It's official: journalists are miserable

I'm a little bit late to it, but I've just stumbled on this report about the high incidence of burnout among newspaper reporters.

According to a study of 770 reporters, three quarters of young hacks (34 and under, which makes me young, hurrah!) would like to leave the profession, and young hacks on smaller papers demonstrated unusually high levels of exhaustion and cynicism.

The study also found that:

• Journalists' top sources of stress are meeting deadlines, pressure to deliver good work for low pay, competition and long hours, leading to poor work/life balance.
• Sixty two percent of all journalists believe they probably made a mistake in their choice of career.
• Most hacks describe themselves as poorly motivated, disillusioned and disappointed.
• Journalists say they are depressed because they are "stuck indoors" all day.
• If you must be a journalist, be a snapper: they're the happiest. But steer clear of copy editing, it's a sort-cut to misery, apparently.

Hat tip to InMedia.

Comments

[Ed Lee]

so...if journalists were paid more, their writing would magically improve?

i find that sort of analysis (both in business and in sports - see premiership footballers) rather...disingenuous. better working conditions make for a more productive worker - and pay is only one part of that.

if "snappers" are the happiest journalists, and if "traditional" press outlets (such as the guardian) are moving to a multimedia format, will hacks' happiness rise over time?

Ed

[Sally Whittle]

Hi Ed

Thanks for commenting. I’m not sure the study makes any observations about quality or productivity. Crap writers are crap writers in my experience, they’re just more annoying when they’re paid a lot. See any issue of the Daily Mail for proof.

The point of this study, I think, was saying that many journos – when faced with the almost daily risk of getting fired, having to produce ever more copy with less resource, and daily dealings with what passes for “people management” in the newspaper business – wish they did something else. That’s all.

The study suggests snappers are happier because they’re more secure in their jobs and work outside the office. So it’s reasonable to think multimedia hacks may get happier. But I would point to this post on the Editors Weblog, which looks at the experience of a Dutch media group that has been trialling multi-skilled hacks. It’s worth reading the whole post, but the main point seems to be:

“...every journalist can learn to be a video journalist, as long as he or she is not afraid of the technical aspects (camera, computer, et cetera). But to become a real good video journalist, you need talent and time. A lot of time. That's why I do not believe in the so called multi skilled journalist, or in ‘convergence by hardware’. Just handing out cameras to newspaper reporters will – in my opinion – not bring you video reports with the quality you want.”

The full post is definitely worth a read:

http://www.editorsweblog.org/news/2008/02/should_most_journalists_remain_specializ.php

[Jess]

Thank God for freelance life, eh? Proper grown-up wages and a VERY understanding boss!

[Linda]

I'd like to agree with Jess, but having said that I think of all the miserable bastards who are freelances and er, smile.