• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 24, 2024

Feeling utterly exhausted? You’re may be one of the many reporters who are suffering from burnout at work.  

A shocking 56% of journalists thought of quitting in the past year because of exhaustion. And 40% left a job for that reason, according to The State of Work-Life Balance, a study by Muck Rack. 

On a scale from one to 10, most journalists rate their stress levels as a seven. Only 20% say their levels are below the midpoint, while 67% claim they are higher.  

The main causes of stress are the workload, the salary and the feeling of being “always on.” 

In a normal week, journalists work on this many stories: 

• 1-3—35% 
• 4-6—28% 
• 7-9—8% 
• 10+--28%

Roughly 64% work more than 40 hours per week, and 13% say they put in more than 51 hours. And 80% work outside regular business hours at least once a week.

It’s no wonder then that 96% of journalists have trouble switching off after work. 

But let’s stop for a minute. Historically, people entering this business knew they were on call 24/7. And they wanted to be. 

Columnist Jimmy Breslin was in a bar with the actor Richard Burton, but had to leave to cover a story. “Why don’t you let one of the younger people handle it?” Burton asked. 

“Because then they’d want to handle my salary, too,” Breslin retorted. 

The sheer workload has caused many journalists to postpone vacations or cancel them entirely.  

Journalists no longer work in hectic newsrooms. Of those surveyed, 54% are fully remote, 29% have hybrid arrangements and 17% work in an office.  

What do they want? Only 44% wish to be fully remote and 45% prefer the hybrid model.  But a paltry 11% want to come in to an office.  

Still, it’s stressful. And 59% say flat-out that they lack access to mental health services at work, while only 25% say they have it. The remainder don’t know. 

This survey may not reflect the situation on the ground. Think of the reporters risking their lives to cover Ukraine and the Mideast. And remember earlier times—say, the 1920s—when there was no such thing as working hours, if you believe the legends. Years later, the old boxing manager Jack “Doc” Kearns complained about the new crop of writers to A.J. Liebling: “All they think about is home to wife and children, instead of laying around saloons soaking up information.” 

Muck Rack surveyed almost 1,800 journalism professionals.