Burnout in journalism

Thanks for this response, because this is something I was genuinely curious about. I wondered if you have enough vacation time, is that enough to hit the reset button and clear your headspace? I never take any vacation but I also make it a point to not work more than 50ish hours in a week if I can avoid it.

 

"Burnout" seems to be one of those first-world problems. I've been doing this for 35 years, freelance/1099 all the way. That creates a different mindset: if your ability to eat depends on how well you can kill something and drag it back to the cave every day, there is no "burnout," only survival or starvation. That's a bit too stark — freelancing been bery, bery good to me — but it's the basic operational model. Seems most of the burnout is coming from the W2 side of the business, which of course is where the most anxiety is. That's not surprising — if my revenue were coming from a single source, I'd be constantly frazzled, especially in this current media/economic environment. Not everyone can be entrepreneurially successful, but it beats waiting for the axe to fall.

 

Just as good as before? Maybe. Gawker is allegedly coming back, and she could be a good fit for the top spot.

Otherwise, a top editor who quits after only a year might struggle to find another top job at a newsroom of WIRED's size or larger.

 

I suspect the top-line burnout issues are more related to "the bad news I can't change never stops, does it?" or "oh, I can't do exactly what I want in my quest to change the world?" than not having enough people or the grind being relentless on the work side.

Some of the most anxious people I know are the ones who live inside their own heads all day, especially on Twitter. (And to some case, here.) They're frankly not doing enough of something that doesn't involve dwelling on themselves. We used to call this ennui and tell the relatively fortunate among us to push through it for the greater good. Now, in some cases for the right reasons, people are rejecting the idea of the "greater good," and pausing instead of pushing.

I still argue the problem is the ubiquity and constancy of "news" you can distract yourself with and place yourself into. I have FB friend sharing pro-cop thoughts - and then arguing with people about it - this morning a good 1000 miles away from Brooklyn Center and Chicago. There are better things for that person - who is not, in any way, an expert in these matters - to do with their time than attempt to address that problem.

 

I guess we'll see. In my experience, you reach a certain level, you'll get job after job no matter how many you leave.

 

The former is the foundation of news. There are shitty news days and not-so-shitty news days. You can't change it.

Lately, it seems more of the latter, especially among the more "woke" staffers who can't break through the wall put up by the boomers.

 

I'm sure that's the case, but that's a bullshit ecosystem. I know someone who is still hopping between several publications, like musical chairs, staying for less than a year before jumping somewhere else. This person's work isn't that great, and I'm baffled they still get interviews.

 

Or is just doesn't attract that many readers.

Grantland was not a readership success, IMO, and I was incredibly dubious about it from the beginning. But Simmons had it under his umbrella, and once he was fired, and another more gifted journalists than Simmons went in there, people got the hell out fast.

 

It's a culture club. Once you're in, you're in. I think it used to be pretty eclectic, too. Now, it's more, did you go to the right college, live in the right city, etc.

The one thing that stunned me - and shouldn't have - is I figured the Internet would geographically democratize the media. Just the opposite happened. Live on a coast - preferable the Eastern coast - or risk not mattering. That, as much as anything, is helping hollow out local news. Really good journalists would rather serve as a third peon on the Post desk than reign in a mid-major market.

The Internet has a habit of siloing almost everything.

 

You must live in Niceville. In my 44-year experience, people don't give a damn about your problems, they just want their name in the paper.

 

It helps, particularly if you're able to completely unplug for that vacation. It's not a cure-all, but it certainly buys you some time before you go completely nuts on the job.

Of course, the last year made that next to impossible. I was supposed to spend two weeks in Europe. Instead I used up all of my vacation time last year without leaving the house. It didn't help.

 

FWIW - By the end of my time in journalism, I was working part-time at USPS too. Even though this was mostly mindless labor, I found it way more preferable to journalism, and one week when I was working USPS and not journalism, I actually had the mental energy to do some writing for fun. I suspect that she could take a couple months off, either using savings or just working as a temp, and then come back or do a book or something else.