Questions for Brand Pride measured how proud a participant felt about being a journalist and his/her emotional attachment to the job.
For this scale, higher scores mean higher Brand Pride.
In March 2020, when people’s lives turned upside down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent “stay home” orders were issued by local governments, the expectation that journalists should respond and inform the public became even more important.
Then, a few months later, protests and riots broke out across the United States after the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death, captured on camera and shared widely on social media, sparked outrage against police brutality and racial injustice.
Reporters and photographers set up for an in-person press conference with the Austin Police Department during the COVID-19 pandemic. APD held the press conference outside, so everyone can be six feet apart.
Hundreds of protestors marched on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin after the death of George Floyd. Many wore masks to protect themselves against COVID-19.
Journalists covered these two unprecedented events at the same time, often alongside healthcare professionals taking care of the sickest COVID-19 patients and often in the midst of the tensest moments at Black Lives Matter protests and riots.
Unsurprisingly, a survey conducted in February and March 2022 shows working nonstop during such historic moments has taken a significant toll on journalists' mental health. As a result, the news industry is at risk of losing talented storytellers to other industries.
One hundred and thirty eight journalists participated in the online survey. Their journalistic backgrounds included television, radio, newspaper, and digital media.
When asked if they recently thought about or if they're currently thinking about changing careers due to hardships they experienced while covering the pandemic and the protests, 75 percent of the survey respondents said they are considering leaving the news industry.
The survey then asked these journalists questions that assessed their attitude toward the news industry, their stress level, burnout level, and causes of their stress and burnout.
Click on each topic to learn more about the questions asked and what the results mean.
Questions for Brand Pride measured how proud a participant felt about being a journalist and his/her emotional attachment to the job.
For this scale, higher scores mean higher Brand Pride.
Task Difficulty asked about how easy and enjoyable a journalist believes his/her job is currently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this scale, higher scores mean believing the job is easier and less frustrating.
Appreciation is about whether journalists feel appreciated by their employers for all the work they put in day in and day out.
For this scale, higher scores mean feeling more appreciated.
Compassion gauged positive aspects of being a journalist by asking the participants about satisfaction they feel for doing their jobs.
For this scale, higher scores mean higher compassion satisfaction.
Questions about burnout measured the feeling of being overwhelmed, bogged down, trapped.
For this scale, higher scores mean being more burned out.
Questions about Traumatic Stress asked about symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
For this scale, higher scores mean higher trauma and higher stress level.
Questions about weariness covered how much a journalist has been burdened by the news stories of 2020 to the point that the stories deplete his or her ability to deal with it.
For this scale, higher scores mean being more weary.
Questions about Trust measured how journalists felt about their employer’s ability to handle sensitive story topics, such as racial relations.
For this scale, higher scores mean more trust.
These survey results indicate working during the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests had similar impacts on journalists’ mental health as covering stories typically associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and stress, such as wars, crimes, and natural disasters.
The survey participants exhibited slightly positive brand pride, meaning they still felt somewhat proud to work as journalists. They also felt compassionate toward stories they were covering and people they were talking to, but they rated their jobs to be difficult and frustrating and showed high levels of weariness toward having to get up every morning, come up with stories ideas, turn multiple stories a day, and do it all over again the next day.
Additionally, despite having to take on so much, journalists also reported not feeling appreciated by their management or the public.
The survey also asked an open-ended question asking participants to discuss anything else they would like to add or describe about their experience working in the news industry in 2020 - 2022 or their perception of the current state of the news industry.
The most common theme was pay issues (33.33%) where participants discussed having to live paycheck to paycheck due to not being paid a living wage. The next most talked about topics were well-being of their mental health (27.54%) and workload (26.09%).