Keren Henderson and Bob Papper, journalism professors at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, discuss the big takeaway from their recent study on TV newsroom employment: Staff are burning out hard, and the problem is hitting red line levels. So, how to bring things back from the brink? A full transcript of the conversation is included.
Roughly 72% of local journalists in a study of more than 500 participants reported experiencing personal burnout and 70% reported experiencing work-related burnout, per a survey published in late April by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
More than two-thirds (68.9%) of all TV news directors say staff burnout is worse now than it was one year ago. That’s the latest finding of the 2023 RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey. The percentage was a bit lower in top 25 markets (at 59.4%), but all other market sizes were in the two-thirds range or higher, peaking in the smallest markets at 77.3%. Stations in both the Northeast and the Midwest were near 75%, but both the South and West were in the mid-60s.
It’s Time To Address Local TV’s Burnout Problem
Local television is an industry that runs on energy, and it has a short circuit. Top leadership needs to confront the burnout issue behind it right now.
