CIR concluded third of its dialogue series titled ‘Managing psychological stress of journalists covering COVID-19’ on Saturday, 25 April 2020.
Resource person of the event was Amantha Perera, a researcher with the Creative Arts Research Training Academy, CQUnivesity, Australia.
During the dialogue, self-care and managing stress of journalists during COVID-19 lockdown were discussed.
As the world battles against a global pandemic, journalists are in the forefront, telling the COVID-19 story. They are first responders themselves, dealing with multiple challenges, ranging from screaming deadlines, domestic crises, restricted mobility and having to deal with personal safety and wellbeing.
In these challenging times, journalists play a critical role in keeping their communities informed. COVID-19 has made everyone a health reporter.
The forum discussed how journalists could cover the global pandemic effectively when they often have to deal with psychological stress, challenges to their own health and safety and an uncertain future. It also discussed what are the best practices that journalists could draw from.
Amantha’s main area of expertise is journalism and online trauma threats. He also works as the Asia-Pacific Coordinator for the DART Center for Journalism and Trauma.
His works have appeared in TIME, The Guardian, Washington Post, Reuters, al- Jazeera and the New Humanitarian. He tweets from @amanthap
