It's an important part of the job, seeing something and asking a question about it in your personal life can blossom into something truly worthwhile. Most decent journalism doesn't have an origin story set in an office, it's out there in Real Life.
And then there are the ongoing stories, which journalists can work on for weeks, or months, or even years, going over and over things in their heads as they try to stack something up, waiting for that vital piece of information or source that could blow the whole thing wide open. Most of the thinking about that takes place outside office too.
And yet, it's vitally important that journalists – including writers, reporters, editors, producers and visual journalists - do turn off for a while, and stop thinking about this shit, because that kind of obsession can be extremely unhealthy.
It's especially important right now, because a lot of reporters have returned to the newsroom after covering the Christchurch mosque attacks, and need to be able to step away from the things they have seen and heard in recent days. Last month's terror attacks were one of the very worst things to ever happen on our soil, and the stories have been harrowing and extremely distressful for those who had to cover them.
Many of those reporters have been taking days off, and have fled to happy places to take their minds off things, but it's also incredibly important to be able to switch off at the end of every day, and not take some of this shit home with you.
In the first few days after the attack, some people were working 18-hour days, and for their own mental health, it was vital that they took a fucking break when they finally got home. Fortunately, there are a number of simple and well-proven ways to switch off from work.
There is the obvious example of spending time with close friends and family outside journalism, and rejoicing in the simple pleasures of life outside the newsroom, without being constantly reminded of the horrific events you had to deal with on the job.
If that's not really an option, there is always the traditional journalist method of getting completely fucking wasted. This has worked for years, with a long history of drunks and addicts in NZ's press history. This still works for some people, although many of us can't be bothered dealing with the inevitable hangovers, not when the job now has multi-media demands and long shifts.
The simplest way to get away from it all is to take some solace in entertainment - binge the fuck out of some Netflix, or watch a dumb Will Ferrell movie, or go to a cheap and nasty gig, or play video games all night long, or something. We've never had more access to more entertainment than we do right now, and it can be the best and easiest way to take your mind off the job.
(It's also important that you don't choose an entertainment that will remind you of the thing you're trying to escape – a game or movie with a lot of machine gun action would not help after dealing with the awful consequences of real-life gun use.)
Most of all, if you want to get away from it all, just stay the fuck off all social media, because you'll never escape the news that way. It's surprisingly easy to switch it off for a while and you can always quickly catch up again when you're back on the clock.
As a profession, we do have to take a close look at these things, but we also have to know when to step the fuck back, or this can really have an impact on our lives, both professional and personal.
Some of us are still fucked up from covering the Christchurch earthquakes, years after the disaster, because we forgot to take time out, and that event didn't have the added horror of man's inhumanity to man. Switching off is essential, for everybody's well-being.
- Ron Troupe
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