73% of Albanian journalists said that reporting on COVID-19 had impacted their mental health, according to a survey conducted by BIRN.
This reinforces Exit’s earlier investigation into the way that journalists are affected by first the November 26 2019 earthquake, and then the COVID-19 pandemic some months later. Exit found that most journalists were suffering trauma from both incidents, leading to issues such as anxiety, difficulty sleeping, exhaustion, and increased usage of alcohol and cigarettes. Some were exhibiting symptoms of trauma and secondary PTSD.
Lediona Braho, a clinical psychologist at Mental Health Albania explained that some 80-100% of journalists are exposed to a work-related traumatic event. Many more experiences repeated exposure, especially in the case of the earthquake and pandemics. These factors, she said, can create a risk for long-term psychological issues such as PTSD that can take months, or even years to materialize.
It was the same story in North Macedonia where 62% said the pandemic affected their mental health and almost half needed professional psychological support. In Montenegro however, only 29% said they suffered from mental health issues during this time.
Many media workers said lack of revenue for their platform was a concern and they were working more hours than before. 64% of Albanian respondents said they were losing money due to the pandemic.
Another issue highlighted by BIRNs survey was the lack of access to information. An ongoing issue in Albania, 40% said the lack of response to questions from public officials had increased during the pandemic. Journalists were also limited in meeting sources in public, attending press conferences, and obtaining information.
This led to an issue with misinformation. Monitoring by the Albanian Media Council and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung found that reporting standards during the pandemic fell.
“Monitoring shows that the Albanian media has suffered a setback in the professional standards of media reporting,” the report writes. “To a large extent, the reporting of news in the Albanian media has been unbalanced with sources, unverified and consequently, biased. It relied mostly on the statements of institutions and other state actors, while most of the statements of these actors were considered news. ”
They also noted a lack of investigative reporting during the pandemic.
Exit experienced significant difficulties in getting information from government or state authorities. Requests for information or general questions remained unanswered and it was only possible to use the information presented by the authorities, or via Prime Minister Edi Rama’s online press conferences.
But the good news is, 86% of Albanian journalists believe the media landscape in the country will change after the pandemic.
