“Journalists are very brave, courageous people in almost every respect except one: They will not — they cannot — they refuse to feel their own feelings. That is the territory where journalists are not courageous, they’re terrified.” — James Scurry on What Is Collective Healing?
In Pocket Project Global Social Witnessing calls, we come together in community to attune to global crises we’ve learned about through the news.
But last week we did something different: We made the risks and pressures facing the journalists and editors who deliver that news our focus.
We were joined on the January 7 call by James Scurry, a senior producer at Sky News, psychotherapist and co-convener of MediaStrong, an annual symposium convening industry figures to host cutting-edge conversations on journalism and trauma. (Resonant World #88: Who Bears Witness for the Witnesses?)
I also drew on my own former career as an international journalist to contribute to the exploration — which I found profoundly moving.
With more than 130 people joining the call from around the world, it was potent to feel the appreciation many hold for the truth-telling role the media can still play — for all its vulnerability to distortion and capture by vested interests. I also came into contact with many layers of unresolved experience I’m still carrying from my years working in that system — both from my time covering conflict zones overseas, and my complicated relationship with the industry itself. (See Resonant World’s sister publication Toxic Workplace Survival Guy for more on what I learned about the shadow side of that system — and myself).
James and I sat down with What Is Collective Healing? producer J’aime Rothbard immediately after the call to record the below podcast, which I think captures the intensity of the Global Social Witnessing process, and what it opened up for us both.
James spoke candidly about recognising the increasingly unbearable toll that serving as a video editor handling horrific footage from war zones was having on his nervous system. That experience ultimately led him to train as a psychotherapist and put what he learned about himself at the service of helping others — including his colleagues in the media.
We also reflected on both the magnetic attraction of working in global media organisations, our colleagues’ inspiring level of commitment to accuracy and craft, and the enormous pressures journalists and editors now face.
With several current and former journalists having attended the Global Social Witnessing call, James and I dared to imagine bringing collective healing practices into the heart of the global news industry. We also asked how such processes might lead to more emotionally intelligent storytelling — laying the foundations of what I’m calling the ‘Quantum Newsroom,’ or the trauma-restoring media systems of the future. (Resonant World #158-Gesturing Towards a Trauma-Restoring Media Culture).
You can find out more about James’ work at James Scurry and Safely Held Spaces.
Thank you for listening.
Matthew Green’s writing on trauma-restoring media
James Scurry is an accredited psychotherapist based in London and the co-founder of Safely Held Spaces, which provides compassionate support to families of people experiencing mental and emotional distress.
He is also a journalist and Senior Producer at Sky News and, for the past two years, has co-organised MediaStrong, one of the UK’s largest mental health symposiums for journalists.
James has a particular interest in the role of spirituality in mental health care and completed teacher training in Berkeley, California, at the Nyingma Institute in Kum Nye, an ancient Tibetan movement practice, which he integrates into his work with journalists, veterans, police officers, and first responders who have experienced trauma.
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