Cynicism ex machina: The emotionality of reporting the ‘refugee crisis’ and Paris terrorist attacks in Czech Television

Abstract

The article seeks to explore crisis reporters’ emotional culture. Their emotional practices are believed to lie at the core of the paradox of the traditional commitment to objectivity/detachment and witnessing other people’s suffering, and thus to be vital for understanding crisis reporting. The article, focusing on reporting the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the 13 November Paris terrorist attacks by Czech Television, addresses the question on how crisis reporters’ emotions are articulated by the processes of crisis reporting. The findings, based on (non-)participant observation in newsrooms and semi-structured interviews with journalists, suggest that repetitive reporting of the emotionally disturbing events and witnessing close or distant suffering may result in declared cynicism. The cynicism is understood as a prerequisite for successful performance of the job; at the same time, it is perceived as an emotional posture that threatens professional ideology.