Reporting War and Trauma

Journalist, Christina Lamb reporting from Afghanistan.

War and trauma are two of the hardest topics for a journalist to cover. In week eight of JN1001, we learnt about reporting in war zones and on trauma. As is it was such a sensitive topic, I  - and I'm sure a couple of other students - probably felt a little bit uncomfortable. But nonetheless it needed to be discussed.

 Whether it be writing about it for a newspaper or talking about it to a class of journalism students, the effects are always there. War, death, natural disasters and acts of terrorism are just some of the topics which come under the somewhat broad umbrella of war and trauma. From a local car accident to 9/11, trauma is always prevalent in society. Although most people prefer to be avert to trauma, some chase it, surrounding their life in it. These people do this by going to war zones for long periods of time to report on the tragedy on behalf of their news paper or country.

As a person who is not comfortable hearing about or seeing violence, it is hard for me to imagine wanting to have such a career. But alas, my opinions are not the most important and they certainly aren't the only ones. Many people who cover topics such as war face many challenges. Some of these are psychological problems. When faced with continuous violence and unspeakable acts day after day, it can affect a person in ways that are unimaginable. Our lecturer, Marie, reminded us that if any of us go on to be war reporters, that we must remember what our job is. That is to be a journalist and nothing else. 

To be a journalist reporting in a war zone or on a tragedy, one must be able to do several things. Maintaining your professionalism and empathy is one of those things. The other important thing is to be able to remove yourself from the situation. After all, you're a reporter. Not a medic, not a counselor and not a soldier. These are some of the abilities that one would need to possess if one chose to report on war and trauma. Whether or not one would choose this career path is up to you and you alone. After all, you only get one life. You may as well live it the way you want to.