The Burnout: A Look at Mental Health for Today’s Journalists
Mental health among journalists and reporters is rising. This ever-changing field and the ever-increasing issues facing journalists have led to more mental health problems within journalism and media.
According to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the following image shows the press’s targeted information last year alone. During the peak of the Civil Rights protest, over a dozen people of color were murdered or killed.
This trauma from covering events to ensure clarity, transparency, and ethical overwatch led to a toll on the press’s mental and physical health as they covered multiple events from protest to the election. The press and journalists also face other issues such as doxing, anger, violence, and targeting by right-wing extremists and many others who do not like the press. This constant targeting and possible violence can lead to those in the media and journalists developing mental health-related conditions that have long-term effects on their health.
According to American Psychological Association statistics, journalists are likely to develop PTSD or anxiety disorder from the job. This “burn-out” period reached its climax in 2020 during the social unrest and election fallout peak.
The American Psychological Association did a study and found the following:
Certain factors do increase journalists’ risk for developing PTSD. Newman and colleagues have found that an avoidant coping style, a personal history of trauma, high intensity and frequency of exposure, and organizational stressors such as inconsistent leadership or conflicts with editors increase reporters’ risk for developing PTSD (Smith, R.J. et al., Stress & Health, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2018). Additional risk factors include coverage of war and the drug trade and exposure to “user-generated content”—the unfiltered social media posts and other material that provide eyewitness views of breaking news.
Safety and Security
In the years 2016 through 2020, the media saw the rise in multiple publications and media outlets of pushed misinformation that led to a higher rate of violence against journalists. The “fake media” movement caused damage to locations like the CNN offices and to journalists being wounded and injured while covering many events of the last few years.
RTDNA reported that one in five journalists were attacked last year and that 86 percent of newsrooms had to change safety and security procedures to ensure that their journalists were safe. Between the targeting from politics, extremists, and within, the overall effect on the media and journalism field has been significant. Another aspect of this is the inability to find stable work or the fear of being fired for running stories that could lead to censorship.
So far in 2021, we’ve documented 125 assaults of 92 journalists, meaning some were attacked multiple times. Find those cases here: https://t.co/RR2teVBR7L pic.twitter.com/hBOYxguFOQ
— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (@uspresstracker) September 13, 2021
From Buyouts to Joblessness
Most media centers and newspapers from local colleges to significant networks are owned and operated by non-media and non-journalist entities. These companies will buy news organizations, leading to ethical and legal ramifications for journalists.
It is no secret in media and journalism that finding a job is difficult. Most media jobs are focused on specific areas with a particular goal. The inability to find a stable media job after graduation or as a new journalist is well-known within the industry. Most seasoned or retired journalists will tell you that you need to “grind it out until you make it.” This leads to more problematic issues, as most journalists have to work more than one job. As media jobs become more scarce due to buyouts, burnouts, and hedge funds, it becomes more challenging to be a journalist and exercise the constitutional right of a free press.
Is all hope lost for journalists?
No, there is now a movement within the journalist and media field to unionize so that jobs are protected and are given a living wage. According to Poynter, there has been a 90 percent rise in unionizing by journalists. This ability to unionize and protect jobs ensures that journalists’ mental, physical, and overall health are less impacted.
LGBTQ, BIPOC, and Women Journalists’ Mental Health
LGBTQ journalists are facing a higher level of risk associated with both journalists and being in the LGBTQ community. BIPOC saw a rise both in targeting, harassment, and violence according during the past year. This effect on mental health for BIPOC and LGBTQ folks leads to an increase in journalists leaving the field. DART and the Center for Mental Health Journalism have seen an increase in mental health cases among journalists.
Women journalists have been impacted not only by violence but also by misogynistic issues within the workplace. A group of women decided to take matters into their own hands and start the newsgroup 19thnews.org, which is a news organization for women, by women.
As our country moves forward and becomes better at ensuring equal rights to everyone, we will hopefully see a better mental health program for journalists and better job prospects that ensure job security and safety.
