TV News Burnout: The Crisis Reaches A Tipping Point

Dayna Drake turned 24 on the day we spoke. Friends planned a birthday dinner, but she wasn’t sure whether she’d get there.

Although she was producing the 5 p.m. newscast, a fellow producer wasn’t feeling well, and if they didn’t make it in, Drake could have to assist in producing the 11.

But she only had a week to go. A year and a half into producing at WCSC Charleston, S.C., she arranged a buyout with her news director and was moving into public relations.

“The news industry is not what I thought it would be,” Drake observed. “There’s less storytelling and more crime coverage. I’m not doing what I thought, and I don’t go home delighted at the end of the day.”

She’s not alone.

While the TV news industry focuses on declines in advertising and audience erosion, there’s a crisis inside the newsroom that’s threatening the whole system.

The latest RTDNA/Syracuse University Survey found that more than two-thirds of TV news directors say there’s more evidence of staff burnout than ever before. The problem is worse in small markets, where more than three-quarters of news directors say they have a real problem. But even in the biggest markets and biggest newsrooms – the top 25 markets – nearly 60% say burnout is a growing problem.

“They quit, they ‘quiet quit;’ they cry in my office; they call out more often than is usual for them; they complain to me and to each other,” noted one news director.

“Even in myself, this is no longer an enjoyable business,” said another. “Frustration, frayed tempers, extreme disgust at this corporation and others for their focus on the bottom line and failure to recognize employee burnout and need to increase pay.”

“People are just exhausted,” said a third news director.

James Finch, VP for news services at Gray Television, suggests that there are at least three reasons for the problems.

“The industry is dealing with a labor shortage,” he said. “The audience demand for multi-platform content is ever increasing. The reporting environment can be emotionally exhausting and hostile.”

And no wonder.

Every year, stations increase the amount of local news that they run — far outpacing a much smaller increase in staff. And that’s just part of the workload.

Stations also keep adding content to their websites; nearly 30% of stations supply news to one or more local radio stations; nearly the same number provide news to another local TV station; and more than half that number supply news to a TV station in another market. A smaller percentage are supplying news to a cable news channel and a website that isn’t even their own.

More than half of the country’s TV news operations are involved with streaming channels – supplying news up to 24 hours a day.

Then there’s social media.

“We’re building new shows with sports interviews and deeper investigative content,” said one news director.

Then there are the “multiple weekly franchise segments, breaking news, daily ‘fastcasts,’ expanded political and investigative content, etc.,” wrote another.

A third of TV newsrooms say they expect to increase the amount of news on local TV this year; no one said they expect to cut back.

I had hoped to speak to most of the large corporate news presidents or vice presidents about the issue. I’ve known many of them for years. But James Finch at Gray was the only one who’d go on the record. One other agreed to talk anonymously.

“The stress has been higher than it was before the pandemic,” they said. “In the pandemic, people were out with illness, but no one was taking vacation. When the pandemic was over and people were back to taking vacation, there was more stress because fewer people were available to work. We saw what was happening and worked to help, but that meant we overtaxed the managers.”

Have Newsrooms Hit The Breaking Point?

More than 90% of TV news directors said it was harder to recruit staffers this year than in the past. The survey found that the average station hired 10 replacements and two new employees. That’s a quarter of the total staff for the average TV newsroom. That kind of turnover is unsustainable.

The typical local TV newsroom has three unfilled positions; the average is nearly four. Projected out, that’s 2,500 unfilled staff positions — nearly 10% of the total local TV news employment. And 92% of news directors say they could fill those positions if only they could find someone.

“We are stretched too thin, and that gets worse each year,” said another news director. “Further, it’s nearly impossible to get applicants anymore. We have jobs posted for months before we even see one application, let alone a good one. This business is broken, and if something is not done soon, at the top, television news will go the same way newspapers have.”

Part of the issue comes down to stress — the stress of producing multiple stories in a day and multiple versions of those stories on multiple platforms. Even if someone is paid overtime, there’s the stress of doing it day after day because of what’s happening in the news, because people are out sick, because the station is understaffed.

And then there’s the financial stress because too many young staffers don’t make enough money to cover all the bills, much less student debt. More than half of college students have to borrow to go to school, and, for them, the diploma comes with $28,950 in student debt. Then there’s the stress from the people they cover who don’t trust them or the station or media in general.

“We increased the amount of paid time off for new hires,” noted a top corporate news person. “We added a week from two to three. They were thrilled to get it, but that made it harder [for the station] dealing with that extra time off.”

Studies find that Gen Z is the most stressed-out generation. According to a study published by Forbes in June of this year, Gen Z workers, aged 18-26, make up about 35% of those wanting to quit work, while millennials (27-42) add another 31%. Of those who want to quit work, two-thirds are under 43 years old. The most common reason cited by nearly half the workers considering quitting their jobs is overwork.

“The workload leads to a lot of stress because you’re working against the clock,” Drake noted. “I’m on call every third weekend of every month. The workload put a damper on things.”

Gen Z tends to put a premium on mental health. Local TV news may well be the antithesis of a positive mental health environment.

And if all that isn’t enough, one in seven TV news directors report that there were attacks on news staff last year. That’s better than the one in five who reported attacks the year before, but 2024 is an election year, and the situation will get worse.

“It appears that professional burnout is a serious issue for not just local broadcast news stations but also for the broadcast networks, cable networks, digital platforms, newsletters and others,” Finch noted. “Moreover, burnout in the demanding newsgathering field does not have age limitations, nor is it limited to reporters and MMJs.”

The Salary Problem

In 2022, TV news salaries went up by 4% — which was better than the previous year when salaries only rose by 1.1%. But inflation went up by 6.4% in 2021 and 7% in 2022, so the two-year loss in real wages came to 8.3%.

The long-term picture is worse.

Old salary data isn’t easy to come by, but some comparisons will help tell the story.

A 1972 study by Northwestern University found that the average starting pay for students majoring in business was $8,844 per year. The average for humanities and social science majors was $8,184. Math, chemistry and physics majors got $9,660. I can’t get the average TV news salaries in 1972, but I started in this business full time in 1970 at a major market station at $9,100 per year — and the station was embarrassed by my low pay.

A half century later, 2022, the National Association of Colleges and Universities reports that business majors start at $56, 981; humanities and social science majors at $56,981; math, chemistry and physics majors at $62,177. All those salaries are 88% to 95% of the 1972 starting pay adjusted for inflation.

If you adjust my starting pay for inflation, it would come to $71,559 in 2022. But with an actual starting salary in local TV news of just $31,300, that’s just 44% of my inflation adjusted salary.

Starting pay in the 2023 RTDNA Survey soared to $37,000, but it’s still not enough. The overall average starting pay for a college graduate today is $55,260.

A Shrinking Applicant Pool

The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that journalism (and communication) do not appear in the top 10 most “in demand” majors (2022).

Worse, based on 1,500 job seekers surveyed by ZipRecruiter in late 2022, the most-regretted college major is journalism with 87% of those graduates sampled saying they would choose a different major if they could.

It’s a different world today than it was when most of today’s managers entered the business.

Maybe that’s why news directors say that most of what they’re trying in order to deal with growing burnout simply isn’t working.

One news director noted using “lots of food — candy, cake, burgers, BBQ, pizza, etc. — therapy dog visits, open communication about issues.”

Another said: “Gym memberships, emphasis on mental health care that we provide, lots of encouragement and coaching.”

“We offer mental health days off the books, gift cards, buy lunch, host midday nature walks, on-site yoga,” reported a third.

“Staff cookouts. It makes us feel good for a couple days. Still doesn’t stop the burnout,” acknowledged another.

Deb Wenger and Iveta Imre at the University of Mississippi, in preparation for a session at a major communication education conference in August, conducted a small survey (83 participants) and a series of 22 in-depth interviews with entry-level journalists, newsroom hiring managers and corporate TV news recruiters.

“What concerned people most looking for that first job wasn’t money — which came in second — first was location,” Wenger said. “Was it close to school or home or somewhere they knew and/or had a support system?”

“Third, is company reputation, with more than half saying that was extremely or somewhat important in the decision making. Then promotional opportunities.”

That’s from those looking for employment.

“Once you had that job, what’s most important? Eighty-five percent said life outside of work. Then, time off and then training,” Wenger noted.

“What’s then No. 1 for job satisfaction? Pay raises and then supervisor recognition. Burnout — and its effects on everyone in the newsroom — came up again and again,” she said.

Chip Mahaney, emerging talent leader E. W. Scripps, on that same conference panel noted: “We’re seeing people make decisions at two years they used to make at 10. ‘I’m getting out. I’ve got this other opportunity.’”

People like Drake.

“Burnout is a huge thing,” she said. “It’s the biggest battle with young people. It’s the stress of news. I have a nine-hour day and maybe I get a lunch break and maybe not.”

What Can The Industry Do?

What does TV journalism need to do before it flames out?

“Every journalist should be involved in the conversation that will lead to solutions,” Finch said. “There is too much at stake. Our local communities and our democracy cannot afford to have our best and brightest minds leave the business. So, we need to speak up about our stressors and concerns. There are people listening.”

So, here are some of the ultimate questions and, maybe, some solutions.

“We put too much on a producer’s plate,” noted a top corporate executive. “We need to figure out what can be taken off. It’s a work in progress, but we’re changing things.”

“We are a round-the-clock business in a world that we cannot control,” Finch said. “So, the questions are these: How do we recruit and retain people who are willing to work odd hours for the sake of serving the public good? How do we support people who have to witness bloodshed and tragedy for the sake of serving the public good? How do we protect journalists who, at times, feel like they’re reporting from hostile territory? How do we convince their loved ones that the daily sacrifices made are critical to our society?”

Steps Toward Sanity And A Viable Future

First, on the leadership front, these are different times, and they call for different leadership. If news directors are terrific news people, that’s great. But if they’re not also good human beings, then someone else needs to be in that position. Today, it’s not just about being tough and relentless — it’s also about being empathetic and encouraging.

Coaching and encouragement of (especially) young people is critical, but if the manager is doing most of the talking, then it’s not working.

If employees have to work a second job, collect food stamps or live with a bunch of others because they can’t afford to be on their own, you might as well wave goodbye to them. And if the manager doesn’t know whether the employees are doing any of those things, then the wrong person is in charge.

Newsroom leaders should expect to meet one-on-one with Gen Z employees more often than a manager is used to, maybe as much as once a week.

If the newscast is filled day after day with poor content, a station will lose both Gen Z and millennials faster. Of course, that will apply to the audience, too. Gen Z and Y are especially cause and purpose-driven groups.

“I need more job satisfaction — more gratification,” Drake said. She expects to find that in public relations, where she thinks she’s more likely to be able to do real storytelling. That may or may not turn out to be true, but what does it say that after a year and a half in TV news, that’s what she thinks?

Gen Y and Z also tend to value diversity, so if that isn’t what the newsroom looks like, they’ll figure the station isn’t trying hard enough. And they’ll be right.

Organizational Fixes

“Toward the end of the pandemic, we took a hard look at how we produce local news,” said a top news executive. “We’ve been producing local news pretty much the same way for years.  But we took a hard look at that because we need to lower the workload. Do we really need to keep doing things we way we have? We set up a group to look at that. Now we’ve gone from more of a show-centric system to a story-centric system. So, people produce different versions of a story and producers can pick which one they want. It’s still an evolutionary process, and we’re still evaluating it.”

If part of the problem in the business is the extensive workload and the near (or real) round-the-clock demands, what does a five-day workweek have to do with that? Why couldn’t it be a four-day workweek or even three days? There needs to be more experimentation with what might work for different employees.

Keep in mind that what may work with one employee may not be the best solution for another. The question to ask is what, exactly, does each employee think is standing in the way of that person’s ability to get his or her job done well.

“It would help if I could just have a workday and not have to produce,” Drake said. “Then I could work on something that really meant something to me.”

Younger employees value social interaction. If there aren’t other young people in the newsroom, then a station isn’t likely to keep the one it has. And if those young people are scheduled when they can’t interact with others — especially other young employees — they won’t stay either.

The pandemic taught us that not everyone has to gather at a station at the same time every day. What lessons have stations taken to use what they should have learned from alternative meetings and work strategies?

“Even though we’re an ‘always-on’ business, we should understand that no individual member of the team should be ‘on’ all the time,” Finch said.

Recruiting

Given the importance of geography, stations need to develop special relationships with as many colleges in the area as possible. Get involved in the instruction, and get the students involved in the station. These are far and away the best starting prospects. And maybe that involvement needs to start in high school.

Starting pay soared in 2022 to $37,000, but it’s not enough. The RTDNA survey includes 20 job titles. Half of those positions have minimum starting salaries of under $20,000 a year. More than half the median (typical) TV news salaries in markets 101 and smaller are under $40,000 a year.

“We might not be able to do it in one chunk,” Finch noted, “but we need to move the needle. Economics will win out.”

“We have raised our starting pay,” Finch said. “We have increased our paid time off. We have a free health insurance option for those who can choose employee-only coverage. We have increased our 401K match. We have a Focus on Caring program that provides funds to our teammates who have urgent financial needs because of unexpected events. I am sure we will do more. There is too much to lose.”

The industry also needs to stop making new employees sign two- or three-year contracts. It’s one thing to sign high-priced talent or even highly paid producers to a contract but forcing low-paid beginners to two- and three-year contracts is abusive, puts extra stress on young people and forces them to leave the industry rather than search for a better niche within broadcast news.

One station told me they’re now using 18-month contracts. That’s way better than two or three years. Another said they’re skipping contracts and paying large bonuses on yearly anniversaries. That’s great — as long as the regular pay isn’t too low.

Drake is now out of the business, but she’s not the only one at her station. “Four of us are leaving this month (October 2023),” Drake said, noting only one of them is staying in the business at another news organization.

How many more can the industry afford to lose?

Bob Papper is research professor of broadcast and digital journalism at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and director of the RTDNA/Syracuse University annual survey.

Editor’s note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, Dayna Drake asserted that she would not have been compelled to produce an 11 p.m. newscast if a producer was ill, but instead requested to assist in its production. She also noted that one of her former colleagues who was slated to leave the business has since gone to work for another news company instead. Finally, she says that she did not directly state, “We’re getting disillusioned” in characterizing her departure. Her comments and characterizations thereof have been edited from their original publication to reflect those changes.