Psychology in Journalism

Over the years I have finally come to discover what my true passion is, and what I really want to become as an adult – a journalist. Journalism is full of different aspects of psychology, and while people could say that conclusion is an obvious one simply because they are human, I see several prominent aspects of psychology in the every day work of journalists. One of those aspects of psychology is persuasion. Persuasion has a large presence in journalism. A few key elements of persuasion are source, message, and audience – and the main purpose of persuasion is to seize and retain attention. While journalists aren’t necessarily aiming to persuade people to believe a particular opinion or belief, journalism is all about storytelling and getting out the message to the audience, and seizing and retaining the audiences attention in doing so.

Another example of psychology I see in journalism is adjustment. Journalists who are having to constantly report bad news, or those who report from war zones, are constantly having to work with the everyday stress so they can form some kind of adjustment without loosing their sense of realism. The purpose of adjustment is to prevent one’s stress from becoming physically and emotionally debilitating, which some would be surprised to learn is a big factor for journalists that are put under such stress from their everyday work.

A third, and big example of psychology involved in journalism is perception. Not only does journalism have an effect on how us viewers perceive things in the world, but it also has an effect on how journalists themselves look at the world. An example is a quote from one of my favorite journalists, Richard Engel of NBC News, who’s spent nearly twelve years living in the Middle East. He wrote the following after the five years he spent reporting in Iraq during the most active years during the war: “As Iraq has changed, I have changed […] it has changed my outlook. Violence and cruelty now seem, to me, to come easily to mankind; a new belief that disturbs me. But I am also more appreciative of how quickly life can turn for the better, or for the worse.”