The emotional field of war reporting: Trauma and journalistic knowledge production among Kenyan embedded journalists in Somalia

Abstract

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 25 Kenyan journalists who traveled with the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) to Somalia between 2011 and 2021, this study examines how trauma impacts war reporting within embedded journalism. I argue that trauma functions as a force that structures how news is produced on the battlefield. Building on field theory, I introduce the concept of the emotional field to explain how emotions function as a relational space that connects the military and journalistic fields. Within this field, fear, dependency on military protection, and lack of mental health support jointly shape news production from the battlefield. The findings show that journalists silence their emotions as a survival strategy in highly insecure environments, intensified by the absence of institutional mental health support from their employers. Consequently, embedded journalism privileges official and military narratives while marginalizing civilian experiences. By shaping what journalists can narrate, trauma within the emotional field influences knowledge production in ways that reinforce security-centered understandings of war and align with Kenya’s broader role as a regional military and security actor.