Journalists are burning out while feeding the 24/7 news cycle

Social media and the power of the internet today connect journalists and their audience in a way that was never possible before.

Journalists have a new “active” audience, that I would define as an audience that not only reads our content but engages and responds to it. News consumers no longer accept our news at face value.

They can comment on the news we put out and ask for the information we are not covering.

With this new dynamic relationship between a journalist and their audience come both the positive of an ongoing dialogue and the negative of a 24/7 news cycle that drains journalists.

It calls for journalists to always be asking themselves the question: What value does this piece have to society?

The 24/7 News Cycle

As the newsroom shrinks with more and more buyouts nationwide, journalists have to do so much more with so much less. Less journalists are available to keep up with a news cycle that is never-ending. That leaves little room for investigative work or culture pieces that have always shaped journalism as an institution.

Journalists are more likely to burn out when they are forced to cover every breaking piece without pause.

Burnout can take form in many ways from a lack of motivation to physical symptoms like stress-related abdominal pain. Burnout can also stem from many causes, including a constant need to be the first on the story.

Journalists used to mainly feel intense stress in the evening as the deadline to file for the paper quickly approached. However, journalists today feel that same stress in the morning, afternoon and evening because all news can and will be posted online as soon as it is completed.

A journalist at the Nieman Lab, conducted a study in which he surveyed several journalists on the biggest sources of burnout or stress for them. In the article, he cites a quote from a journalist saying that they are expected to produce more content than ever before.

It may be great for the audience to have articles to read at any point in the day, but it is overwhelming journalists.

Open dialogue

With Twitter and blogs similar to this one, anyone can publish content regardless of their professional background.

A quick Tweet can cue journalists into a new story.

Journalists have a new eye available if they know where to look. All we need to do is scroll through Twitter or look on Facebook to find out what our audience really cares about. Or, in the case of breaking news, we can find sources when the news is not accessible yet like in the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers.

It allows us to be everywhere all at once and become more tuned in with our audience.