Research on occupational trauma of journalists has mainly concentrated on Western countries and war or conflict news reporting. It has stayed within the psychological framework of individual stress, without sufficiently examining the institutional and cultural roots of the issue. This study investigates the characteristics of vicarious trauma (VT) expression and its formation mechanisms among Chinese journalists in their daily news reporting, through the lens of institutional culture. By analyzing 25 published journalist notes and related texts, this research finds that VT experienced by Chinese journalists stems from the interaction of three institutional-cultural forces: dual professional norms create a basic tension where empathy is permitted and encouraged but negative expression is limited; regulatory rigidity hinders the institutional avenues available for trauma resolution; and a reflective culture offers attribution scripts that turn sources of trauma from institutional dilemmas into personal moral faults. Consequently, even when journalists recognize the institutional causes of their VT, the prevailing reflective culture often channels such negative emotions inward, resulting in internal trauma marked by a loss of meaning, exhaustion of self-efficacy, and intertwined feelings of moral guilt. This study not only broadens the context of research on journalistic trauma but also highlights the high dependency on situational and institutional factors in the development of VT as an occupational issue. Meanwhile, by combining institutional-cultural analysis with individual psychology, this study expands the cultural boundaries of VT theory and offers a new perspective for understanding the occupational risks and news production practices of Chinese journalists.

News media can shape public understanding of societal issues by either reinforcing divisions or promoting awareness. This study explores how Belgian newspapers framed discrimination between 2019 and 2023. Based on a qualitative analysis of 52 articles and a broader mapping of 513 news items, we identified four recurrent frames: Normalization (treating discrimination as ordinary), Deflection (downplaying it by questioning victims’ sensitivity), Solidarity (emphasizing empathy and collective action), and Regulation (highlighting institutional responsibility). These frames vary along two dimensions: whether discrimination is acknowledged as a systemic problem, and where responsibility is attributed. The Regulation frame emerged most frequently, pointing to a dominant emphasis on policy and institutional responses. Taken together, this study contributes conceptual tools to better understand how discrimination is constructed in mainstream Belgian news discourse.

This paper seeks to offer a fresh perspective on the role of sports journalists during moments of euphoria linked to high-profile national sporting victories. Using a novel theoretical framework that is primarily informed by Victor Turner´s work on liminality, it argues that these temporary moments of euphoria open a semantic space and meaning horizon that justifies a move beyond journalistic norms around objectivity, impartiality and balance. However, while such journalistic practices may be viewed as ‘normal’, they are underpinned by a taken-for-granted ‘logic of nationalism’ that is highly political. Drawing on Weber´s ideal types we develop a theoretical framework using two examples of national euphoria, which differ significantly in terms of the actors involved, the scale of the events, and how they are represented by journalists. In this way, our paper both extends our understanding of the performative nature of liminality as well as the manner sports journalism contributes to expressions of national euphoria tied to major sporting events.

Experts are an increasingly common feature of contemporary journalism but this influential category of news source is dominated by men. Evidence suggests this is not attributable to the limited pool of women experts but journalists’ entrenched ideas about the most suitable news sources, societal stereotypes about the gendered nature of expertise, and women experts’ own reticence. This article draws on in-depth interviews with 52 women experts from New Zealand universities to explore how they perceive journalism routines, practices and values impact their media work. Time factors, conflict framing, the hierarchy of news values, and journalists’ reliance on a small group of sources are key themes shaping women’s experiences. Women experts have a good understanding of how the news media work but struggle to interest journalists in angles related to gender, feminism and women’s work. Efforts to improve the representation of women sources in news must go beyond training and support to also consider the gender logics of contemporary news production and content.

This study explored the psychological mechanism of how journalists, as a critical interest group responsible for disseminating accurate information to the public, affectively respond to misinformation. Building on the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) theory, this survey of Chinese journalists (N = 574) reveals that journalists’ presumed influence of misinformation on others is positively associated with their perception of journalism’s normative role, mental resilience towards misinformation, and work anxiety. Journalists’ mental resilience towards misinformation is the dynamic attenuating their anxiety. The study suggests that the perceived social impact of journalists’ own work on the public negatively moderates the relationship between the presumed influence of misinformation and the perceived functions of journalism, as well as the relationship between the presumed influence of misinformation and work anxiety. This study thus contends that journalists’ confidence in the efficacy of journalism as an institution and in their own professional endeavors can enhance their well-being and their tenets to serve the public.

False information can hinder individuals’ cognitive processes for news verification, potentially confusing members of the public and sowing distrust in information sources. The maxim “trust, but verify” has long been commonly used in information processing, but the updated maxim “verify, then trust” proposes a principle by which people first evaluate the truthfulness of the information they come across by examining its source and seeking validation from authoritative experts. Based on a survey of U.S. adults, the author examines the role of the need for cognition (NFC) on perceived exposure to false information (PEFI) and news verification behaviors, in combination with the strategy, “verify, then trust.” The results of a serial mediation analysis suggest that, while PEFI is linked to decreased trust in media, NFC can have the opposite association when mediated by PEFI and news verification, offering broader insight into the significance of cognitive thinking in news consumption behaviors. By integrating multiple theoretical frameworks, this study highlights the joint endeavors of audiences and journalists.

This paper examines the verification practices and strategies of external fact-checking units within two leading European public service media (PSM) organizations: BBC Reality Check (UK) and ARD’s Faktenfinder (Germany). We analyze their practices through a content analysis of all 2022 verification articles ( n = 198) and qualitative interviews with fact-checkers ( n = 4). As major public broadcasters, both institutions are widely regarded for providing universal, high-quality information. Building on calls to expand the role of PSM in addressing informational disorder, we contribute to fact-checking research by focusing on verification within PSM—an underexplored area. Because truth assessment can challenge conventional notions of impartiality, fact-checking in PSM provides a particularly revealing case. We examine how these units navigate information disorder while upholding core values, especially due impartiality. Whereas the BBC centralizes verification within a single department, ARD adopts a decentralized model reflecting Germany’s federal broadcasting structure. In both cases, strict impartiality standards and persistent attacks by right-wing actors foster cautious formulations of truth assessments. Both units prioritize claims by public figures over online rumors and avoid binary truth labels, instead offering nuanced analyses that emphasize transparency and media literacy. Their work closely follows news cycles and socially salient issues, with topic selection shaped by the absence of partnerships with major technology platforms.

Recent studies in psychology and journalism consistently show that preparing future journalists to be resilient is crucial. Resilience enables journalists and media organizations to withstand challenges in their daily practice. However, despite the recent increase in embedding resilience and trauma literacy in journalism curricula, many barriers remain. This study, guided by the framework of ethics of care, uses a global survey and in-depth interviews to investigate how journalism educators approach trauma-informed education across diverse socio-cultural contexts amidst increasing conflict. The findings reveal that training of journalism educators is the most significant factor that shapes their work and the pedagogy they adopt. This supports our argument that journalism educators would benefit from more context sensitive trauma training, care focused pedagogy, and accessible resources. This would help educators to fulfil their duty of care and support future journalists in their roles.

This study investigates how daylight duration, as an embodied environmental factor, shapes emotional expression in news. Drawing on the affective epistemology of journalism, three sequential studies using large-scale, multi-source data identify heterogeneous daylight effects while excluding confounders. In regions with high annual daylight variance, longer daylight suppresses emotional expression; in low-variance regions, it amplifies. We explain this divergence through collective expectations: in high-variance regions, journalists’ perceptions align with stable seasonal rhythms, fostering emotional stability, whereas in low-variance regions, daylight deviations trigger arousal and emotional instability. Building on these findings, we propose that physical environmental factors should be conceptualized as one of the enabling conditions that interact with institutional and social structures in news production. By integrating environmental physiology with news production, the study extends theoretical and methodological boundaries of journalism research.