At the Mediastrong symposium on mental health and journalism held at City St George’s University in London this week, CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward spoke candidly about the toll of her work, stating, “I get death threats all the time, my children get death threats.”
She described the immense challenge of maintaining “mental discipline” while covering conflict zones, calling her job a “juggling act” of staying calm, managing logistical demands, and processing trauma.
Ward highlighted the intensity of her experiences, such as working in a Somali refugee camp with tight UN security constraints, where she had to balance urgent reporting tasks with human interactions, like listening to a woman who had lost two children.
She noted that the online environment, particularly her Instagram feed, often exposes her to more trauma in an hour than some of her field assignments. The conference focused on newsroom mental health, with Ward’s remarks underscoring the personal risks and psychological burdens faced by journalists in high-stakes environments.