In Online Journalism, Burnout Starts Younger – NYTimes.com.

In honor of this story, today’s post will be brief (for me at least). This article details changes in the culture of the news environment, with the change from a 24-hour news cycle to the 24-second news cycle. With news coming out constantly, there’s a lot of pressure on reporters to be the first out with the news, to avoid being “scooped.”

There’s been a lot of debate about what this change means in terms of the news output – whether we are losing in-depth analysis, journalists’ expertise, and forsaking the investigative journalism – which requires a substantial amount of time – for quick hits on what’s been said. In the introductory journalism class here at UW, we spent time discussing this very possibility – would Watergate have been uncovered in this media environment?

But this article reminds us of another important toll this shift may be taking – on young reporters. The stress in always finding the next big story – and apparently being judged by your readership – must be enormous. How will this affect those who are looking to enter the business of journalism? And there is, of course, the link back to the product – how will stressed, over-tired, and burned-out journalists produce quality news stories for public consumption?

With that, I’m taking the weekend off. 🙂