Considering mental health and well-being in media work

Abstract

All is not well in the studios, agencies, newsrooms and on the sets of the media we love so much. Reports on the mental health and well-being of media professionals suggest that they tend to score high on depression, stress and burnout, and considering suicide. Documented causes tend to be particular to the working conditions of the media industry – such as unusually high work intensity and tight deadlines, little or no work-life balance in the context of precarious careers, experiences of toxic working environments and an over-identification of the self with work. The industry furthermore lacks resources and corresponding capabilities to recognize when and how its people are in distress, and offers little in the way of opportunities to discuss or otherwise meaningfully address mental health and well-being at work. This contribution explores ways we can map, explain and tackle the mental health crisis in media work through interventions in research, theory, teaching and practice.