‘Hannah is a natural leader with rich experience as a fighter for the rights of journalists’
– Aidan White, Founder of Ethical Journalism Network
[Hannah is] ‘one of the most powerful writers I have encountered on this [mental health] topic. She writes about personal experience, but she is also brilliant at showing how this is something that affects the industry, and all journalists, and action needs to be taken if we are going to function properly.’
– Meera Selva, Director, Journalism Fellowship Program, Reuters Institute
‘Hannah did a good job of teasing out insights from our team as well as offering her own. Her advice was simple but sophisticated.’ – Pam Fine, Regional Manager, Report for America.
Media expert, trainer, and thought leader, with global industry connections, who brings vision, values and empathy to journalism.
I am an expert in journalism safety, gender, mental health and ethics. I bring deep-rooted research, practical experience and personal understanding to convene conversations at an industry level to explore challenges and create collaborative solutions to bring change to journalism communities and practice.
I am now working as a media consultant, having recently stepped down as director of the Ethical Journalism Network. Prior to that I was the head of the media safety charity, the International News Safety Institute. I am committed to working with newsrooms to create spaces where journalists feel safe and are able to do their best work. I also offer training and expertise at the intersection of mental health, safety, wellbeing, effective leadership and crisis communications.
Personal and Professional
Through my work, I have learned the language around mental health. I now share my own personal story of PTSD and recovery in a bid to tackle some of the taboos that still exist in our industry, and to help journalists at all levels of the industry feel less isolated and more aware of the stressors they face and how they might be able to respond to help themselves and others.
Latest Article: the following piece was published by the Poynter Institute in which I share my insights into the links between free press and journalism safety. Here I also explain why I believe the term ’emotional flak jacket’ is a helpful one when talking about the importance of supporting journalists’ psychological safety as well as their physical wellbeing.
‘After the work I did at the International News Safety Institute, I started using the term “emotional flak jacket,” to explain my belief in how we should address psychological safety. No media organization that takes seriously their responsibility to their journalists as employers and human beings should be sending someone to cover a war without body armor, without carrying out a risk assessment, without adequate training. No responsible media organization should be expecting a journalist to cover a war zone day in, day out without respite.
hannahstormmedia.com 