Journalism jobs and news from Holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Regional press news - this story published 09 November 2006

What gets journalists down at work - survey results

by Patrick Astill

Pay and hours came top of the list of grumbles when we asked holdthefrontpage readers "What gets you down at work?"

Our survey, which was running on this website for two weeks in October and was voluntary to fill in, attracted 568 respondents.

Weekly newspaper staff accounted for 191 responses (34.7 per cent), while 197 said they worked at regional dailies (33.6 per cent)

The rest comprised mainly freelances (12 per cent), magazine journalists (7.9 per cent) and the nationals (4.8 per cent).

A little over 66 per cent said their salary/wages got them down. That's 376 out of our 568 sample – and the most conclusive result in this part of the poll.

Twenty-eight per cent said "the boss" got them down to some extent, while 35.7 per cent said the long working day caused concern.

We asked if the "treadmill of work" got people down, and 44.6 per cent of respondents said it did.

The question posed was "to what extent do the following get you down at work, on a scale of 1 to 5, where one is "a little" and five is "a lot"?

But we also asked people to write down their own ideas.

And we found some journalists were upset at the way in which they do their job.

Comments on this angle included:

Lack of a willingness to allow reporters to get out

Resentment from editor when you want to go out of the office

Too few staff, too much work

Lack of investigative opportunities, over-emphasis on trivia, loss of trade union

Working without assistance

Communication between departments may be lacking too, with other matters that get our respondents down being:

Isolation (only reporter in a satellite office) – and sheer volume of work

Spoon-feeding sub-editors who can't sub

Subs wrecking good copy

Journalists not understanding the skill involved in taking pictures

My work being altered by subs when it's plainly for the worse.

Some highlighted weekend work, "the long, unsocial hours expected", night jobs and council meetings.

Declining standards, loss of professional status, "a complete lack of interest in the town we are supposed to serve from management and many reporters", negative attitudes and "deadly silence in the newsroom every day" give cause for concern.

Forty one per cent were worried about job security, but 36.6 per cent didn't let this get them down.

And meeting deadlines was not seen as a problem, with just 10.9 per cent saying it got them down. Only 10.3 per cent let technology give them cause from concern, and the positive outlook continues with just four per cent letting colleagues get them down "a lot".

Got something we should be writing about? Get in touch by e-mailing patrick.astill@and.co.uk

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