Returning to the mission? Journalists after jail

ABSTRACT

A growing number of journalists across the world are in prison for practicing their profession in ways that antagonise regimes, militaries, oligarchs, and other powerful interests. There have been studies by academics and press rights defenders of why journalists get imprisoned. In addition, human rights and press rights NGOs have investigated prison conditions for journalists. However, there is little published research about what journalists do after release. Do they resume their professional work, either in their home countries or in exile? How do prison experiences reshape their approach to journalism and relationships with news sources and colleagues? Based on in-depth interviews with eight formerly jailed journalists, with psychologists working with formerly jailed journalists, and with the executive director of a centre dealing with journalists’ trauma, this exploratory study identified several common but not universal themes, including their views on the journalistic mission and the psychological ramifications of incarceration. It examines whether, how, and why they returned to the profession, additional constraints they may work under, and problems with post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Press freedom
• imprisonment
• post-traumatic stress
• news sources
• government repression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Eric Freedman http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5326-8252

Notes

1 Elana Baiser, ‘Record Number of Journalists Jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt Pay Scant Price for Repression’, Committee to Protect Journalists, December 13, 2017, https://cpj.org/reports/2017/12/journalists-prison-jail-record-number-turkey-china-egypt.php (accessed December 28, 2018).

2 Amal Clooney and Philippa Webb, ‘The Right to Insult in International Law’, Columbia Human Rights Law Review 48, no. 2 (2017): 2.

3 Brian Bowe, Robin Blom, and Eric Freedman, ‘Cyber-Dissent and Power: Negotiating Online Boundaries in Repressitarian Regimes’, International Journal of Information Communication Technologies and Human Development 4, no. 2 (2012): 1–19.

4 The American Psychiatric Association defines PTSD as ‘a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other violent personal assault’. ‘What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?’, https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd (accessed December 28, 2018).

5 For example, Ibrahim, Hazboun, Yiftach Ron, and Ifat Maoz, ‘Journalists in Times of Crisis: Experiences and Practices of Palestinian Journalists during the 2014 Gaza War’, Communication Review 19, no. 3 (2016): 223–36.

6 Ashraf Kagee, ‘Symptoms of Distress and Posttraumatic Stress among South African Former Political Detainees’, Ethnicity & Health 10, no. 2 (2005): 169–79; Anke Ehlers, Andreas Maercker, and Anne Boos, ‘Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Political Imprisonment: The Role of Mental Defeat, Alienation, and Perceived Permanent Change’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 109, no. 1 (2000): 45–55.

7 Alex Lupis, (2005a). ‘Stress, Anxiety, and Trauma amidst Post-Soviet Repression in Central Asia: Psychological Aspects of Journalism & Human Rights Activism’ (paper presented to the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Nationalities, Boston, MA, April 14–16, 2005).

8 Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, ‘The Agenda-setting Function of Mass Media’, Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (1972): 176–87.

9 David Manning White, (1950). ‘The Gatekeeper: A Case Study in the Selection of News’, Journalism Quarterly 27, no. 4 (1950): 383–90.

10 E. Lance Bennett and William Serrin E (2005). ‘The Watchdog Role’, in The Press, ed. Geneva Overholser and Kathleen Hall Jamieson (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005), 169–188.

11 Kelly Heyboer, ‘Denting Journalism’s Macho Image’, American Journalism Review 17, no. 5 (1995): 14–15.

12 Helle Sjøvaag, ‘Journalistic Autonomy: Between Structure, Agency, and Institution’, Nordicom Review 34 (2013): 155–66.

13 Bahtiyar Kurambayev, ‘Kyrgyzstan’s Journalists: Working under Fear’, in Critical Perspectives on Journalistic Beliefs and Actions: Global Experiences, ed. Eric Freedman, Robyn Goodman, and Elanie Steyn. (London: Routledge, 2018), 187–97.

14 Ibid., 195.

15 Alex Lupis, ‘State Repression of the Media in Central Asia: Reflecting on Trauma, Recovery, and NGO Assistance for Journalists’ (paper presented at the annual conference of the Central Eurasian Studies Society, Boston, MA, October 29, 2005).

16 Roxana Saberi, ‘How I Coped after I Was Freed from Prison in Iran’, Time, January 26, 2016, http://time.com/4192854/roxana-saberi-iran-prison (accessed December 28, 2018).

17 Eric Freedman, ‘Stories Not Told, News Not Reported: Coverage of Transborder Issues and Events in the Ferghana Valley of Central Asia’, Journal of Development Communication 24, no. 2 (2013): 30–49.

18 Duygu Kanver, ‘Journalists Jailed and Muzzled: Censorship in Turkey during AKP Rule’, in Critical Perspectives on Journalistic Beliefs and Actions: Global Experiences, ed. Eric Freedman, Robyn Goodman, and Elanie Steyn. (London: Routledge, 2018), 198–210.

19 Mita Crouch and Heather McKenzie, ‘The Logic of Small Samples in Interview-based Qualitative Research’, Social Science Information 45, no. 4 (2006): 485.

20 Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014): 333.

21 Cam Dündar, We Are Arrested: A Journalist’s Notes from a Turkish Prison (London: Biteback Publishing, 2016).

22 Freedom House, ‘Freedom of the Press 2017’ (New York, NY: 2017), https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/freedom-press-2017 (accessed December 12, 2018).

23 Joshua Kucera, ‘Azerbaijan: Government Watchdog Transforms into Attack Dog’, EurasiaNet.org, March 16, 2017, http://www.eurasianet.org/node/82866 (accessed December 28, 2018).

24 Ibid.

25 Eric Freedman and Richard Shafer, (2003). ‘Policing Press Freedom in Post-Soviet Central Asia: The Monitoring Role of Press Rights Activists and Their Web Sites’ (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas City, MO, July 30–2 August 2, 2003).

26 Laurel Leff, ‘Rebuffing Refugee Journalists: The Profession’s Failure to Help Jews Persecuted by Nazi Germany’, Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs 17, no. 3 (2015): 150.

27 See Freedman, 2018.

28 Ibid.

29 Shawn Crispin, ‘Vietnam Tightens the Squeeze on Its Bloggers’, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2014, https://cpj.org/2014/02/attacks-on-the-press-vietnam-analysis.php (accessed December 28, 2018).

30 Committee to Protect Journalists, ‘Ethiopia Arrests Critical Blogger Seyoum Teshome’, March 9, 2018, https://cpj.org/2018/03/ethiopia-arrests-critical-blogger-seyoum-teshome.php (accessed December 28, 2018).