Why I don't work for newspapers anymore
Apparently, a former journalist turned professor did a study on journalism burnout. The lead on the story on Gawker.com explains why:
"You make crap for cash. Your achievements are barely noticed. Your company's idea of encouragement is not firing you. The last time you spent more than twenty good minutes with your kids or significant other was two weeks ago, give or take a month."
Yep, that pretty much sums up why I left daily newspaper reporting and went to working for a business journal. Most especially the making crap for cash. Every now and then, I see a listing for a job at the local paper. They want you to work shitty hours and make like $500 a week BEFORE all the taxes, etc. Uh, no thank you.
Then, one of of the study's findings is listed - Newsroom stressors:
"Meeting newspaper deadlines, pressure to produce good work, low pay, media competition, long hours, implementing new technology, and conflict between work and family."
Well, duh. One job I had, we all stood around and flipped channels for the 5 and 6 p.m. news to make sure the TV stations didn't have something that we missed. If they did, we were scrambling to produce a better and more detailed story than the TV station had for the next morning's paper. No pressure there.
My favorite comment on Gawker was this: 62% of you are pretty damn sure your decision to be a journalist might have been a great big ginormous mistake.
:) You ought to see me on Career Day at school trying to talk about my job without encouraging kids to be journalists. Writers, yes. Journalists, no.
"You make crap for cash. Your achievements are barely noticed. Your company's idea of encouragement is not firing you. The last time you spent more than twenty good minutes with your kids or significant other was two weeks ago, give or take a month."
Yep, that pretty much sums up why I left daily newspaper reporting and went to working for a business journal. Most especially the making crap for cash. Every now and then, I see a listing for a job at the local paper. They want you to work shitty hours and make like $500 a week BEFORE all the taxes, etc. Uh, no thank you.
Then, one of of the study's findings is listed - Newsroom stressors:
"Meeting newspaper deadlines, pressure to produce good work, low pay, media competition, long hours, implementing new technology, and conflict between work and family."
Well, duh. One job I had, we all stood around and flipped channels for the 5 and 6 p.m. news to make sure the TV stations didn't have something that we missed. If they did, we were scrambling to produce a better and more detailed story than the TV station had for the next morning's paper. No pressure there.
My favorite comment on Gawker was this: 62% of you are pretty damn sure your decision to be a journalist might have been a great big ginormous mistake.
:) You ought to see me on Career Day at school trying to talk about my job without encouraging kids to be journalists. Writers, yes. Journalists, no.
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