Journalism makes you sick - North West Media News

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Journalism makes you sick

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Friday, 26 September 2008

... so says the National Union of Journalists. They’ve launched a "Stressed Out" campaign to make bosses look after their reporters.

The initiative comes because the NUJ has been receiving more and more complaints from members about stress becoming a big health and safety issue.

"It's time for media companies to recognise that it's unacceptable for them to preside over regimes which are literally making people sick,” said general secretary Jeremy Dear.

"All journalists understand how to work under pressure – it's part of the job.

"But working under pressure is different from working under the constant stress that is now all too familiar to our members."

The NUJ website now has a stress test and resources about bullying.

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Comments (7)

1 By martin howell, on 26-09-2008 13:43
Yes, all those free lunches from PRs are very stressful!

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2 By Diddums, on 26-09-2008 19:46
And the joy of being snotty with PR's on the phone...

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3 By Mr_Osato, on 28-09-2008 20:10
Having not had a lunch away from my desk - still less one paid for by a PR - for most of my nine years in journalism I wonder if I'm in the wrong job? Do enjoy being snotty with PRs on the phone though, at least those with a rising inflection, or who try to flog you a story completely irrelevant to your publication. Favourite way to deal with them?
Osato - 'I can't see the [insert name of town] angle on this?"
PR - 'Errr'

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4 By boo hoo, on 29-09-2008 14:57
awww.. does writing at a computer cause you "bwoody stwess", then get another job, stop bitching... there are people cleaning toilets, digging roads and others working 3 shit jobs just to put food on the table.

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5 By Tony Murray, on 29-09-2008 16:54
I could, for once (!), join in and be sarky here and gleefully compare the pressures of banging out copy to the pressures of teaching 6 year olds for three hours at a stretch...
Having a bad day or a hangover as a journo? Then you can hide behind your terminal, go on a patch visit (if these still happen) or just churn out some pedestrian copy. Having a bad day as a teacher? Then there is nowhere to hide.
However, I do have considerably more sympathy than the above suggests. Most publishing groups, big or small, newspaper or magazine, trade or consumer are ultimately run by individuals with little or no publishing experience. I worked for one where the MD's previous experience was in NHS admin and in another where ultimate power lay with a former market trader (think barrows not futures).
The pressures on journalists are the result of working in an environment where management (or lack thereof) do not understand the mechanics, responsibilities and, ultimately, the selling points of print publications.
At one time pride in the ultimate quality of the published product would ultimately mitigate some levels of stress, but as journalists get more alienated from their own products, this factor no longer applies.
Mind you a lot of journalists are also mardy bastards.

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6 By George Dearsley, on 29-09-2008 17:53
The tone and content of some of these posts I'm afraid reflects an appalling ignorance of just what is happening in modern journalism. Read any copy of the NUJ magazine The Journalist to find out. Yes, back in the 70s three hour lunches were commonplace. But nowadays journalists are pressurised into working long, long hours and reporters are often put into very dangerous situations with little thought. I know of a 20 year old girl on her first casual shift on a national paper being asked to board a Dover ferry, go below, fraternise with the seamen (mainly foreign) and inquire about leaving bow doors open and so on. That girl could have been raped and flung over the side. A female Canadian student reporter investigating immigration WAS raped in France recently. Bosses have the weapon that if you don't like it there are 300 people ready to step into your job. Then there's the financial stress of freelancing, not getting paid and so on. One freelance photographer I know was asked by a major national paper to take his wife and kids on a job "to make a day out" so the newsdesk would not have to pay him mileage. Subbing to deadlines is also incredibly pressurised. It's no wonder papers are littered with typographical and other errors nowadays. I know PR also has its stresses, demanding clients, sometimes long hours etc. But not the same physical dangers or routine office bullying.

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7 By OK, on 30-09-2008 13:09
George is right. Real reporting is dangerous.
What has mucked up the media in the last few years is the rise of the celeb columnists who earn zillions for trotting out their vaccuous low-rent opinions, and the (mostly) female airheads who just babble on about items in the papers. Jade Goody or Kerry Katona anyone? Or the bimbos from GMTV!
Real reporters who get out and stand in the rain, doorstepping and getting the facts are seen as superfluous and unwanted. As CP Scott's principle was reduced to Comment is Free but Facts are Expensive, accountants have reduced the media to mere commodities. Too many hacks just recycle the PR guff that lands in their inbox. No wonder that the public don't trust it anymore.

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