Weathering the Storm: Occupational Stress in Journalists Who Covered Hurricane Harvey

ABSTRACT

When a hurricane strikes, journalists provide description of what happens, keep the public up-to-date after the event, and even contribute to the recovery and resiliency of their community. These efforts place journalists in a position to suffer not only physical, but psychological stress symptoms. Using the Holistic Model of Occupational Stress as a framework, 30 local journalists who covered Hurricane Harvey were studied to discover the occupational stressors, emotional responses and mental health impacts associated with covering a hurricane where you live. Lack of schedule, few breaks from the tragedy, and long hours were significant organizational stressors while interactions with victims caused the most task-related stress. Focusing on the importance of what they were doing was the most significant positive emotional response. Additionally, 20% had storm related PTSD and 40% had depression. Implications for disaster coverage planning and newsroom managers are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Depression
• journalism
• natural disaster
• posttraumatic stress
• trauma
• Hurricane Harvey
• occupational stress

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.