Media veteran Arthur Hall bats for mental health of young journalists

To prevent young journalists from being compelled to leave the profession in search of better mental health, media managers have been urged to start focussing on the psychological effects that reporting on crime and other dangerous situations, like natural disasters, has on them.

“It can’t be that we send them out on the road every day, they cover the most gruesome events ... and media managers, news editors do not think about their mental state. It can’t be that we leave journalists to tough it out,” said Arthur Hall, editor-at-large of the Jamaica Observer.

He made the call while speaking at the Press Association of Jamaica’s (PAJ) veterans’ luncheon held yesterday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

The 36-year veteran reflected on his early years, when he had to cover crime scenes and saw graphic sights that had a psychological impact on him.

“There was a time where there was no yellow tape drawn at crime scenes and we as journalists would argue about how many bullet holes we counted in the body of a victim,” he said.

“A time when mental challenges were considered weakness and journalists would hide the fact that they were struggling to cope,” he added.

Battle ‘demons in silence’

Speaking of a time when he was at a scene where a mother and her child were killed while still in bed, the mother’s head having a bullet hole in it and the baby’s skull being nearly unidentifiable due to the bullet’s destruction, Hall acknowledged that this left him with nightmares and a lack of appetite for days.

He went on to say that he had to battle his “demons in silence” and that situations like these often made him recognise the intensity of the job at times.

Hall, referencing the 2023 case of Danielle Rowe, an eight-year-old girl who was abducted from her school in St Catherine, found with her throat slashed on Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew, and later died two days after being taken to hospital, said he wondered how young journalists who were mothers, aunts and neighbours to eight-year-old girls felt, having to report on the case.

“I urge you media managers, I urge you the heads of newsrooms, let us start to look at the psychological impacts of what our young journalists are going through. I am saying to you, we need support for the young journalists,” he said. If not, he noted that many would begin to leave the profession to keep their peace of mind.

“We need to ensure that these young people, these talented, promising young people do not leave the profession because they want to find their mental health stability and, if they do, it is bad for Jamaica, it’s bad for democracy,” he added.

Hall was one of five veteran journalists who received awards from the PAJ yesterday.

After graduating from Kingston College and then The University of the West Indies, Hall began working as a sports reporter in 1988. He began covering news a year later.

The father of four has held positions as a news editor at Television Jamaica (TVJ), and the then Real Jamaican Radio (RJR), now Radio Jamaica. He has worked as a reporter for KLAS sports radio and Nationwide News Network.

Hall started working at The Gleaner in 2007, remained there for 12 years, serving as an editor for The Sunday Gleaner for eight of those years.

He joined the Jamaica Observer in 2019. Throughout his career, he has received many awards, such as the 2009 PAJ Journalist of the Year award and, last year, the national honour of membership in the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer.

Barbara Gayle, of The Gleaner, a journalist for over four decades, was also recognised by the PAJ. Gayle is well-known and highly regarded for her court reporting, where she has brought attention to cases from the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, parish courts, and circuit courts.

Throughout her career, she has highlighted historic court rulings, civil lawsuits, and criminal trials. She also won a regional award from the Caribbean Association of Media Workers and the 1997 PAJ Community Service Award.

Despite being retired, Gayle continues to make regular contributions to The Gleaner.

Joseph ‘Big Joe’ Wellington received recognition for his 34-year career in photojournalism. He is a photo editor at the Jamaica Observer, a position he has held since 2022.

His career, however, started as a dark room technician for the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) in 1990. Later, in 1994, he switched to the Jamaica Observer.

Wellington’s compelling news and human interest photographs have earned him five PAJ awards throughout the years.

‘Bertis’ honoured

Neville Bell, of TVJ, was acknowledged for his 36 years in the profession.

Known affectionately as ‘Bertis’, Bell began his career as a sports broadcaster in 1988 when he covered a Walker Cup football game between Tivoli High School and Jamaica College.

Later, Bell broadened his horizons by reporting on cricket, netball, and field hockey matches, delivering sports news, and hosting athletics events on television and radio.

By 1996, he was working as a sports commentator, newsreader, and television host for the then Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC).

He has hosted coverage of every World Cup since 1990 on both radio and television.

He co-hosted TVJ’s morning show, Smile Jamaica, consistently for 27 years after joining in 1997.

Since 2000, Bell has served as TVJ’s primary anchor for all its major athletic events.

For his 36-year career in journalism, communications, and public relations, Durrant Pate, a veteran journalist with OUR Today, received recognition.

Pate has written numerous newsletters, corporate files, and information bulletins throughout the years, demonstrating his extensive understanding of international and political economics and financial systems.

He has also written publications for KLAS FM, Power106 FM, Business Access TV, the Jamaica Observer, Jamaica Herald, and the Jamaica Business Magazine.

Beats including court, crime, Parliament, business, and finance have all been tackled by Pate.

In the fields of news reporting, technology, finance, and business, he has received four PAJ awards.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com