Session Host(s):
Anthony Victoria and Luisa Ortiz Perez
Session Reporter
Luisa Ortiz Perez
Participants:
- Maritza Felix
- Jessica Maria Ross
- Tony Elkins
- Purva Indulkar
- Sandra Janoff
- Jingyuo Yu
- Anthony Victoria
- Sue Robinson
- Luisa Ortiz Perez
DISCUSSION
Sharing personal stories and context for burnout
- Not eating, not sleeping, angry, depleted.
Being a good journalist does not mean you are there for the story
Can I be sustainable enough and grounded enough to be able to tell a good storyteller
Calmly address the situation, grounded when facing trauma and experiences
Facing trauma, shootings, sexual violence.
You can care about the people you are covering and the stories we cover.
It is ok to slow down and take care of myself
I need help, I asked for mental health support, I grounded myself
Reporters, editors, taking that into the newsroom.
What causes your burnout?
BURNOUT IS SLOW BURN
- The news never stops, we are never oof
- We take in trauma all the time
- ‘I put the paper to bed’
- ‘I am fucking done’
- Design thinking facilitating school
- The trajectory I had was going to help me.
- Covering shootings, I was not protecting myself from the story
Things I spend my time and emotions now…triggers
My people are in the same room
Emergency exit….feelings and awareness
Sustainability
- When we cover online harassment and not show up as humans
- Vicarious trauma…j and social services
- What is done after 5 o’clock can happen in another space
- Our context is always present, we cannot dissociate
- Vulnerability and imposter syndrome
- Eradicate systems and be more authentic and vulnerable
In the newsroom
- As a mother and a worker
- Culture and leadership
- Labor rights and health care
- Points of tension and discussion
- Intentional touch points, ongoing conversations
- Culture and policy
Practical solutions
- Build resilience
- Settings and structures
- In policy and practice, what are the policies?
- Fully supported as a human
- What is your health plan?
- Your sustainable and holistic newsroom
- Clear communication
- I speak about going to therapy
- Bonito/Beautiful, we listen to our bodies
- Actionable items and model the behavior
- Intentional benefits
- Policy care + handbook, culture + practice, modeled by leadership
- Spotlight is so wrong…he was burning his newsroom down
- Health plan…what is MY plan for my own health.
- Not make sexual harassment taboo
What we did not talk about
- Responsibilities women have, caretaking
- We are not just j, we are caretakers and we are people
- Collective disturbance? How do we name it and how do we address it? Acknowledge it and act on it.
- How much of this work had to be fostered by the collective
- Every member of the community has to be given the right incentives to grow
- Intersectional and women led
- These are not just workplace issues