Burnout Essay

Burnout. Journalists show high rates of burnout and Reinardy (2011) found that journalists expressing intentions to leave the profession demonstrated high rates of exhaustion making them at risk for burnout. The most “at-risk” to burnout appear to be young copy editors or page designers working at small newspapers (Reinardy, 2011).

Besides exposure to traumatic experience, burnout is related to workplace structural strains and chronic organizational issues (Lee, Lim, Yang, & Lee, 2011). Journalists may very well be subjected to these strains and issues considering the high levels of stress and erratic schedules they are forced to undergo if they wish to be successful in the industry.

Burnout is a psychological disorder that reflects symptoms of general work-related exhaustion. It is described as a slow process of psychological erosion caused by ongoing stressors at work (Backholm, 2012). Burnout includes three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, cynicism and a reduced sense of personal effectiveness (Maslach & Courtois, 2008; Maslach & Leiter, 1997).

Also, Maslach and Courtois (2008) have proposed that trauma-related work, especially long-term repeated work with the direct victims of trauma, might be a predictor for burnout. McCann and Pearlman (1990) noted that burnout in this context could be a consequence from indirect exposure to traumatic content, also resulting from a work process with a difficult case (i.e not necessarily caused by trauma).

There is evidence suggesting that burnout results from ineffective coping with work and life stresses and may well be chronic, lasting over long periods of time. Therefore, burnout will also be associated with degraded physical health and psychological well-being, as suggested by rec...

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...a, emotional numbness, and intense, intrusive memories that bring back the full force of their horror (Kalter, 1999).

The inability to manage emotional trauma, if not dealt with properly, may pose a real threat to journalists, with the potential to impact their psychological, personal and professional sense of well-being with consequences of the industry itself. Well-being is defined as a match between an individual's actual life and his or her ideal life. Common well being indicators are life satisfaction judgements and measure of positive and negative affect (Zou, Schimmack & Gere, 2013). The knock-on effect of the inability to cope with trauma, is that stories and interviewing techniques of journalists who find it hard to cope with the trauma they witness might as well impact the audience and critically those who survive the actual traumatic event (Long, 2013).