Israel’s Newsrooms Are Breaking: New Study Shows PTSD Spike After Oct. 7
Maayan Hoffman pulls back the curtain on a quiet casualty of the past two years: the journalists who have carried Israel’s grief into the public square and brought it home at night. A first-of-its-kind Bar-Ilan University study led by Prof. Danny Horesh and Prof. Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon compares reporters who covered Oct. 7 and its aftermath with therapists who treated victims. The numbers are stark: 53% of journalists showed post-traumatic stress symptoms versus 20% of mental health professionals. Through surveys and in-depth interviews, the researchers trace how newsrooms sent people into funerals, massacre sites, and nonstop shifts—often without training, supervision, or a place to decompress.
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Beyond secondary trauma, many reporters faced direct danger and the moral squeeze of telling raw stories without exploiting shattered families. They described long weeks without rest, intrusive memories, panic, and the strain on relationships. Experience didn’t protect them; empathy didn’t clearly predict who would suffer more. What did help was purpose—a sense that bearing witness matters and gives voice to those who cannot speak. The authors argue that simple newsroom fixes could make a rapid difference: basic psychoeducation, visible triage by editors, a weekly psychologist drop-in, and group debriefs that normalize asking for help.
Hoffman’s sources sketch a profession that cannot “look away” the way ordinary audiences can. Journalists create the very content that keeps them exposed. Read the full piece to see how Hoffman gives these reporters names, stakes, and a path forward—and why her reporting suggests practical steps news leaders can implement now.
