Journalism (Special Issue)

Deadline: December 20, 2024

Guest Editors 

• Maha Bashri, United Arab Emirates University (UAE) 
  
• Lada Price, University of Sheffield (UK) 
  
• Ola Ogunyemi, University of Lincoln (UK) 
  
• Desiree Hill, University of Oklahoma (USA)  

Conflict reporters face unique psychological challenges due to repeated exposure to traumatic events. Traditionally, conflict journalism has focused on reporting from war zones and areas of armed conflict. However, this special issue adopts a broader definition, recognizing that conflict extends beyond armed warfare to include political and societal challenges. We consider conflict journalism to encompass reporting on organized crime, contentious elections, school shootings, and other situations of heightened tension or violence. This expanded view allows us to explore the complex interplay between trauma, resilience, and post-traumatic growth across a wider spectrum of high-stress reporting contexts. We aim to examine the personal, professional, and organizational factors that enable journalists to withstand and recover from traumatic experiences, contributing to the development of effective support strategies for journalists’ mental health and well-being in high-stress environments. Drawing on the concept of “collective resilience” (Dunkel Schetter & Dolbier, 2011) and recent research on resilience in high-stress professions (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013; Šimunjak, 2023), we seek to understand how resilience can be fostered within conflict journalism. This issue will pay particular attention to the diverse experiences of journalists from different backgrounds, especially those from the Global South and female reporters in conflict zones.  

 Submission Guidelines 

Abstract submission deadline (500 words max and brief author bio -max 100 words)  should be sent no later than December 20, 2024 to traumajournalism@gmail.com  

If an abstract is selected, authors will be invited to submit a full manuscript. 

Full papers  manuscript submission deadline: September 12, 2025

More details on this call are available here.