Mapping the emotional labor and work of visual journalism

Abstract

The study of emotion in journalism has largely been ignored and, when studied, is relegated almost exclusively to media texts. As such, this research aims to rectify this imbalance by focusing on the human side of journalism practice and the emotional labor and work experienced by documentary visual journalists. It does so through an in-depth, interview-based approach with 23 journalists in eight countries and identifies the sources of emotional labor and work experienced by those in the profession and how visual journalists manage the effects of the emotional labor and work they experience. The findings suggest that emotional labor and work pervade the production, editing, and post-production phases of journalistic work but not equally for all types of visual journalists. Female journalists, in particular, reported unique emotional investment and display practices, while a subset of male journalists reported unique emotional management ones. In addition, almost across the board, the visual journalists in this sample reported relying on more informal rather than formal strategies to manage the effects of their work-related emotions.