What has Changed on Manageability

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instead of the victims.

4.3.2 What has Changed on Manageability

Changes on seeking help

After the workshop these journalists have started to consider more about their feelings and the feeling of victims. And the considerations make them feel they could do something, and have more awareness to emotional burden or harm on them which come with the covering.

Moreover, these may feel better when they take more considerations for not hurt people through covering and better ways to cover subjects who are in grief. Journalists have started to notice the emotional burden on them and have been more willing to search for help and cooperation with other dispatched journalists.

In the past, these dispatched journalists didn't have chance to attend any workshop together, and they seldom talked to other dispatched journalist about the impact they take through covering. E said the reason he chose not sharing because,

Respondent E: “I don’t want to shift (trauma) on others… it may increase distress to others because they would worry about you when listen to your distress...”

But after workshop, as they found the trauma issue has been a topic introduced to journalistic field and there have some connection with their life as well, journalists have started to be more willing to reveal their vulnerabilities and have an unspoken consensus to cooperate when covering. As D shared, he was surprised, respondent E who also attended the workshop can make joke of his seasickness and directly refuse to go to an island for covering,

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Respondent remembered the journalist E said that:” Don’t you know I can’t take a boat, are you want me die? Don’t you know I would very scare to take a boat… ”.

That is a big move for building a trust to expose vulnerability. Especially the ways dispatched journalists share something to each other are often packed as a joke or a review of some great achievement.

Cooperation- sharing news videos and information

In the interval between workshop and the second interview, E felt being strongly support when he was hospitalized for his waist, he said that:

Respondent E: “It is hard to describe with words, after the workshop I felt more strongly that we are a unity and become more willing to help each other.”

An unspoken consensus about flexible “sharing” has emergent between these journalists after the workshop. Sometimes, journalists could share the video they filmed, and through some arrangement, journalists could cover different stories separately and evade to intensely covering similar incidents. The kind of cooperation makes these TV journalists as a team gives timely covering support and not all journalists should go to the scene. The consensus often used to some normal news, and critical news are not included for the sake of competition.

But the workload and the possibility to get hurt would be decrease. As E said, “because dispatching to a place itself is a battle to fight, it would rather fight alone than fight together.”

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And sharing the news video is an approach to reduce the intensity of repeat exposure to the same stressors, E thought the consensus for video sharing “reduce the traumatic impact and make the process of heal faster… ”(Respondent E) and when he intercept the police radio which is his daily job, he would deliver some information to other journalists for they may be more closer to the incident scene or when the scene was further he would ask a journalist go with him. For E , the change represents that he have more helping resources.

Respondent E: “now I feel … I don’t have to carry everything on myself… it is not a big deal to share with other journalists.”

In fact, sharing video is not a new practice and is normal for dispatched journalists (Li, 2006; Yan, 2002). But journalists often take the sharing as a strategy to just meet the demands of work, but here E gave the sharing a new function, reducing the similar traumatic exposure and sharing burdens with other journalists.

Finding out different kinds of support for covering job

After the workshop, E found be supported by other dispatched journalists and also he found out his family are best team for his covering job and interesting the support from his family are not purely emotional support but informational support. As E listened to the police radio all day long especially in the middle of the night, he often get tried while daytime and his family has gradually became people who take turns with him for the listening work. His family, from his mother to his son, is capable of understanding the term jargon in the police video and when he go out they would call him for they heard some information which would be an news from the police radio.

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Interactions with news subjects

Even some journalists had already have some sense about protecting victims, as E stressed that empowering victims a right to choose answer or not is important, no one like to be forced by others and he didn’t want to be the one to force people. What he would do is giving a explanation for his coming and make efforts to persuade, even the result is not good or be refused, he may still feel better, and also in this way, get rid of a feeling of use others. A more empathetic communication with subjects has become more important in these journalists’

mind. E thought that if not adopt a coercive strategies to force the subject say something, you can ease your conscience and develop a relatively positive relationship with your subjects.

Respondent E: “More often, keeping the positive relationship with interviewees may help for gaining more information or as a resource for your further covering in the future”

In fact, these journalists show more empathy when asking questions. They have started to change the way of asking questions, especially when the questions are too” bloody”. D said he found out some journalists start to modify the directly asking to a more gentle and empathetic questioning. Moreover, A mentioned about they have tried to not just comply with the company’s command and have more considerations for not hurt victims, even it is still hard for him to totally understand the pain of victims, but at least before he do some covering, he would simulate the possible process in mind and considered how he ask without hurt the interviewees. Some TV journalists I interviewed mentioned about, if possible, they would evade shoot the front of subjects and choose a long distance shoot, instead.

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These changes can tell from the news video they shoot and each journalists own observation. The linkage between the workshop and the behavioral change as D said that,

Respondent D: “I thought that why we start to change the way we ask questions, the reason must be that we find it do influence us psychologically. And how we find the influence, I think because of the workshop, we have become more human. ”