Investigative journalist and Africa Uncensored co-founder John Allan Namu admitted that he hates covering stories around minors.
Speaking in an interview with Reuters Institute on Tuesday, October 11, the renowned journalist divulged that investigations about children in trouble make him emotional.
He, however, moves on by sharing his struggles with those closest to him, most likely his wife.
"The way to deal with the emotional toll is to start to practice self-care and recognise what your triggers are.
"As for me, I get very emotional when I do stories about children, I hate doing stories about kids, especially kids in trouble. Recognise how you react to them naturally, do you react angrily? Do you withdraw?" He told the Institute.
In his 18-year experience in the media industry, Namu recalled witnessing different journalists deal with their emotional toll differently - some of them turning to alcohol.
He revealed that he saw the trend in every newsroom he worked with and advised upcoming scribes to always find someone to open up to instead of resorting to coping mechanisms that will compromise their health.
"In this profession, in every newsroom I've been to, I found at least one person who's had a problem with substance abuse, with some sort of abusive relationship with something. I think it's because of the scale of exposure to some of the things that we see. People don't realise that journalists are exposed to a hell of a lot.
"Then also what's been helpful is speaking to someone. As a consequence not just of what I do but also of personal things, I have sought professional help and I have a good support system in my wife and my family, and I try not to re-traumatise her when speaking about some of those things," he added.
In the wide-ranging interview, the journalist also revealed that his focus is on growing the brand he created in Africa Uncensored and the team of young people who pass through the newsroom.
He fashioned his work as a collective body that leaves a mark in the long run.
"It just boils down to reminding yourself that nobody owes you credit or accolades for the work that you do, you'd hope for it but nobody owes the story that you do the favour of it being successful and trust me, I look at the views sometimes on our YouTube page, and this is really good content, and I wish it could have done better and I really feel sad, especially for our young journalists.
"But remember that at the end of the day, sometimes it's not about the individual story, like I mentioned earlier it's about the body of work. If your body of work speaks to its consistency in truth, in fact, in striving for excellence, then one day your body of work as a whole might be the one that is commemorated. I don't know how this is all going to end but that's the hope," he added.
Namu is known for his hard-hitting investigative stories since his days at KTN where he hosted the Inside Story series - a collaboration with former colleague Mohammed Ali.
