A leading psychiatrist explains why some reporters go to extraordinary lengths to hold power to account and what they do to mitigate risks
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There are some amazing journalists around the world reporting from war zones and calling out corrupt governments. They do so at great personal risk; to their careers, finances, families and even lives.
What gives them the strength to carry on? What we might have long called good old-fashioned journalistic grit is more likely something called moral courage.
In this week's podcast, we speak about this concept with Dr Anthony Feinstein, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a world-leading expert on the psychological effects of conflict reporting, and the author of a new book, Moral Courage: 19 Profiles of Investigative Journalists.
The top line is that some journalists go to such extraordinary lengths for the story because not doing so is simply not an option for them.
This is not just restricted to those covering the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine either. With declining press freedom in Western democracies and increasing online abuse towards journalists, the need for moral courage is closer to home than you might think.
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