Welcome to our May Special Edition Series on mental well-being in newsrooms. In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, API is offering this series and a trio of webinars. In this edition you’ll learn:
- Mental health challenges common among journalists
- The importance of both individual coping strategies and systemic and cultural change
- How to model healthy workplace behaviors
This week’s action (2 minutes): Choose one small way you will model a healthy boundary.
In the collective pursuit of sustainably operating successful newsrooms, we are losing the most important element to the business — the journalists. We, as news leaders, are also losing ourselves. Managing the news cycle and our teams through years of attacks on press freedom is no easy task.
It takes time, consistency and critical mass to foster a newsroom where mental health support is built into the culture. Both leadership and team members must collectively seek change, one consistent action and behavior at a time.
While burnout, trauma and other mental health challenges can be exacerbated by the myriad stresses of modern journalism, most of us lack the power to completely change the organizations we work for. That’s why this series will focus on you, the news leader — how you can navigate these challenges for yourself and, in turn, build more resilient teams.
- Why we’re talking about this now: Whether on the national stage or in a small community newsroom, stressors small and large can compound into issues like burnout or exposure to trauma. We’re almost halfway through the year, and Mental Health Awareness Month is a good time to pause and reflect on our well-being and that of our newsrooms.
- How news leaders can use this series: There are three lenses through which to view each of these guides: for yourself, for your team and for your workplace. Supporting your colleagues and modeling healthy behaviors can make a difference day-to-day, but also consider your role in a larger shift in newsroom culture.
As you read, pick one idea you will try this week.
- What this series will cover:
- What burnout is — and is not
- How to address burnout on an individual scale, and how to acknowledge its presence in the newsroom
- What it means to be a trauma-informed leader
- What a psychologically safe newsroom can look like
- How psychological safety can serve as a tool for collaboration
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Mental well-being in the newsroom
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