By Lizzy Nyoike, NABJ Monitor Digital<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professionals at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention unpacked the emotional downside that comes with covering systemic violence in Black communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panelists outlined how journalists covering systemic violence are often not supported with enough resources, overexposed to trauma, and left to carry emotional burdens alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJournalists are often sent to cover violence and tragedy without the support they need,\u201d according to the 2025 Black Alder Lab Report, The Cost of the Story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Delano Massey, Managing Editor at Axios, shared how years of breaking news coverage at CNN, particularly during the 2020 protests, left him emotionally drained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHopping from tragedy to tragedy to and as a black man being often the only person that’s thinking about this through the lens of a black man and what does it mean to cover us getting killed over and over and over again,\u201d said Massey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chelsea Fuller, now the Managing Partner and Senior Strategist at Black Alder LLC, said she remembers times she was asked to interview \u201ca mother whose child had been killed by a cop or whose child had drowned in a pond because they had stolen a car and the chased them into a pond and watched them die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Journalists are often asked to cover traumatic events, becoming more sensitive when dealing with the Black community. Despite those traumatic events, she was left with little help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn’t have anybody in my newsroom that knew how to support me in managing the trauma that came with doing my job,\u201d said Fuller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Media coverage of systemic violence has often relied on trauma-related stories, with little consideration for the long-term impact on the surrounding communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeeing young Black men and women just like me and my people and the suffering that unfurls,\u201d said Trymaine Lee, National Correspondent at MSNBC\/NBC Universal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fuller called for newsroom leaders to rethink how they define professionalism and resilience. Advocating for embedded care directly in newsrooms, including hiring mental health professionals, and trauma-informed practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople\u2019s humanity has to come before the headline,\u201d Fuller said.
The cost of resilience should no longer be paid solely by those telling the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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