Trauma Resilience Building in Journalism Curricula: Facing Research Challenges, Ethical Considerations and Implementation of Evidence Based Practice
A Call for Papers for an international symposium and a special issue proposed for Journal of Journalism Education.
Jointly organised by the Lincoln School of English and Journalism and the Lincoln Institute for Advanced Studies in partnership with the Association for Journalism Education and the Manchester and Salford Branch of the National Union of Journalists, UK.
Date: Thursday 19th and Friday 20th November, 2020.
Venue: University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln. LN6 7TS. UK.
Time: 9.30am.
The symposium runs over two days both virtually and face to face. The first day will largely comprise paper presentation and discussion of themes raised by speakers.
The second day follows this up with working parties briefed to suggest priority research agendas and sources of funding to support systematic investigations which gather evidence for the considered development of resilience among journalism students.
Keynote speakers: Gavin Rees and Stephen Jukes, DART Centre Europe; Jo Healey (TBC), Senior News Journalist, BBC Academy trainer; and Hannah Storm is the CEO of the Ethical Journalism Network
Event description
Research and accumulated anecdotal experience suggest that journalists are often ill-prepared for their early career assignments to cover events which for most people are shocking and emotionally overwhelming in that they involve actual or threatened death, serious injury, or threat to physical integrity. Incessant coverage of events such as accidents, natural disaster, crime, cases of rape and child abuse is also known to carry personal and professional costs to journalists. In some instances, evoked reactions may meet clinical criteria for formal diagnoses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and persistent fear.
Indications are that this vulnerability to critical events may be, at least in part, related to a gap in journalism curricula and it is not known if those training modules which seek to build resilience are, to judge by their impact, fit for purpose in current and future deployments of journalists.
Research has documented the impact of trauma on journalists. So far, it is not clear if this has fostered a clearer understanding amongst journalism educators and other stakeholders about how to foster resilience among journalism students to face potentially distressing situations through their taught curricula and practical experience. Attempts have been made on some courses to present practical and ethical challenges which warrant methodical investigation. All the above considerations lie at the heart of this international symposium which brings together academics, journalists, media organisations and other stakeholders to review practice in respect of fostering resilience in journalism students and to document research priorities so that curriculum development can be informed by empirical evidence.
Call for Papers
Alongside scholarly papers presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives on resilience training for journalism students, the conference organisers welcome experiential papers arising from actual coverage of traumatic events, coping strategies used to adjust to these experiences and suggestions for safeguarding measures which should be in place for adversely affected practitioners within their media organisations. The extent to which these considerations also appertain to diaspora journalists in various media will also be considered.
Our symposium is open to anyone who has an interest in these educational challenges. Researchers, educators and practicing journalists are invited to submit abstracts (maximum 250 words) for 10 minute paper presentations dealing with the above aspects of journalism training and indicate if you are attending in person or virtually Moreover, please indicate if you are willing to submit a full paper to the Special Issue.
Deadline: July 31, 2020
Make sure you include your name, affiliation, contact information and a short biography to Ola Ogunyemi via oogunyemi@lincoln.ac.uk by 31st July, 2020. Full papers of approximately 6-7000 words are expected by 30th October, 2020. These articles will be peer reviewed in the usual way.
Submitted abstracts are to be reviewed by the Conference Steering Committee.
Authors will be notified of its decisions by 31st August, 2020.
Steering Committee: Ola Ogunyemi, Roderick Orner, Brian Winston, John Cafferkey, Barry Turner, Margaret Hughes, Ailsa Adams (MA student) and Matthew Shaw (BA student).
