FCC member governor Jing Yang in conversation with Dean Yates about moral injury, how it affects journalists, understanding how moral injury develops, and fostering a supportive organizational structure in newsrooms.

Dean Yates knows what it means to live with the consequences of the stories you cover. His career in journalism includes years with Reuters as a journalist, editor and bureau chief, working across Asia including Jakarta, Jerusalem and Baghdad, bearing witness to acts of terrorism, the mass tragedy in the Boxing Day tsunami, as well as the incident infamously revealed by Wikileaks in 2010 - when the members of his Reuters team were machine-gunned to death by a US army helicopter while doing their job.

He walked a long road in dealing with the moral injuries he’d sustained and put it all down in writing in his book published in 2023,

Line in the Sand: A life-changing journey through a body and mind after trauma

Yates has become a leading voice on moral injury, helping not just journalists, but veterans, emergency and other frontline workers.

In this conversation he outlines how moral injury is a concept similar to PTSD but distinct, affecting journalists who witness or experience ethical violations, and identifies three main reasons for journalists' vulnerability: reporting on morally troubling stories, being targeted for their work, and lack of organizational support.

Pre-recorded and played as part of the 2026 FCC Journalism Conference.

Find out more about Dean Yates' work at his website:

https://www.deanyates.com.au/

More information on his book Line in the Sand:

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761264429/

Produced by Jarrod Watt

Music composed by Allen Youngblood

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Understanding moral injury in journalists: Dean Yates in conversation

The Correspondent

Understanding moral injury in journalists: Dean Yates in conversation