Everyone is a War Reporter: Field Theory and Wellbeing Capital in Conflict Journalism

Using field theory as a framework and long-form interviews with journalists (n=21), in this study, we investigate how conflict zone journalists perceive the role of wellbeing within the journalistic field. We found that journalists regularly felt the need to exchange their mental and physical wellbeing for opportunities to be recognized, rewarded financially, and valued in the field. We argue for an expansion of Bourdieu’s (1986) field theory in recognition of journalists’ personal wellbeing as a capital.