More Campaigns
The hazards of journalism aren't restricted to those reporting armed conflict. Journalism has many of the health and safety problems of the average job - and some are a far greater problem than you might expect.
Take workplace stress. Journalism has constant demands, changes in technology, pressure of deadlines and unsocial hours. Recent research shows on the stress league table, journalists score a stress-induced 7.5 out of 10, sharing joint third place with airline pilots and prison officers. Across all jobs, only miners and police officers are under more stress.
Violence at work, a report from the ILO, found the circumstances associated with a risk of violence include many typically encountered by journalists, including where: There is contact with the public; Employees need to challenge members of the public; People are required to work alone; Members of the public are under stress or experiencing grief; or staff are seen to interfere with people's lives.
New technology has brought its own problems. Twenty years of computer keyboard work, at high speed, under high pressure, with inadequate equipment and too few rest breaks, has made repetition strain injuries (RSI) - tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, neck and shoulder pain - the occupational diseases of modern journalism. Some journalists have won substantial compensation; others have lost their careers. Computer vision syndrome can mean screen-tired eyes are not fit to face the drive home.
Add to this new problems - neither SARS nor anthrax would have been consider possible occupational risks for journalists until recently - and you have jobs where unions have good reason to be vigilant from the newsroom, to the local neighbourhood, to the worldwide workplace.
