In late September, Mike Warner, a photojournalist for Portland’s KATU News, tweeted an announcement: “NO NEWS MONDAY … just a heads up, the @KATUNews morning and afternoon shows have been preempted and will NOT air on Monday, Sep. 27th. The entire news team is attending a seminar to help deal with on-the-job stress and trauma.”

In his explanation, Warner explained that the staff would be watching a presentation from The Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism research organization specializing in ethics and leadership. During the Monday timeslots normally dedicated to the day’s news, viewers were given an explanation by KATU staff, who explained, “We’ve taken our employees out of the mix today, to do some training, and to support them while working in this challenging time.”

To underscore how unprecedented a move this was, Warner tweeted an explanation:

In almost 25 years as a photojournalist, I’ve never seen a newsroom do this. But it’s been a crazy time filled with a raging pandemic, out of control violence, political unrest, riots, and ongoing death & destruction. Personally speaking, seeing bodies daily gets to you. #stress

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even professionals at processing and delivering bad news are still human. Even Jesus took time to get away even when there was more work to do. Being a Christian requires that we respect our physical and emotional limits.