Study finds nearly half of journalists experience high levels of burnout

According to a study published this Monday and promoted by the Union of Journalists (SJ), API – Associação Portuguesa de Imprensa and Casa da Imprensa, about 48% of journalists show high levels of fatigue.

“We can say with great confidence (95% confidence interval) that 48% of the universe’s population, with a margin of error of 3.2%, have high levels of burnout (levels 4, 5 and 6), which is an alarming symptom. the state of journalists,” refers to the National Study of Living and Working Conditions of Journalists in Portugal, carried out by the Observatory of Living and Working Conditions at the University of Nova de Lisboa and presented this Monday.

The survey, coordinated by Raquel Varela and co-coordinator Roberto della Santa, was presented this Monday at the Casa da Imprensa in Lisbon. Between April and May 2022, 866 responses were collected and it was concluded that 38% of journalists believe they have mental health problems related to journalism.

Also, 20% said that they suffered from diseases that arose, according to a doctor’s diagnosis, as a result of their professional activities as a journalist, the main ones being osteoarticular (57 responses), psychological (51), ophthalmological (41) and cardiac ( 41 answers). 19).

Despite a clinical diagnosis, only 31% reported impacts in the context of their work, with 18 reporting a cessation of some tasks, 11 reporting a change in function, and 10 a change in technical equipment.

Among the respondents who responded, 15.1% stated that they were the target of moral harassment, 93% of them stated that they were the target of harassment from managers and/or supervisors, and 1.5% stated that they were the target of sexual harassment.

Situations of censorship and self-censorship (49%) were also evidence reported by a large number of journalists, as well as 52% who were “blocked from accessing sources of power from the state, market or civil society”, and 42% who indicated that they “violated ethical standards because of their work.”

A third of respondents also believed there was a “devastating imbalance between personal and professional lives” – in fact, 33% described themselves as single and 14% as divorced, with almost half (40%) having no children and only 34% having more than one offspring.

The average number of children per woman among journalists is even lower than the national average (1.38), at 1.04.

In terms of net remuneration, the average is €1,225, with around 60% receiving less than €1,500 net per month.

At the end of the presentation, SJ President Luis Simões felt the survey was a “good moment” to show the path to take and lamented the “staggering numbers” when it comes to mental health.

“We have a class of journalists who are completely absorbed in all these issues and reach such a level of exhaustion,” he said, referring to “burnout,” a syndrome of professional exhaustion.

“This is the data we need to take from this study and we want to demonstrate that perhaps journalists’ work should be valued more through collective hiring rather than individual contracts,” the union leader said.

Luis Simões also noted that journalists “are becoming more and more unstable, suffering more and more, facing more and more ethical dilemmas, not having children.”