Exile, work-related emotions and trauma among Burundian journalists in Belgium

Abstract

In 2015, many journalists left Burundi following the outbreak of violence caused by President Nkurunziza’s candidacy for a third presidential term. From abroad, several managed to continue their journalistic activities through social media. In this article, we present the findings of a study conducted among fifteen Burundian exiled journalists in Belgium supported by the association Ensemble-Groupe d’Aide aux Journalistes Exilés (En-GAJE). We observe how journalists understand and manage the emotions provoked by exposure to social media content in exile, and we analyse their knowledge of and attitude towards post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and secondary traumatic stress (STS). Our study highlights that while emotions are acknowledged by Burundian exiled journalists, emotional detachment remains a professional principle of reference for them; avoiding inactivity results to be the main coping strategy used to deal with work-related emotions and possible trauma, and this allows them to maintain their journalistic identity and authority on social media.