted having consumed medication after covering
a traumatic event (Levine’s test=0.04).

Table 3: Journalists’ coping strategies.

Yes No

Total Total

Did you consume stress relief medication after the 7.6 % 92.4 %
traumatic event? (Male=30.4 % (Male=52.7 %
Female=49.6 %) Female=47.3 %)

Has your regular alcohol consumption changed after 12.6 % 87.4 %

reporting on the stressful event?

Have you asked for help to cope with the ways you have 18.9 % 81.1 %
been affected by the traumatic event you covered?

4 Discussion
This article seeks to address the emotional toll that economic crisis news stories
may have on media professionals. We draw on theories of trauma journalism in
the context of media professionals working in the two countries most affected by
the austerity measures of south Europe, namely Greece and Cyprus. Economic
crises do not constitute isolated events with specific financial impact on societies
for a specific period of time. On the contrary, when economic crises occur, they
penetrate all aspects of social, political, and economic reality and subsequently
affect all facets of society (Damstra and Vliegenthart, 2018) for a period long after
normality has returned. Similarly, economic crises affect all types of reporting,
adding an economic crisis frame to all kind of stories and functioning as an essen-
tial filter through which different stories are interpreted and understood.
A general finding that stands out from the descriptive statistical analysis is
that 25 % of all media professionals who cover news stories related to the eco-
nomic crisis experienced several of the PTSD symptoms often or even every day,
and the more highly affected journalists seem to be those covering developments
in the economic sector, business bankruptcies, and personal stories related to
the economic crisis. These findings correspond in part to previous research,
which also showed that the proximity of the events as well as personal identi-
fication with an event can enhance the individual’s risk of more severe impair-
ment (Backholm, 2017). According to a strand of literature (e.  g., Feinstein, Audet,
366   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

and Waknine, 2014; Seely, 2019), the type of assignment can severely impact a
journalist’s mental health. For instance, a journalist who is frequently exposed
to traumatic events, such as personal stories related to the crisis (e.  g., home-
lessness, evictions), could be at greater risk of suffering from PTSD symptoms,
depression, and emotional distress.
These findings are of significance since they establish a direct relationship
between economic crisis news stories and PTSD symptoms. As mentioned already,
most relevant studies in the field of trauma journalism focused on the long-term
psychological problems that may affect media professionals covering harrowing
events such as wars, large-scale natural disasters, or terrorist attacks (Castle, 1999;
Feinstein et al., 2002; Feinstein and Nicholson, 2005). However, the economic
crisis after 2007 also seems to have a shattering impact on media workers.
Economic crisis stories may not bring media workers face to face with death,
but they do carry the same subtle, yet distinct, reminder of an end and of a loss
that sometimes resembles death. Losing one’s salary, pension, house, busi-
ness, work, and eventually dignity is an end to ‘life as we knew it’. Anti-auster-
ity demonstrations and violent clashes with tear gas, stone throwing, and other
scenes of confrontations were also referred to as battlefields with regards to the
violence (Veneti, Lilleker, and Reilly, 2018) and the aggression and brutality of the
police response (Xenakis, 2012).
With regards to the main sociodemographic characteristics related to PTSD
symptoms, gender and political affiliation seem to play an important role.
According to our study, women appeared more affected than men. This finding
corresponds with previous research on gender differences in PTSD, which found
that females are reported to be diagnosed with PTSD after a trauma twice as often
as males and develop stronger symptoms than males (Haskell et al., 2010).
Our next finding indicated that journalists more affiliated towards the left
appear more affected than others. One way to explain this finding could be that
right-leaning journalists were more supportive of the austerity measures that
were implemented in both countries by right-wing governments. The perception
of these measures as harsh but necessary steps to bring the economy back on
track seems to have made them less emotional when covering stories related to
the impact that these measures have had on society in general.
As regards coping strategies employed by journalists, the only demographic
characteristic that seems to play a significant role is gender, as more women
admitted having consumed medication after covering a traumatic event. Previ-
ous research has concluded that women generally use medicines more often than
men (Glaeske, Gerdau-Heitmann, Höfel, and Schicktanz, 2013).
One of the most telling observations of this study is that the majority of Greek
and Cypriot media professionals (85.8 %) were not likely to ask for help in order to
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   367

cope with the ways they have been affected by the traumatic event they covered.
These results re-affirm the findings of previous research studies that describe a
culture of silence in the newsrooms (Buchanan and Keats, 2011). Rigid organiza-
tional norms that stigmatize emotional expression within newsrooms seem to be
commonplace, although there are a few exceptions of newsrooms that are moving
toward the “culture of caring” envisioned by Massé (2011).
In her research, Seely (2017) recorded a few cases of supportive newsrooms
where the editors-in-chief showed real concern and offered help to their trau-
matized journalists. One journalist even mentioned that every new hire at her
newspaper gets a booklet from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Others
said that their newsroom’s healthcare policy allowed for a certain number of free
trips to a psychologist. Buchanan and Keats (2009) also recorded an editor’s
practice of arranging a ‘lessons learned’ group debriefing after traumatic story
assignments, where reporters could talk about their experiences and what they
had learned. All these caring newsrooms are a beam of hope, but they remain
the exception to the rule. Mental wellness continues to be an afterthought in
newsroom culture, journalists themselves have no expectations that professional
counseling/support will be available during training or work, and indeed in most
cases provision of help for traumatized journalists continues to be limited (Ver-
hovnik, 2017).

5 Conclusion
This study attempts to re-conceptualize the economic crisis as affective for media
workers, while providing an insight into the emotional trauma that stems from
covering austerity and its impact on society. Austerity’s dimensions are usually
analyzed from economic and political perspectives, which are often quite distant
from the lived experiences of the people they most affect (Raudon and Shore,
2018). This work instead discusses austerity and its impacts through a prism that
focuses on its effects on the media professionals who witness and cover it.
The findings of the study show that almost 25 % of all media professionals
in Greece and Cyprus who were covering crisis-related events declared that they
had experienced several PTSD symptoms often or even every day. Among them
there are several findings that allow us to speak of a causality between journalis-
tic work and traumatization; these are the frequency of coverage of specific news
stories linked to PTSD symptoms, namely personal stories related to the crisis
and soup kitchens. Previous research has also managed to connect journalistic
work with traumatization (e.  g., Kotisova, 2019; Rentschler, 2010; Wahl‐Jorgensen,
368   Lambrini Papadopoulou et al.

2016) and defy the prevailing notion that journalists can cover any type of story
without being affected (Backholm, 2017). However, the majority of these studies
focused mainly on large-scale traumatic events (such as terrorist attacks, school
shootings, natural disasters) or stories with explicit violence and tragedy (fatal car
accidents, robberies, etc.). This study goes one step further to identify and re-code
crisis-related stories as primarily affective, and, in some cases, extraordinarily so.
Although one might argue that the economic crisis concerns only the most
affected countries – and even those just for a limited period – we must not under-
estimate its lingering effects on the lives of its victims and consequently on the
lives of media professionals who witness and cover it. Moreover, as recent lit-
erature and economic experts point out, state crisis tends to become normal-
ized rather than exceptional, and a Great Recession 2.0. might be already ahead
(Raudon and Shore, 2018; Stewart, 2018), especially after the global pandemic
crisis of 2020 regarding COVID-19. Predicting or warning of a new economic crisis
is of course far beyond the aims of this work. However, having proven that eco-
nomic crisis coverage is a type of affective labor that can cause emotional injury,
we argue that academics, media practitioners, and media owners should recog-
nize the importance of trauma that results from coverage of the economic crisis
and develop specific training and educational material to mitigate the effects of
this trauma not only for the sake of the journalists but for societies as well, since it
has been proven that societies become even more vulnerable to the repercussions
of ‘frame breaker events’, when journalists are directly affected (Konow Lund and
Olsson, 2015).
Following the argument of Feinstein et al. (2014) that “good journalism
depends on healthy journalists”, we advocate that during an economic crisis,
good journalism is needed more than ever to explain the origins of the crisis, hold
the powerful to account and highlight important stories and voices (Waisbord,
2019; Papadopoulou, 2019). This study constitutes a first step towards the effort
to open up this issue, define this new emerging field, and start a discussion that
is long overdue.
The study has certain limitations which may provide pathways for future
research. First of all, it is based exclusively on quantitative data. It would be ben-
eficial if these findings were supported by interviews providing a much-needed
insight into media professionals’ own narratives and needs. It should also be
pointed out that journalists participating in this study were not diagnosed with
trauma; they merely expressed having had trauma symptoms. Future research
could deepen this analysis and look for possible trauma symptoms based on a
medical examination. These findings point towards a new emerging field, and
there is no doubt that more research is needed to establish the direct correlation
between the economic crisis and emotional trauma.
 Economic crisis and trauma journalism   369

Despite the fact that numerous countries have been profoundly hit by the
economic crisis and the related austerity measures of the previous decade, there
has been only limited research into how media professionals continue to do their
jobs in the face of the crisis-related traumatic events which make up the bulk of
their daily work (Papadopoulou and Maniou, 2020). This absence of other previ-
ous baseline studies hinders any effort to put our findings into perspective.
Moreover, it would be interesting to see the kind of impact that economic
crisis stories have had on freelancers and non-unionized journalists, who might
also have been traumatized not just from reporting on the crisis but also from
experiencing crisis-related job uncertainty themselves. Of course, one could
argue that all journalists working in crisis-ridden countries (regardless of the
content of their work) have become victims of the crisis as precarious workers and
may be traumatized by it. A control group of journalists who have not dealt with
the financial crisis and/or have not experienced the financial crisis as precarious
workers would be very helpful into putting our findings into perspective.
Future research on the topic could further address the issue of the culture of
silence in newsrooms, to suggest possible remedies that could help media profes-
sionals better negotiate the trauma that covering economic crisis stories entails.

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