Britain’s Guardian newspaper is offering free counselling to reporters who feel traumatized by Donald Trump’s stunning landslide victory, according to Guido Fawkes.
In an email to staff at the far-left publication, which is headquartered and publishes in Britain but also has significant coverage across the U.S., editor Katherine Vinar acknowledged that the result would be extremely upsetting for their staff and that supporter is avaliable if they need it.
She explained:
What a dramatic night. As we report on the outcome of the US election, it is clear that the journalism we do has a crucial role to play in this moment. It has never been more challenging, or more vital. It is also a big responsibility.
The election has exposed alarming fault lines on many fronts, which we will be examining in the weeks and months ahead. We will look at how the result affects people’s lives in the US; how it affects global stability and security; what it means for the climate. (Bill McKibben wrote for us that a Trump win could reverberate for a million years.)
Our readers across the world will come to us to understand how this happened, what it means, and what to do. They will come to us for clarity, and imagination, and even for hope. Our ownership, our mission and our team of journalists mean we are very well-placed to deliver for them.
I know the result has been very upsetting for many colleagues. Our US teams in particular have covered the election with brilliant reporting; they have done it with great commitment and focus, serving readers in America and across the world.
They will be most directly affected by the result. If you’re not in the US, do contact your American colleagues to offer your support.
It’s upsetting for many others, too. If you want to talk about it, your manager and members of the leadership team are all available, as the People team. There is also free access to free support services, which I’ve outlined at the end of this email.
In an article published on The Guardian website, Vinar also used the opportuntity to beg their readers for donations, asking them to “help us to hold him to account.”
She wrote:
We’ve just witnessed an extraordinary, devastating moment in the history of the United States. In 2016, we promised that our coverage of a Donald Trump administration would meet the moment – and I think it did.
Throughout those tumultuous four years we never minimised or normalised the threat of Trump’s authoritarianism, and we treated his lies as a genuine danger to democracy, a threat that found its expression on 6 January 2021.
…
We will stand up to these threats, but it will take brave, well-funded independent journalism. It will take reporting that can’t be leaned upon by a billionaire owner terrified of retribution from a bully in the White House.
Some of The Guardian’s incredible investigative reporting included a hit piece published just over a week before the election in which they revealed a former model was claiming that Trump had groped her some 30 years ago.
The article, and its accompanying allegation, were both quickly debunked on social media, making the whole thing a humiliation for all involved.
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