2025.Mar.24

REPORTS

Report on Lecture by Chong-ae Lee
“How South Korean Journalists Began Speaking About Trauma”

On 25 January 2025, the study group on Trauma Reporting at the B’AI Global Forum hosted a public lecture by Lee Chong-ae, chair of the Korean Journalist Trauma Committee and journalist at SBS. The lecture, titled “How Korean Journalists Came to Talk About Trauma,” was also streamed online as a webinar (available for later viewing for a limited time). The committee published the Journalist Trauma Guidebook 1.0 in 2023.

At the outset, moderator Kawahara explained: “How to listen to and convey the stories of people who have suffered deep psychological wounds—be it from disasters, wars, or abuse—is a crucial issue. Recognizing trauma leads to a deeper understanding of humanity.”  She stated that the event aimed to share insights from the Korean journalism community, which has worked to formalize an approach to trauma-sensitive reporting.

 

◾️Lee’s Personal Interest: Sparked by Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse Cases

Chong-ae Lee joined SBS(Seoul Broadcasting System), one of the three major terrestrial broadcasting networks in Korea, which is the private broadcasting company, as a journalist in 1995. She currently serves as News Headquarters Future and Vision Desk Deputy Executive Director, which handles mid- to long-term issues.

In her fourth year as a journalist, she was assigned to the news magazine program News Pursuit, a newly launched investigative reporting program, where she worked for about five years. This experience marked a turning point for her.

“I thought News Pursuit was an ideal form of journalism and was thrilled to join the team. However, the reality of the job involved undercover reporting at drug parties in the U.S. and chasing after the body of infants that had been abandoned in the Han River in Korea—tasks that carried significant risks. At the time, there was no awareness of the dangers journalists faced, and no training existed for handling hazardous reporting or exposure to death. I began to feel that education on these aspects was necessary.”

A particularly impactful experience came when she reported on an eight-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted. The child appeared to be in a highly vulnerable state and in urgent need of help. Lee wondered what meaning her job had if she could not assist such individuals. She sought out a hospital with a child psychiatry department, but due to strong societal stigma against psychiatric care at the time, the family quickly discharged the girl.

“If I couldn’t help her, wasn’t I merely exploiting her?” Lee was consumed by guilt. She repeatedly asked herself: “Have I ever truly tried to understand what the people go through and what state they are in when as a journalist approaches them?” Eventually, after transferring to a different department, she began attending night school for graduate studies. She sought out psychologists and organizations supporting survivors of sexual violence to learn about the dangers of certain types of questioning and the best ways to conduct interviews that would actually benefit survivors.

She then re-interviewed ten individuals—people she had previously reported on for News Pursuit as well as families who had spoken to other news outlets. Through this, she discovered that while recounting traumatic experiences in interviews could cause suffering and even physical illness, some individuals found that public exposure of their stories helped them gain social support, positively altering their perceptions of the world around them.

In 2011, in her 16th year as a journalist, Lee discovered that the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma was accepting applications for a week-long Asia fellowship and decided to apply. When she shared her painful experiences with journalists from other countries, she realized that many had gone through similar struggles and that these were not just personal issues. She also learned that trauma responses are caused by hormonal changes in the brain and are not simply a matter of personal resilience.

Journalists, too, can suffer trauma, but in Korea at the time, such reactions were dismissed as a sign of weakness. Through her studies, Lee came to understand that these were normal responses to exposure to extreme events.

In 2013–2014, she continued her studies as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, focusing on journalism and trauma. While this was originally a personal academic pursuit, she was soon invited by the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Association to give lectures on the topic. Around this time, the sinking of MV Sewol occurred.

◾️Korean Society’s Focus on “Trauma” Following the 2014 Sewol Ferry Disaster

In 2014, the sinking of the Sewol ferry claimed the lives of many high school students, bringing the concepts of “trauma” and “PTSD” into the national discourse in Korea.

This was also the first major incident in Korea where not only traditional media outlets but also online and independent media fiercely competed to cover the event. The cutthroat competition led to ethical breaches in reporting. In the early stages of the disaster, most major news outlets reported that all passengers had been rescued—an erroneous claim that, despite being based on official information at the time, fueled public distrust. Korean journalists were ridiculed under the derogatory term “giregi” (a combination of “journalist” and “garbage”).

At the request of the Dart Center, Lee wrote an article reflecting on these challenges, based on interviews with ten SBS journalists who covered the Sewol ferry disaster. The discussion included insights on recognizing trauma responses in survivors and bereaved families.
https://dartcenter.org/content/chong-ae-lee-on-koreas-national-tragedy

At that time, experiments began to emerge in exploring different ways of covering disasters, regardless of domestic or international media. CNN chose to air only the voices of grieving parents without showing their faces, while SBS reported on survivors returning to school using illustrations instead of real footage. There was some debate over whether illustrations were appropriate, but it became clear that sorrow could be conveyed without using direct imagery.

Following this, the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Association organized a discussion session where the Sewol ferry victims’ families and journalists engaged in an open conversation. Families shared their experiences and offered advice: “Please don’t ask, ‘How do you feel?’ when words cannot possibly express our emotions.” “Some journalists offered incense at the memorial altar, and that made me feel they genuinely shared in our grief.” “Someone asked me questions without revealing they were a journalist, and when I later found out, I felt betrayed. Please be upfront from the beginning.” Journalists must consider new ways of asking questions—ones that do not deepen a sense of helplessness in interviewees but instead contribute to their recovery.

Various efforts were made to rethink and improve reporting approaches.

In 2015, with Lee’s help, the Korea Broadcasting Journalists association invited Dr. Cait McMahon, a psychologist who served as the director of the Dart Center Asia Pacific (Melbourne) at the time to help the victims’ families and also conduct a workshop for journalists. In 2017, the first Korean educational video for journalists related to trauma was produced, and since 2019, every four years, Korean broadcast journalists have been sent to the Dart Center Asia Pacific for training.

◾️Survey: 80% of Journalists Have Experienced Work-Related Trauma (2021)

Following the Sewol disaster, the Korea Broadcasting journalists Association and Korea press foundation began providing trauma training for new journalists and those usually covering disasters.

However, since there was little baseline data on the effectiveness of such education, when Google News Initiative and Dart Center Asia Pacific suggested a survey of Korean Women Journalist related to online abuse and trauma, the Journalists Association of Korea, the Korean Women Journalists Association persuaded them to conduct a first nationwide survey including both male and female journalists, and both related to online and offline, with title of “Journalists and Trauma” in 2021.
https://dartcenter.org/resources/eight-out-ten-korean-journalists-report-work-related-trauma

The survey found that 78.7% of journalists had experienced trauma in the course of their work. Gender differences were minimal, except in coverage of sexual violence, where 63.0% of female journalists reported experiencing trauma, compared to 30.1% of male journalists.

Online harassment was also a major issue, with 77.9% of respondents having experienced it. As political tensions have intensified in Korea since 2019, journalists increasingly face harassment—not just from replies on the articles or on social media but being targeted in YouTube live streams or being physically attacked on the street or demonstrations. In some cases, a politician may even incite their supporters to attack a specific journalist who wrote an unfavorable article about them even if it is true. Legal protection is urgently needed.

In response to the survey results, we considered what more could be done and agreed to create “Trauma Guidelines.” The Journalists Association of Korea, the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Association, and the Korean Women Journalists Association reached a consensus, leading to the formation of a task force of journalist’s trauma committee in 2022, with Lee as the chairperson.

In the meantime, in the medical field, following the Sewol Ferry disaster, there was an increasing demand for psychological support for victims. As a result, the National Trauma Center was established in 2018, along with five regional centers nationwide. Initially, psychiatrists at these centers viewed journalists solely as perpetrators. However, as we continued to share our concerns and explain the nature of journalism in monthly discussions to make disaster guidelines related to trauma, understanding deepened. Eventually, journalists were recognized as tertiary trauma survivors, alongside police officers and firefighters. This recognition led media organizations to take an interest in journalists’ trauma and begin supporting counseling services.

However, when journalists actually sought counseling, some reported feeling even more hurt due to a lack of understanding about their work. Because of this, discussions for journalists’ focused mental health clinics ideas and we lectured psychiatrists and psychologists related to how journalists work and about journalists’ trauma. Collaboration with mental health professionals is essential. It has taken the cooperation of psychologists, psychiatrists, the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Broadcasting Journalists Association to reach where we are today.

In 2023, when South Korean broadcast journalists visited the Dart Center Asia Pacific for their second training session, they learned that Australia’s public broadcaster ABC had spent a decade establishing a peer support system among colleagues. South Korea is now experimenting with peer support as well.

Meanwhile, in 2022, the Itaewon crowd crush disaster occurred in Seoul. However, there was a conscious effort to report on it differently than during the Sewol Ferry disaster.

Why is it important for journalists to be aware of trauma? Recognizing trauma allows for healthier and better journalism. If journalists are not protected from trauma, the quality of reporting will decline. This issue is also linked to the protection of freedom of speech.

◾️Q&A Session

Questions were raised about the relationship between Lee’s work of the Future Team and her work on trauma, as well as the level of support she receives from her workplace.

One attendee asked how trauma-aware journalism connects to freedom of speech. In response, Lee cited the case of an Australian newspaper journalist who developed PTSD after prolonged coverage of tragic events and sued her company—winning the case in 2019.

The journalist had requested a transfer, which was initially granted, but she was later reassigned to reporting on traumatic incidents. Despite being an award-winning journalist, she developed PTSD and eventually had to leave the company. Lee explained that when journalists committed to in-depth investigative reporting leave the profession due to trauma, it becomes harder for citizens to access essential information.

One of the reasons the journalist won the lawsuit was that her employer had failed to provide her with proper trauma-related education.