Abstract
Research demonstrates that journalists who cover conflict face physical and emotional risks. Ukrainian journalists experience a double trauma as they experience the war both as citizen and as journalist. Since the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian war journalists have faced a wide range of challenges including deaths of family members and colleagues, frequent bomb threats, attacks, and damage to their communities. Most studies of conflict journalists focus on western reporters and photographers who cover wars as they travel to other parts of the world. Fewer studies focus on local journalists covering conflict where they live. This research builds upon the concept of continuous traumatic stress (CTS), which proposes that existing diagnostic definitions and recommendations do not address effects of continuous trauma for journalists. Through narrative inquiry and interviews with 13 Ukrainian journalists this study investigates how organizational support affects local journalists and their experience with CTS. Findings suggest that journalists are affected by their emotional, physical, and work-related experience, but they see their work as a “mission” that contributes to the war effort through reliable and accurate reporting. The Ukrainian journalists demonstrate that individual, local, organizational, and national organizational support can boost resilience as they experience CTS.
Keywords
The citizens of Ukraine are coping with ongoing wartime atrocities including deaths of children and civilians from bombings, explosions, shootings, and other violent acts. Cities have experienced damage and destruction to homes, power grids and water supplies. Nearly 18 million people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance according to a United Nations (UN) report (“UN rights chief deplores Ukraine death toll 1 year after Russian invasion,” 2023). These realities leave Ukrainian journalists vulnerable to a double trauma as they cover the war and experience the war as citizens.
Some have paid the ultimate price; from the start of the 2022 invasion 18 Ukrainian journalists have died from crossfire, murder, and what is described as “dangerous assignment” by the Committee to Protect Journalists (2026). 1 Approximately 26 media workers are being held in captivity in Russia (Orlova and Slavtcheva-Petkova, 2025). Journalist Victoriia Roshchyna died in prison. Her cause of death may never be known, but she suffered burns, a possible broken neck, and parts of her body were missing (Garside et al., 2025).
Ukraine is no stranger to conflict, as a geographic and religious crossroads long defined as the gateway to Europe. The root word “Ukraina” means “borderland,” or “frontier” (Reid, 2015). For more than two millennia Ukraine has been the site of invasions and settlement by Scythians, Romans, Huns, Vikings, Lithuanian dukes, Poles, and Germans (Plokhy, 2021; Reid, 2015). Ukraine preceded Russia, because Kyiv was the capitol of Kievan “Rus,” long before Moscow became a center of power in the region (Reid, 2015).
Ukraine’s history is deep, but its modern media landscape is relatively young. Oligarchs shaped the media structure after Ukraine’s 1991 independence (Boichak and Miskyi, 2025). In recent years the media has become more diversified, including a new public broadcaster, an influx of localized newspapers, and journalistic influence from non-governmental organizations (Boichak and Miskyi, 2025; Hrybenko, 2025). Three factors regarding Ukrainian media have influenced the war’s effects on journalists in this study. First, organizations have faced extreme financial challenges with the loss of advertising, subscriber, and international support 2 . Second, journalists have been on the move to escape intense fighting and occupation (Orlova and Slavtcheva-Petkova, 2025). Third, at the onset of the war the government implemented the United News Telethon (UNT), a 24-hour news broadcast staffed by the largest media channels (Boichak and Miskyi, 2025). Despite the negative effects, Ukraine rose in the World Press Freedom Index, from 97 in 2021 to 62 by 2025 (“Index,” 2025). Hrybenko (2025) suggested the war could influence journalistic innovation, but the ongoing conflict could also “erode institutions” and “amplify the structural challenges” (Orlova and Slavtcheva-Petkova, 2025: p. 6).
Journalists whose job it is to report on war not only face physical risks but also have the emotional experience of witnessing death and harm to others (e.g. Charles, 2020). Most studies of combat journalists focus on western reporters and photographers who cover conflict as they travel to other parts of the world, then return home with symptoms and diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (e.g. Feinstein and Nicholson, 2005). Few studies have focused on local journalists covering ongoing conflict (Charles, 2020). Not only are these local journalists covering war and violence, but they may also be struggling with deaths and threats to family members and colleagues, as well as coping with damage and destruction to homes and communities. One solution is support from news organizations and peers that can help ease the emotional suffering for these journalists (Feinstein, 2013; Shah et al., 2022).
Therefore, this research builds upon the concept of continuous traumatic stress (CTS), which proposes that existing diagnostic definitions and recommendations do not address effects of continuous trauma for journalists. Two main research questions frame the focus of this study: (a) how do Ukrainian journalists experience the war as both citizen and journalist during continuous conflict; and (b) how can organizational support influence CTS? The findings add to the limited body of research on local journalists covering war and conflict where they live.
Journalism and conflict
When Charles (2020) wrote that studies regarding combat journalists failed “to adequately capture the experiences of journalists living and working permanently in contexts of protracted violence and conflict,” he was referring to the limited number of studies which focus on local journalists in these contexts (p. 2). Early research concentrated on war correspondents from Western countries and journalists from “affluent nations covering the traumas of the people in the more problem-ridden parts of the world” (Fenton, 2008: p. 241.) These journalists are referred to as “parachute journalists” (Charles, 2020: p. 2) who experience “distant suffering” (Cottle, 2013: p. 233). Despite their emotional wounds they were able to leave the conflict zone and return home away from war.
War and conflict journalism researchers have studied geographic regions such as Colombia (Charles, 2020), Kashmir (Boga, 2024), Iran (Feinstein and Nicolson, 2005), Iraq (Feinstein et al., 2016), Kenya (Feinstein et al., 2015), Mexico (Feinstein, 2012, 2013), the Middle East (Nasser, 2022), Pakistan (Shah et al., 2022), Syria (Feinstein and Starr 2015), and Ukraine (e.g. Hrybenko, 2026). Studies have focused on short-term violence during an election (Feinstein et al., 2015), embedded journalists in the U.S.-Iraq war (Feinstein and Nicolson, 2005), journalists covering ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Pakistan (Nasser, 2022; Shah et al., 2022), journalists living in the Kashmir militarized zone (Boga, 2024), and journalists covering drug violence in Colombia and Mexico (Charles, 2020; Feinstein, 2012, 2013). Journalists in these scenarios can be exposed to death, suffering, assault, mock execution, and other forms of intimidation (Feinstein et al., 2015).
A small number of studies has focused more narrowly on traumatic impacts for local journalists who cover conflict where they live. Feinstein (2013) compared local journalists covering drug violence in Mexico to non-local journalists who were able to leave the violence after reporting on the story. The Mexican journalists had “clinically significant depression” scores compared to the other group. The Mexican journalists had more psychological problems, because “they both work and live in a dangerous environment,” and one added burden for the journalists: their families were also exposed to violence (Feinstein, 2013: p. 81). Specifically, in the Mexican study and another on Iranian journalists (Feinstein, 2013) family members received death threats and other threats, compounding the negative effects.
More recent studies and measures focus on Ukrainian journalists during the war. For example, Kotisova (2025) discussed that foreign “parachute” journalists’ can be viewed as more credible than locals, but the “emotional engagement” of local journalists covering conflicts in Ukraine and other countries should be valued as “vital for accuracy, nuance, and ethics” (p. 1305). The 2025 Worlds of Journalism Safety Index placed Ukrainian journalists at 58 among the 73 measured, with “dreadful conditions for the safety of journalists” (Orlova and Slavtcheva-Petkova, 2025: p. 3). Female journalists in Ukraine have faced more gender-based psychological and physical threats. While they received safety training, there was a void in any kind of psychological preparation (Hrybenko, 2026). Ukraine locals who help international journalists with logistics and other support (also referred to as “fixers”) have specific challenges, including nightmares, hallucinations, and difficulty returning to everyday life after their work (Trifonova and Jenkins, 2024). Another set of Ukraine war studies has focused in part on how coverage is influenced by political contexts, patriotism, and how conflict news is verified (Nygren et al., 2018; Springer et al., 2022). In the Nygren et al. study the journalists described their work as “taking part in the defense of the nation” (p. 1074). Together, the research paints a picture of Ukrainian journalists working under difficult physical and emotional conditions.
Continuous traumatic stress (CTS)
Charles (2020) advocated for journalism trauma studies to be broadened “to include the impact of CTS on local journalists working in a context of protracted violence” (p. 15). But most research on journalists covering conflict has looked at PTSD to explain the emotional impact of covering war and conflict (e.g. Feinstein and Starr, 2015). For example, a study of 236 Pakistani journalists living in the conflict-ridden area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province recorded one of the highest rates of PTSD symptoms in the literature – 48.61% (Shah et al., 2022). Journalists returning from conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East post-9/11 through 2013 had a high lifetime presence of PTSD and other negative mental health effects (Feinstein et al., 2026). Some scholars question whether PTSD can fully explain the situation for local journalists in conflict zones, because these reporters are “trapped indefinitely in a social trauma in their homelands, even when off duty” (Nasser, 2022: p. 188).
Continuous traumatic stress (CTS) is a concept which originated in South Africa to describe psychological challenges under apartheid (Straker, G. & The Sanctuaries Counselling Team, 1987). CTS is an ongoing trauma exposure that is not “past and finite” (Stevens et al., 2013: p. 75), but more “current and potential” (Zasiekina and Martyniuk, 2025: p. 2). CTS attempts to fill gaps on disorders such as PTSD that do not fully describe the experiences of those “exposed to violence, conflict and trauma on a daily basis” (Stevens et al., 2013: p. 76).
CTS has been little studied regarding journalism work, even though journalists covering conflict are “unable to distance themselves physically from the field, even when at home” (Nasser, 2022: p. 189). Recent studies in Ukraine measuring CTS have focused on local citizens (Frankova et al., 2025) and nurses (Zasiekina and Martyniuk, 2025).
Intervention strategies for CTS require more flexible coping strategies “adapted to the specific needs and symptoms of affected groups and individuals” (Frankova et al., 2025: p. 9). Other strategies include resilience building, stress mitigation, practicing mindfulness, and increasing social support (Nasser, 2022; Zasiekina and Martyniuk, 2025). For journalists, media organizations can customize training and support opportunities (Charles, 2020).
Organizational support
Few studies look at journalists, conflict, and CTS. Therefore, to understand the role played by organizational support in these contexts, we turn to other literature on journalism and trauma (e.g. Frey, 2023; Weidmann et al., 2007). Organizational support that helps journalists during conflict, disaster, and other traumas includes empathetic leadership (Hill, 2022), instrumental support (Newman et al., 2003), and training (Newman and Nelson, 2012). Instrumental support can include tangible and visible efforts such as equipment, food, and counseling (Newman et al., 2003). Training can aid journalists in feelings of preparedness and safety. For example, training was recommended for the journalists in the KP province, especially those in smaller communities with fewer mental health resources (Shah et al., 2022).
Peer support is often connected to organizational support, because peer support can be facilitated by the organization and individual leaders (Hill, 2022). Following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami “positive acknowledgment by a supervisor or by peers (was) crucial with regard to post-traumatic symptoms” (Weidmann et al., 2007: p. 130).
Organizational support and peer support promote resilience in journalists (Frey, 2023). Resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt, gain control of stressful situations, and seek meaning from the negative events (Newman and Nelson, 2012). Resilience is supported by journalists’ ability to reach for help when needed, but scholars also advocate for a “reaching in” approach where supervisors and peers are purposeful in identifying journalists who may be struggling (Smith and Wake, 2024: p. 22). Providing information and training normalizes the idea of seeking help and counteracts stigma for journalists (Newman and Nelson, 2012). In turn, learning about resilience and how to achieve it can help journalists and their supervisors better support each other.
Method
The existing literature on local journalists, CTS, and organizational support lays the groundwork for the research at hand. This study is based on interviews with 13 Ukrainian journalists. Keats (2010) suggested narrative inquiry as an appropriate method for the study of trauma and journalism, because “traumatic stress is seen as a language-centered, contextually situated, and embodied experience” (p. 234). Narrative inquiry contributes to a scientific approach, “because it is based on observations, employs a set of concepts with which to understand what is observed, and strives to develop or illustrate theoretical concepts in ways that have significance beyond the initial observations” (Wells, 2011: p. 114). This approach allowed the researcher to facilitate meaning making surrounding the journalists’ emotional experience of the war as well as perceptions of organizational support. Elements of grounded theory (GT) informed the study design and data analysis with the understanding that reality is created by individuals with space for new and unexpected meaning to emerge (Glaser and Strass, 1967). Somer and Ataria (2015) followed a similar interview protocol in their CTS study of citizens living on the Gaza-Israel border, prioritizing the GT method in order “to remain as close as possible to the data” (p. 291).
The research process began with one Ukrainian journalist whom the researcher met at an international conference in 2022 just after the start of the war. This interview led to other connections with journalists, and the researcher met respondents by networking with Ukrainian journalists, Ukrainian university journalism professors, and meeting journalists and professors at other conferences, all of which contributed to a more purposive sampling strategy (Yin, 2016). The interview process continued through August 2025.
The interviews began with a list of questions and followed a protocol approved by the University of Oklahoma Institutional Research Board. A multi-question script focused on the journalists’ war experience, how their organization provided support during the war, and how the organizational support was lacking or could have been improved. A semi-structured approach allowed interviewees to generate more data as the researcher probed for clarity or when the journalists shared personal details when the structured portion of the interview concluded.
The researcher interviewed each journalist via Zoom. Six of the journalists were more comfortable conversing in the Ukrainian language, so a translator participated in those sessions. One interviewee communicated in English but asked to have a translator present. The circumstances of the interviews varied. In some instances, interviews were interrupted for emergency bombing alerts. In other instances, power and WIFI outages dictated interviews occur in near darkness or outdoors.
The identities of the journalists, their employers, and jobs roles are shielded, and subjects are identified as J1, J2, and so on to preserve their anonymity. Demographically, 11 of the journalists were female and two were male. The journalists represented several areas of the media workforce including newspaper editor, reporter, on-camera presenter, digital reporter and US network producer. Some of the participants were new to the industry, and others had decades of experience. About half the journalists had been to the frontlines or were caught in fighting at the onset of the war in cities such as Kyiv or Kharkiv. Two were living near the border of Ukraine and Russia, experiencing frequent attacks. Others either lived in central Ukraine or had migrated there after the war started. Five had management experience, including editor-in-chief roles.
In conducting research about trauma, it is important to avoid re-traumatizing the interviewees as they discuss traumatizing events they’ve experienced. The researcher experienced traumatic situations as a former journalist, including a large-scale terror attack 3 and has interviewed dozens of journalists about trauma. All the Ukrainian journalists received some kind of mental health support through employers and other organizations, and the researcher was also prepared with outside resources if the journalist demonstrated a need or requested additional support. The researcher aimed to be sensitive to the interviewees’ emotions, and the journalists expressed relief in telling their stories. The translator shared one journalist’s (J11) feelings about being interviewed: “Our talking will be helpful. She will speak all (her) pain inside to us.”
Constant comparison, open, axial, and selective coding refined each level of analysis (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The researcher created a data sheet where she organized and considered the data according to subject, meaning, and interpretation (constant comparison and open coding) (Lindlof and Taylor, 2011). Refinement of the data (axial coding) produced a more systematic categorical development of the interview transcripts. A final reassembly of the data (selective coding) led to the overarching themes of the study (Yin, 2016).
The final step in the research protocol was a review of the process by a Ukrainian journalism professor. The professor-reviewer suggested sharpening details about the history and the invasion, but “felt that you (the researcher) are deeply inside journalism life in Ukraine.” Taken together, the interviews form a reality where individual memories can become “institutional memory” and contribute to our collective historical knowledge (Boje, 1991: p. 106).
Results
What emerged from the data was a major theme of “local experience” with subthemes of emotional, physical, and journalism or “work” experiences. In some instances, the experiences overlapped, because the journalists talked about undergoing profound emotion while working, or facing physical obstacles which affected the work, such as during a bomb scare or power outage. In these cases, the researcher placed the experience into the subtheme with the most connection.
The researcher also asked the journalists to detail their organizational support experience. Here, the journalists focused on supervisor and peer support.
Local experience
The journalists discussed their experience of the war in terms of the direct impact to them emotionally and physically, as well as how they do their work despite the enormous challenges of working and living in a country at war. The most prevalent theme in this category regarded emotion and feeling, as the journalists explored what it means to be a local journalist versus a “parachute journalist.”
Emotional experience
The subtheme of “emotion” was coded using words, such as “feelings,” “grief,” “emotion,” “crying,” and “mourning.” Almost half the journalists discussed grieving for colleagues and loved ones who died in the war. The journalists acknowledged “it’s painful to talk about this inner pain when you lose someone you love” (J5). The journalists also described a grief extending beyond friends and family. For example, J8, J11, and J12 brought up the number of funerals they’ve covered or witnessed for soldiers who’ve died in the war. J8 said she experiences this grief as “not only a listener and professional journalist…but also (as) a citizen.”
Worry for family and friends was another area of concern for the journalists. For example, “I have some relatives in Kyiv, and every night when I have alarms, I wrote the message to them (asking) if they are still alive” (J8). J10 feared getting a phone call saying a loved one died.
J1, J8 and others mourn for their country and the way they must live during war. It feels “like you were losing a part of yourself, a part of your soul” and like “we are a broken people.” How is it possible in the middle of the 21st century in the middle of Europe that kind of full-scale war?… I just wanted to think about boyfriends -- not to think about how to survive nuclear war when I’m 26 years old. (J5)
The journalists also discussed the various ways they contain their emotions, such as when they learn of the death of someone they know or while working on a difficult story. J2 said she puts off the emotions “to a better day,” and that she “cried only twice the whole year” – the day the war started and, on her birthday, when “she opened herself for emotions.” J4 said when she works on difficult stories she will “close my ears, close my eyes.” Sometimes the journalists are unable to hold back, such as when J5 “explode(ed) with tears. I didn’t know how to stop it…It took me a few months to understand how to deal with this…Sometimes I was crying too much.”
The journalists explain they find their resilience by a “clearing of the heart” (J8), focusing on two realities - “a normal life and life in war” (J10), and “feeling good when the sun is shining and you’re trying to live” (J5). J9 also feels solidarity with other journalists in countries at war because “everything is not only about Ukraine right now.”
Overall, the journalists feel sorrow and grief for the deaths of family, friends, and others. They struggle with sadness for the war’s effects on their country and their lives. They try to suppress their emotions and find their resilience, but sometimes they are unable to contain the enormity of what they are feeling.
Physical experience
The journalists cannot escape the physical day-to-day experiences of the war. The “physical” subtheme was coded with words such as, “bomb,” “alarms,” “electrical outage,” and “water” issues. One example occurred in real time during an interview when one of the journalists (J13) could hear air attacks nearby. Other physical impacts included outages during cold weather (“bad situation in November without electricity” [J1], “no mobile” [J13]), and water problems (“yellow water in the shower” [J1]).
Attacks and bomb scares are a part of life in the larger cities, on the frontlines, and in other strategic parts of Ukraine. J12, who works with a journalism-support organization, said some journalists do not want to leave their frontline communities and may wait until it’s too late. She described a journalist who refused to evacuate, because he believed no one else would be left to cover his community. She was able to persuade him to work in a nearby city temporarily, because “they have no shelter in their home. They have no shelter in the newsroom. It's hard to find shelter nearby” (J12). J12 added when journalists refuse to leave their local communities, it can be impossible to leave, and they may require humanitarian assistance or armored vehicles to protect them.
Other journalists made going to bomb shelters a part of their routine. J8 described a preparation system with documents and materials ready to grab before she and her husband leave for the shelter. Frequent attacks and years of full-scale invasion have also led to a complacency about warnings. J7 does not always take cover when alarms come, because “we need to work and cannot stop every two hours to go to the shelter.” In the eastern regions it's like that every minute or every hour we hear alarms about the danger and it's very hard…you are at your work and it's very hard to go to the shelter every time, because…everyone (thinks) that rockets do not fly on his or her house. (J13)
Despite the reality of living, working, and going to bomb shelters in between, some of the journalists are thankful for “Punkt Nezlamnosti” translated as “Points of Invincibility.” J3 called them “our unbreakable places,” where the journalists can work, with generators, WIFI, heaters, and other necessities (“Unbreakable Points are Being Deployed in Ukraine,” nd). Some locations house hundreds of people during power outages or sustained attacks.
The journalists’ physical experience of the war is something they endure almost every day. They may be without electricity, WIFI, or other necessities. They live with missile and drone attacks, frequent warnings and alerts, and fear of the next attack or siren. J3 said they are unlike journalists from abroad who “make their articles (and) go back home.”
Work experience
The work experience subtheme was coded with words such as “work,” “informing,” “stories,” “writing,” and “mission.” J11 worked at a 100+ year old small-town newspaper near the frontlines. The original staff size was 15, but with almost no revenue and employees departing for safer areas, the staff shrunk to three. She described working “around the clock” because otherwise “there is no local information.” For the news organizations in the major attack areas “it’s a mission to cover everything, to provide information to citizens. In many regions small local media became the only source to provide local information” (J12).
Media organizations and the government had to create “new distribution methods (with) audiences and journalists on the move” (J6). Some journalists criticized the government’s involvement in the United News launch where the government coordinated some of the larger media channels into a 24-h broadcast, but in this environment, “it’s not about competition. It’s not about bigger audience. It’s about informing” (J5).
Almost all the journalists said they cried while working on their most difficult stories or after. J2 believed she needed to be smiling while on screen, and if she “falls apart” it would be hard for the audience. J5 cried while working on stories of rape and crime in Bucha
4
. The emotion was compounded by exhaustion. We worked hard, sometimes 12-24 hours each day and after every live part we’ve done, we just sat and cried. It was hard to hold everything inside. I had terrible feelings of guilt because of those boys and girls, men and women who went to the army to defend us and I wasn’t there. (J1)
The journalists also found it difficult to distance themselves from their content. J5 “put all the stories through myself. I’m thinking that person was just sleeping in the house, and the rocket came, and they were dead.” Even though some of the journalists said they turn off their emotions to protect themselves, they also believe “you need to feel to make a good story” (J4). J10, an entry-level journalist, said it’s hard to know how to feel because “you are not a professional yet.”
Many of the journalists consider their work as contributing to the cause of their country. For example, “I cannot be on the frontline. I cannot be like a like a soldier, yes, but I can write about them” (J4). As a journalist who worked with an international news network J9 said “if there is something I can do to make sure the Ukraine story is told properly for the external audience, that’s why I’m here.” When you’re working – you don’t have all the thoughts. You have to do something. When you do something, you don’t have time to panic, to be afraid… how dare you to do nothing while people are dying? (J5)
Journalists do not have to be on the battlefield to be affected. “I still feel really traumatized by what I see on the screen…Images can be really hard to go through day by day” (J6). J4 focused on women’s stories and the war, but it is “difficult to hear sometimes,” stories of prison and torture 5 .
The Ukrainian journalists’ work experience is dominated by the war. They connect their work to a “mission,” like that of a soldier. Telling the stories of people affected by the war can lead to profound emotion, but doing the work grounds them. They consider themselves information warriors who are needed to tell the Ukraine story accurately to local and external audiences.
Organizational support
In thinking about organizational support, the journalists spoke in terms of “equipment,” “counseling,” “training,” and “salary.” As news organizations lost advertising and subscriber support, pay decreased and organizations relied on international donors to help keep journalists paid (Orlova and Slavtcheva-Petkova, 2025). Journalists had to buy some of their own gear, including cameras (J1) and pay their own expenses in order to do their work (J3). We don’t have as much of the resources (in comparison to) some media outlets when they have to go to really shocking situations like war…We have money to pay salary for our staffs for 1-2 months…That puts a lot of pressure on everyone including media managers and editors-in-chief because they don’t know how they’re going to keep the whole outlet running. (J6)
Simply being paid (J1) was appreciated, because the journalists understood the war’s disruption to the economic system. J3 noted being paid early when the invasion started. On the other hand, J5 said her news organization in Kyiv wasn’t prepared for the war to start. “It was wrong. We expected some kind of guidance.”
Managers provided instrumental support for journalists after the war started, such as making “sure there were groceries (for journalists). In markets, half of shelves were empty. Everything was gone” (J6). Other forms of instrumental support included “a new car, helmet and safety jacket” (J1), “housing” (J2, J5, J12), charging stations for computers (J1), and food provided at work (J2, J9).
The journalists’ organizations also emphasized safety. While J3 was disappointed not to be allowed to go to the front, he acknowledged his employer was trying to keep him safe. Similarly, he was told by his supervisor, “Don’t finish the piece. Go to the shelter,” when warning sirens sounded. J11’s staff was allowed to work at home, because homes were safer than the newsroom during attacks, and J13’s staff didn’t report from the frontlines but instead focused on stories of local people affected by the invasion. J9 said “if gear gets better, we get it.”
The journalists also appreciated acts of sensitivity from their supervisors. J3 found himself crying during an interview about Mariupol 6 . One of his supervisors ended up giving his interview transcript to another reporter, so he would not have to “live through it again.” J3 said while it is not the norm in his organization to share interviews, the empathetic act made him feel better. J7 had a similar experience where she was allowed to turn down stories, specifically about atrocities which occurred in Bucha. She was able to take a break with lighter topics, which allowed her to come back to the hard ones, “but not the rapes.” J7’s head editor sent a group text telling all the journalists they could refuse difficult stories, but “everyone doesn’t do it too much.” Two of the journalists said they were allowed to choose content they wanted to pursue, including investigative stories about war crimes (J1) and women’s stories from the war (J4). For J4 this makes “(me) like my job…they allow me to do what I like.”
Mental health support
While all the journalists were offered psychological support by employers and journalism organizations, reaction was mixed. J3’s organization tried to hire a psychologist to talk about the impending war, but the timing was off. They “decided to talk about it the next day. They didn’t end up talking about it at all because that’s the day the war started.” J1 and J5 acknowledged counseling is “still not a part of our culture” (J1). J9 was not ready for counseling, but every week in our meetings we hear reminding ‘guys, we have specialists’ in terms of psychological support…just the knowledge that there is the possibility is already helpful. You feel that backup. It helps you to feel okay without even using that backup.
J5 said talking to a counselor didn’t help her but talking to colleagues and the priest helped. J7 had a counselor available through her work, important, because as an online journalist she felt isolated. A mental wellbeing retreat in Poland was mostly a positive experience for J4. However, the psychologist didn’t “live in war” and she left with a feeling the psychologist didn’t understand what she was experiencing. J12 told of a psychologist who cried after hearing journalists’ stories; the journalist ended up comforting the psychologist. J6 believed “in the beginning (of the war) people didn’t feel comfortable saying they needed help, but (later) it was normalized.”
J12 has been instrumental in organizing mental health support for journalists across Ukraine. Her organization tried a hotline for about a year, but the donor stopped financing it, and they observed concerns about stigmatization and fears that “talking about psychological problems is a sign you are not a good journalist.” The organization added webinars, centers across the country and worked toward a peer support network and editorial guidelines, all with the goal of improving journalists’ mental health.
Peer support
As the journalists considered organizational support, they also reflected on peer and family support. The most extreme support was help for loved ones and colleagues in battle zones. When the husband of a colleague was injured, they “helped him move from one hospital to another and find possibilities for rehabilitation” (J2). J9 bought safety gear for friends near combat areas, such as body armor and helmets. J5 said “If someone needed help, we tried to do everything…give money, help to find a place to stay.”
The journalists also discussed how they give and receive help through the most difficult times at work by “dig(ging)” colleagues out when they have a depressing situation” (J1), sending jokes and memes via chat and text (“It’s important to laugh…we wouldn’t have lived through this without jokes and humor” [J3]), having “group therapy sessions at work” where colleagues “talked about their feelings and different ways of coping” (J7), including a tradition where journalists “typed in the chat how they feel…and everyone should react, so no one is left behind” (J7).
Several of the journalists believed their colleagues understood them in ways others – even family – cannot. J5 described her peers as “the people who understand you the most. Even if you weren’t good friends with someone you became close to each other. Those traumatic events -- they united you.” Others, J11 and J13, relied more on their family for support, which was more pronounced for journalists nearer to battle zones. Those who stayed in the most dangerous areas discussed spouses, parents, and other family members with them, demonstrating the importance of close family support in conflict.
The organizational support experience encompassed instrumental support such as safety gear, and food, offers of counseling, and empathetic leadership. The journalists see peer support as an extension of organizational support. Most prevalent in the peer support subtheme was helping each other in extreme situations, creating newsroom traditions for venting, and small gestures of care.
Discussion
This study contributes to the literature by following three connected strands: first, adding to the small amount of research documenting the experiences of local journalists covering war and conflict; second, connecting the concept of CTS to the journalists’ experience; and third, investigating the influence of organizational support. Two research questions frame the study: (a) how do Ukrainian journalists experience the war as both citizen and journalist during continuous conflict; and (b) how can organizational support influence CTS?
Previous studies have used PTSD as a measure to describe what war journalists experience. But this study concurs with Nasser (2022) and Charles (2020) to suggest more investigation is needed for a CTS framework to explain that trauma is not “past and finite” for local journalists living in violent circumstances (Stevens et al., 2013: p. 75) and is instead more “continuous” than “post.”
The study reveals many grim details from the journalists, particularly the facts emerging from Bucha, Mariupol, the death and torture of a journalist in captivity, as well as how the journalists reflect on death and loss. Not only do the journalists experience local attacks and deprivations, but they must also ensure these facts are reported throughout Ukraine and shared with the rest of the world. They live through these events as local citizens, then relive them to create informative news content.
The journalists convey the struggle to be both citizen and journalist during wartime. Like Feinstein’s (2013) journalists in Mexico, the Ukrainian journalists in this study are carrying a heavier psychological load than non-local journalists who return to homes away from conflict. They grieve for colleagues, loved ones, and others who have died or been injured in the war as well as worry constantly for family in areas under frequent attack, echoing the Charles (2020) and Feinstein (2013) findings that threats to family compound the psychological distress. Despite the intense emotion and difficult physical situations, the journalists find their work fulfilling and contributing to the war effort, echoing the findings of Nygren et al. (2018) that journalism is a mission “taking part in the defense of the nation” (p. 1074).
Practical implications regarding journalism and continuous conflict
The results of this study offer a tentative way forward for organizations in regions where journalists are experiencing continuous conflict. Previous CTS research recommends that coping strategies be flexible and adapted for specific groups (Frankova et al., 2025) and that media organizations offer customized support and training (Charles, 2020; Frey, 2023). More specific interventions include resilience building, stress mitigation, mindfulness exercises, and improved social support (Nasser, 2022; Zasiekina and Martyniuk, 2025).
All the journalists in the study experienced some form of mental health support, which included stress mitigation and mindfulness exercises (Nasser, 2022). Some of the counseling attempts fell short, such as the wellbeing retreat where J4 wished she had a psychologist with war experience. This indicates a gap still exists in counseling interventions regarding journalism work, even as journalists, organizations, and mental health providers partner to improve outcomes. However, counseling opportunities were appreciated by the journalists even if they opted not to take part in sessions or if the sessions didn’t live up to expectations (“just the knowledge that there is the possibility is already helpful” [J9]).
NUJU and other journalism organizations in Ukraine demonstrated flexibility in their responses (Frankova et al., 2025). For example, NUJU established a hotline for mental health support then later added webinars and localized journalism centers throughout Ukraine when the hotlines didn’t work as expected.
Instrumental and more physical forms of support for journalists in conflict require more attention from organizations as well. Journalists need safety gear (in this case, also new gear when upgrades were made), help with housing when they had to leave areas like Kyiv, and to have food and groceries provided, especially during shortages. This means that organizations need advance planning, because such preparation fuels a feeling of security in journalists (Newman and Nelson, 2012).
Resilience building also helps individuals experiencing CTS (Zasiekina and Martyniuk, 2025). Journalists can gather resilience by adapting, gaining control, and seeking meaning from traumatic events (Newman and Nelson, 2012). The journalists in this study boosted their resilience individually and organizationally, including through leader and peer support (Frey, 2023). Individually, they sought meaning by seeing journalism work as a “mission” crucial to the war effort. Organizationally, journalists were boosted when empathetic supervisors allowed them to select content areas in which to work, to take a break from upsetting topics, and to turn down difficult assignments. These leadership methods contributed to the journalists’ sense of control over their work environment, which in turn makes “(me) like my job” (J4) fueling both agency and resilience (Newman and Nelson, 2012).
Peer support was both physical and intense (“helped him move from one hospital to another” [J2]). Newsroom traditions such as humor, informal group therapy sessions among coworkers, and sharing feelings via chat “where no one is left behind” (J7) created opportunities to offer regular support among colleagues. Smith and Wake (2024) described a “reaching in” approach for journalists to support one another with concrete rather than vague offers of support. This study calls for journalists to “reach in authentically” as they show genuine care to one another. Overall, the journalists’ resilience was influenced on the individual, local organizational, and national organizational (i.e., NUJU) levels. Resilience-centered support across each level has the most potential to help journalists through continuously traumatic circumstances.
The impact of peer support on resilience leads to two cautionary notes. Journalists in the smallest of newsrooms, such as J11 with a three-person crew, may not have a large enough peer community of journalists locally. This builds on the Shah et al. (2022) findings for national and international journalism organizations to create support channels for smaller newsrooms. National organizations, such as NUJU, can help fill those gaps. Further, a more systemized training approach to deepen peer support could improve resilience, thereby helping journalists better cope with CTS (Frey, 2023; Newman and Nelson, 2012).
The researcher acknowledges the limitations of the study. First, future studies should aim for a larger respondent group. Second, the interviews included journalists living in various parts of Ukraine and experiencing the war in different ways. Regional-specific studies could generate different results given the varied levels of conflict. One interesting detail from the Ukraine experience requiring further study regards the United National Telethon (UNT). While it was orchestrated by the government (and not without controversy), the concept is potentially generalizable to other worldwide conflicts and natural disasters. UNT-style cooperation (without government mandates) has the potential to allow normally-competitive journalism organizations to share resources, increase content, provide around-the-clock coverage, thorough fact-checking, and allow more time off for exhausted journalists.
Despite limitations, this study contributes to our overall understanding of local journalists living and reporting during wartime and continuous conflict. They and their organizations have employed methods to bolster resilience for the work, even as they daily experience the war’s effects. The journalists demonstrate that “Punkt Nezlamnosti” (Points of Invincibility) also refers to their own strength in bringing news and information to citizens while coping with war where they live.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Yuliana Lavrysh, PhD, professor at Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Ukraine. Her guidance, feedback, and expertise were instrumental in shaping this research.
Ethical considerations
The interviews began with a list of questions and followed a protocol approved by the University of Oklahoma Institutional Research Board.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.