Newspaper journalism in crisis: Burnout on the rise, eroding young journalists’ career commitment

Abstract

The three-component Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey was implemented to examine burnout among newspaper journalists ( N = 770). With a moderate rate of exhaustion, a high rate of cynicism and a moderate rate of professional efficacy, journalists demonstrate higher rates of burnout than presented in previous work. Additionally, journalists expressing intentions to leave the profession ( n = 173) demonstrated high rates of exhaustion and cynicism, and moderate rates of professional efficacy, making them ‘at-risk’ for burnout. Also, 74.5 percent of journalists 34 and younger ( n = 223) either expressed intentions to leave newspaper journalism or answered ‘don’t know’. The most ‘at-risk’ to burnout appear to be young copy editors or page designers working at small newspapers.