Jeremy Bowen speaking at Journalism and Media Week
Reporting from warzones requires not only mental resilience, but also a strong external support network, says Jeremy Bowen.
Speaking virtually to Leeds Trinity University students at their annual Journalism and Media Week, the BBC’s International Editor opened up on the damaging effects that broadcasting from the frontlines can have.
He said: “Reporting on war and natural disasters, the blood and gore can build up on you – it’s not necessarily one incident.”
After his driver and local ‘fixer’ were killed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Lebanon in 2000, the expert conflict correspondent began to experience symptoms of PTSD. Bowen later suffered a severe depressive episode as a result of the pressures of covering warzones, from which his recovery coincided with a bowel cancer diagnosis.
Describing how his outlook on his work and life has changed, he said that “young people have a sense of ‘I am indestructible’. When you get older, you realise you aren’t.”
Thankfully, the provision of support and resources for journalists has “completely transformed” in recent years. Remembering his first assignment in El Salvador, Bowen recounted how he used to be sent to warzones without a basic first aid kit, let alone any precautions for his mental health.
Help is now readily available for both the physical and mental protection of reporters, with the BBC having full-time employees who are specifically trained to assist with the handling of trauma. He said: “There is a strong awareness of it right now, there’s a healthy climate for it.
“You get to a certain point where you’ve got to take a break; you get mentally tired as well as physically tired, especially working the hours that we do.”
Nevertheless, resilience is still a necessary pre-requisite for any frontline reporters.
“You’ve got to be resilient. You can’t crumble when you’re working in a dangerous place; it’s part of the territory, you’ve got to be able to resist it.”
Bowen also spoke about the importance of impartiality and fact-checking to the work process at the BBC.
Of course, this isn’t always made possible in a warzone. Bowen highlighted how the IDF have deliberately prevented his BBC news crews from entering Gaza, leaving them unable to substantiate claims coming out of the conflict.
He said: “Why won’t they let us in? I think they’ve done stuff that they don’t want us to see, in terms of devastation and killing people.”
This leaves reporters in a difficult situation, especially within a climate of misinformation and growing pushback against mainstream news sources.
“I don’t think the ethos within the BBC has changed, but it’s no secret that levels of trust have declined. People are suspicious and critical very often, so that’s why we are working very hard at the BBC to try to show how we do things.”