In this episode, journalism workplace scholar Valérie Bélair-Gagnon discusses how issues like burnout, trauma, harassment, and economic uncertainty affect the workplace happiness and wellbeing of journalists and media creators.
About Our Guest:
Dr. Valérie Bélair-Gagnon is an Associate Professor and Cowles Fellow in Media Management at the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication. She is also a Waldfogel Scholars of the College of Liberal Arts (2023-26) and McKnight Presidential Fellow (2022-2025) at the University of Minnesota. She is also a visiting researcher at the Oslo Metropolitan University Department of Journalism and Media and fellow at the Yale Information Society Project. Her research interests include: journalism, professions, knowledge production, and identity; digital labor and engagement; business and future of journalism; and happiness and well-being in work. She is the author of Happiness in Journalism , The Paradox of Connection: How Digital Media is Changing Journalistic Labor, Journalism Research that Matters, and Social Media at BBC News. She was executive director and research scholar at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and fellow at Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. She also worked in communications in corporate and non-profit environments. Born in Montréal, she earned her PhD in from the University of London in Sociology.
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This podcast was transcribed automatically. The accuracy of this transcript may vary.
Seth Lewis 00:03
Hello and welcome to the Hearst Demystifying Media speaker series podcast. I'm Seth Lewis, the surely Pepe chair and emerging media and director of journalism here at the University of Oregon. sitting in today for Damian Radcliffe, on this latest podcast. Today, we're going to be exploring a key challenge in journalism. Around the world. Many journalists increasingly deal with harassment, trauma, burnout, precarity, and other stressors related to their work. All of this has a major impact on their mental health, well-being and happiness. These issues, of course, are not entirely new. But the variety and intensity of these problems have gained a lot of attention recently, journalists face a growing level of online abuse and personal attacks, which are part of a broader wave of populist efforts to vilify and undermine the press and its role in society. That in combination with the pressures associated with the COVID pandemic, and the particular challenges that many journalists face, is being asked to do more with less resources and with less support than ever before. All of that has led to a situation where journalists are struggling on multiple fronts, and it's affecting their work, whether in terms of self censorship, as well as many women and journalists of color, leaving the profession altogether because they face particularly high levels of hostility. So to help us discuss these issues today, I'm joined in the studio by Dr. Valerie belay again Yan, an associate professor, and the Colts fellow in media management in the Harvard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, where she is also a McKnight Presidential Fellow. Valerie is also a visiting researcher at Oslo metropolitan University's Department of Journalism and Media, and a fellow with the Yale Information Society project. She's a widely published experts on many issues related to journalism, professions, knowledge, production, and identity. And lately Her work has focused on issues of digital labor engagement, and the question of happiness and well being and media work, which is what we'll be talking about today. She is the author and editor of several books, including two forthcoming books that will discuss happiness in journalism, and the paradox of connection. Valerie, thank you for joining us today.
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 02:06
Thank you set.
Seth Lewis 02:08
So your first demystifying media lecture yesterday was entitled happiness in journalism, it's very catchy title. If people haven't had a chance to listen to the talk yet, what were the key points that you covered? What what did you want to convey?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 02:23
Yeah, the talk was, was organized around a book that I wrote with Anna Bosio, in Australia, every Oulton and Morgan Logan Molino, and in the US, and this book is about disconnection. So the talk was really surrounded around the idea that with all the online connectivity that journalists have had to engage in for this, for the sustainability of journalism over the years, we have also had a lot of issues, as you recently mentioned, in your introduction, that journalism are facing increasing hostility, the have to deal and sometimes find new forms of engaging online, with, with audiences. And often it is not supported by the news organization. So the book is about this connection, and the way in which journalism, journalists and journalism is trying to find ways to disconnect to reconnect with the professions. So the the the talk was really about this part of the paradox of connection and how how journalists are finding ways to find a penis back.
Seth Lewis 03:31
So you mentioned the paradox of of this connection, as well as kind of forms of disconnection necessary. Can you kind of walk us through a little bit more? What does that look like? I mean, I think we're all familiar familiar now with the level of information overload and the kind of like heightened expectations that many of us feel in terms of just sort of keeping up with all that's out there. But what is it that journalists face in particular, that is really difficult? And, you know, what is it? What are the sort of paradoxes they have to deal with when it comes to digital technologies and these sort of modes of connection?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 04:04
Well, the paradox is broadly the idea that journalists are being asked if not, they're expected or required to be more engaged across digital and social media platforms, and that these kinds of interaction on social and digital media platforms have become very challenging for journalists with increasing a populist government facility, and in some case, have become even toxic. And in other cases, I've become even violent or have taken place in person in person violence. So without much support from news organization, sometimes journalists are facing vitriolic kind of form of form of harassment from from different kinds of groups in society. So the paradox is that journalists are now trying to disconnect increasingly from social media. And that this disconnect, this connection has led to a different form of disconnection such as taking breaks from platform, finding different mechanism online are tools to help them to block or mute people, and as a result, have really taking into their own and what is their own well being.
Seth Lewis 05:12
Yeah, there's so much to talk about here on this, you know, you mentioned taking, taking these issues into their own hands. One thing I do want to make sure we touch on is, you know, what are individual journalists doing? And maybe what shouldn't we expect them as individuals to be doing what should instead we expect their bosses, managers, media organizations to do in terms of support, there's been quite a lot of research recently on this topic, some of which you've done, and others in trying to understand, you know, how our social media policies, for example, possibly more, you know, maybe harmful than they are helpful when it comes to actually protecting journalists, because they tend to sort of look out for the organization, less so or more so than actually to protect journalists.
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 05:55
Yeah, that is true. So what what journalists are doing is they're essentially resisting to online connectivity by finding these by developing these different strategies. And what they should be doing is less that we should think of this as journalism as labor that isn't immutable, right? It's changing. And as new technology are entering the world and the work of journalists, we have to think about how labor is has changed and adapted practices of journalists as such. So some news organizations have, they have made micro changes to, to online connectivity. So one example would be that a local news organization where I'm from where I work in Minnesota, is looking at is has been doing rotating teams, rotating people around the around looking at different forms of engagement and comments online. So that has had has had the result of creating a lot of empathy in the team, understanding what other people's are people are going through when they're looking at comments. And it's also as allowed for more peer support. So I think the question that you're asking is, what should journalists should do? Journalists are doing already a lot of things. But what they should really be, what should we really looking into is how the industry and media organizations should be, including processes and tools and count this as journalistic endeavor, as their, as their journalist are pushed, essentially, to engage online.
Seth Lewis 07:26
Yeah, I mean, I think the work is getting to the paradox you're describing is that over the past decade, we've seen media organizations, you know, push and push and push their journalists to do more online to engage with audiences to market and promote their work to be you know, building a brand, both for themselves individually, but also to help kind of further the brand of the organization. And I think what we're beginning to realize based on a growing body of research is that this is coming at a serious cost, right? Yes, this is this is coming at the cost of journalists, well being their mental health, just their overall happiness and doing their their job. Can you talk about just maybe spell out a little bit more what what are journalists facing now? Moreso than they might have faced 10 years ago, let's say when they were first going on social media?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 08:14
Yeah, I think the issue of well being in journalism, as you're kind of pointing out now is not a new thing, right? There's always been issues of hostility and harassment against journalists. What's happening now is that the scale and the pace of it as accelerated with social media, and we're seeing different kinds of research that are trying to tackle that problem, like on the one hand, the research that I've been doing with some of my colleagues have been really around the solution within journalism, trying to go from an individualized perspective of how we should tackle journalism, wellbeing, to a more kind of global, institutional response to these to these problems. But then we also see another kind of world where people are criticizing platform and platform should be responding because, you know, as we know, from a recent international center for journalism report, called the chilling platforms have done little to support journalists into the problems that they themselves are helping fostering in their communities.
Seth Lewis 09:13
Yeah, so definitely a multipronged effort is required. And, you know, maybe just to help people understand what what else is kind of embedded in this tension or paradox that exists the conundrum of social media is that on the one hand, journalists are they want to succeed in that space and what succeeds in social media is often acting in a way that is more personal, authentic, real, you know, and to be like a real human being. And then but of course, that ends up number one, putting journalists at greater risk of harassment at a personal level from like recurring forms of attacks as they put more of those themselves out there. And then number two, it also makes it probably more likely that they may say or do something that would go against the organization, news organizations, often very strict policies about neutrality in terms of how they basically behave on social media. So, you know, on the one hand news organizations want them to, quote unquote, be successful in terms of metrics and engagement. But on the other hand, they want them to sort of, you know, be real, but not to real. They want them to kind of be themselves, but not in a way that eventually maybe undermine the brands, you know, a commitment to objectivity. But at the same
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 10:20
time, I think it's not just a problem of news organization is the way that you're when in our field, we use the word technological affordances. So it's like all the tools that social the algorithms, a tool that the way that social media is built, is really influencing the kind of interaction that people can have on those platforms. So you know, now journalists going on tick tock, they have no choice but to adopt the practices of, of tick tock with underlying texts or explainers, which takes them away or in a sense, disconnect them from what journalism is. But then the the also as a result, as you mentioned, have, like one of the big problem with that is that women and people of color are that people who've been most most affected by online violence. And yeah, so it has created like the technological affordances, I've created a lot of issues for, for journalists in how they're how they're able to think about themselves, how they're becoming more authentic, or be real, as you said,
Seth Lewis 11:23
that's interesting. I want to talk more about this, how much of this is a challenge for, especially for women and journalists of color? This is something we've found in our own research to studying online harassment is that, you know, perhaps not surprising, but yet still sobering. And really concerning is the level of harassment that all journalists face, but particularly those who are more marginalized when it comes to representation. And so I think it kind of bears sort of discussing, like, what sort of things? What kind of things can be done? I'm sure people look at this. And you mentioned some various reports that have been coming out of late, that are probably making a number of recommendations. You know, when you look at these reports, and you look at the things that they're primarily recommending, what are they talking about in terms of what can be done again, at from different points of view or through different resources?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 12:13
Yeah, well, at an individual level, I think the the idea of boundaries and ethics can be very powerful for journalists. So journalists have been using boundaries and in terms of managing their time and how they're using the technology. And also the care that they have, like, you know, if a lot of time make Who Who are the people who are harming journalists are not necessarily that community that journalist wants to cover. And ethics has been a very powerful tool to think about how their pursuit of truth, trust with the communities and the importance of speaking truth to power has been very important tools for journalists to remind themself why they're in this in the first place. So can you repeat the second part of your question again?
Seth Lewis 12:58
You're really interesting. And maybe one other way of looking at it is, you mentioned disconnection, yeah. And how it's it's sort of the toll of disconnection probably falls primarily on on women more so and journalists of color than others? What are some of the outcomes associated with that? I mean, are we seeing evidence that they are leaving the profession, you know, more readily because of that to the harassment they experience? Or that they are, you know, disconnecting in other ways? I mean, obviously, the ultimate disconnection is just to leave journalism altogether. But there are other ways of kind of, you know, backing off, and maybe it's through self censorship or other forms of, of kinds of disconnection to their work.
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 13:39
Yeah, I mean, I cannot speak for everyone, because of course, everybody has different have different way of thinking about truth through that. And there's also different realities globally for, for journalists, I think one of the things that actually I think I should mention now is that the in the study of disconnection, there's a lot of privilege that comes with this connection, as you sort of alluded before, and, and it's really entrenched into this into interest in the to intersectionality women and people of color being affected by some of the interaction on these online spaces. So not everybody has the privilege enough to news organization, have social media policies that are, as we found out in our book in a study that we did two years ago, of different social media policies, we found out that these policies are really oriented toward a liability of the news organization and less journalists. So that could be one space to think about how to think to change from the from a news organization perspective. But yeah, so women have been UN Women in general have been more affected by the space. So I think there's been a lot of different initiatives or case studies through international centers that have advocated there's our Also, Crisis Response line with different organization like the international media, the media media, one foundation. And yeah, I wouldn't say that I think I don't want to say that it's only women who are experiencing it, just obviously they get their gender. But there, there are men that are experiencing some of these issues. But one of the things that we also found is that the sort of acute form of harassment, the one that can lead to self censorship, or as Sylvia was word, one of our colleagues says, mob censorship, this kind of censorship can often lead for two people to decide not to publish different forms of stories, as affected probably, very likely more women than than men like this kind of when the violence is not just online and can become in person where people get text messages. And when you are kind of aware that the person went nowhere, where you live as really been based around this kind of identity, it's been very based on identity, gender and sexual identity, and racial identity.
Seth Lewis 16:09
Yeah, and I think maybe this is a good place where we can also make note that when we think about hostility, toward the press, it looks different in different countries. I mean, although there are certainly some common trends that we're seeing around the world, it's definitely true that, you know, there's a rising level of hate and hostility toward the press, which of course, raises all kinds of really uncomfortable questions about what that means for the future of democracies and societies. But obviously, in, you know, in other places outside the US, you know, violence against journalists, you know, is is more common. So, whereas maybe in this country or another, you know, in Europe and elsewhere, the challenges may be more so associated with kind of online attacks and, and, and challenges for one's mental and emotional health and the kinds of burnout and so forth we've been talking about, and so does looking at maybe just mental health in particular, you know, what sort of trends have you seen when it comes to the kinds of challenges journalists are facing when it comes to their mental well being?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 17:10
That's a really good question.
Seth Lewis 17:13
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think if I can just note that this is something most everybody has been dealing with for the last couple of years. I mean, we've seen, you know, rates of depression and anxiety and other issues on the rise since the pandemic, and obviously, we all hope things will improve. But it seems like we're still going to be in this period of transition for some time and trying to kind of like restore some degree of a greater health in that domain, although it wasn't perfect before the pandemic, of course. And it feels like I think journalists are partly because we're being asked to do more with less, right, as as many local news organizations continue to sort of hemorrhage revenue, and therefore layoff staff and whatnot, that the people who remain often end up being asked to do more and more on top of the kind of burnout that they may be experiencing because of the pandemic, and so forth. And then on top of all that, as you pointed out, you know, journalists today are just on the receiving end of a lot of anger and a lot of hate, in ways that perhaps, you know, non journalists, just everyday citizens consuming the news might not realize what journalists are encountering.
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 18:17
And some of that aid, of course, has been encrypted by populist government in some governments who are trying to who are actually encouraging the violence of the of these people online. And what your what I think I'm understanding from what you're saying now, is that, in the US, when you're looking at this with the institution of journalism that we have, which is a little bit more or get organized around newsrooms, around different kinds of former organizations, we see that a lot of the mental health issues is related to burnout, or the kind of the workplace environment, but when you're looking at countries like India, journalists have been receiving a lot of aid from mobs of people that are organized to governments. Right. So I mean, maybe that was the case in the US a couple of years ago. But But I think that it's important to think about the different social aspects of every country, and how the different lived reality of of people really are varying across these these different different ways. But the common denominator is this element of connective online connectivity, and how journalists have to, you know, represent themselves brand themselves be online, and bring their own identity to the to to the digital space. One of the advice that I that I get give students and I actually give in one of the classes that I went to yesterday, here at an Oregon is, is to create different profiles, right that's, that's one step. That's a little that's a little example of that, but create a personal profile, keep it private, you can talk to your family, when also when when it comes to professional profile. I keep trying to keep these things separate, separated.
Seth Lewis 19:56
Yeah, on that note, you've had a chance to visit with students here. And what sort of, you know, I know that these these topics are heavy, right? Okay. And so what do you think journalism students, as well as just how they're studying communication? I'm thinking about because I think this is not just limited to journalism, of course, you know, anybody in media work today is increasingly facing the same sort of expectations, maybe not of the digital hate, but of needing to be sort of online all the time with the attendant consequences with that. So when you think about the risk, as well as opportunities, what sort of messages do you hope students will take away from the kind of researcher you're pursuing right
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 20:34
now? Yeah, I think it's about critical thinking and literacy. When you think about that, it comes back to understanding the tools. And, you know, in journalism, often it's a profession where, where we always tried to think her and change and evolve in, you know, when we you and I said, we're doing our early research, and maybe I'll just, I'll just take the blame for that. But we, we had we, we really encouraged journalists to innovate. And that was a really important thing in 2000, in 2010. And now, I think to be critical of when a new technology comes into journalism to really think about all the ways in which it is changing the way that the profession is not forget the human being as part of the process. And what I've seen with the students is actually of something very positive students they know about this, they already do that in their personal life, some of them leave their phones at home for a couple of days, some of them removed the notification on their phone. So they've, they really know how to use the technology to the best. And they're really aware and, and careful in how they think about this, that online connectivity at this point in their career. So I came out of the class. And I was very encouraged by how the how the students couldn't, in the long term be advocate for their own well being. And really, they've loved that, what we call the culture of well being and journalism. So maybe in 10 years, hopefully, we won't have to do that research anymore. We'll move on to other things.
Seth Lewis 22:04
Yeah, your comments make me think about how they're there tends to be sort of storylines of the way we talk about technology. Yeah. And I think you and I both have been studying journalism and technology now for, you know, almost 15 years. And we have seen the stories about technology changed radically during that period. And those stories, of course, are in like the news, media coverage of technology. It's in the trade press. And it and it's in the research literature as well, you know, whether we're looking back at kind of the period, let's say, the Arab Spring and this sort of idea that technology would be a kind of pro social democratizing force, particularly as more people got involved and connected and persist has participated. Versus I think, now over the last several years with the revelations about Facebook with the kinds of populism and hate and so forth, we see online, the kinds of issues that have come up to the to the forefront. It's a very different narrative. It's a very different perspective, it's much more dystopian view, maybe to dystopian, right? I mean, I think it's, it's useful to sort of see that, that there tend to be blind spots, right? Where we end up focusing on one thing and perhaps miss something else. If you were to talk about just thinking about how we look at technology in relation to journalism over this past, you know, five to 10 years, what other trends or issues do you see that and this could also be a little bit future facing? In terms of what what maybe needs more attention? Or what might need a closer look? Based on what we've kind of learned so far? That's a big question. I know, ya know,
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 23:32
that that is a big question. So thank you for that. But now that I think that we has a color of journalism studies sometimes have been journalist or self right. So we've always been interested in what's the latest technology? What what is the latest story? What can we look at, and when we are kind of looking at what the future is, I think is adopting a more critical mindset of, of what journalism is to be able to contribute to it better, maybe where I see an area of growth, we do have to take a stand, you know, we can't just accept the way that things are anymore. Or we cannot just, you know, we have the opportunity. Some people call it the ivory tower, but we do a lot of community work. And community engaged work with drill, whether it's from a professional perspective or to it through different communities. And we have to you have you have to take a stand, you know, if the goal is for us to engage with students and teach them about journalism and sustained them and have the profession to be sustained over time. I think we have we are in the position where we can be critical and we need to be critical.
Seth Lewis 24:51
You maybe along those lines as you look ahead to your next work as you think about questions yet to be explored and things that you might want to do In your future research, what sort of things come to mind? What kind what's on your Horizon?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 25:04
So that's another really good question because I'm in the middle of two books right now. But so one of the things that I've been really interested in recently, and it's connected to the idea of disconnection and how people are some are creating subversive practices online and are resisting online connectivity, not just through this connection, but how these kinds of moments of resistance become norm in journalism. So I think I've been more and more interested in looking at add that that aspect, but also how the culture of whelming is going to change in news organization in the next coming years, it's probably going to be quite acute, because it's not sustainable anymore, is it and it is not just a kind of a soft dress, like talking about well being is not the soft response and your response to journalism, right? Some people would say, Well, I we don't have time, you know, we're so busy. But you know, that there are really important effects right now, especially in the recruitment and retention of journalists. So I think it's going to be really interesting to see how that culture is, is taking shape. And it's evolving within journalistic institution. And of course, right now being based in the US a lot of my research has been us focused. But it'll be interesting to kind of see what the how it's evolving also around the world.
Seth Lewis 26:29
Yeah, I mean, you're from Quebec, you're you did your PhD in London, certainly spent a lot of time in other countries and places. And so, and you're doing a lot to kind of lead global research teams or be part of those at the moment. So I think you're absolutely right. There's, there's much for us to uncover about kind of the changing shape and character of journalism, both in the US, but also kind of looking outside of the usual locations, and really trying to understand what's happening in in the global south and other parts of the world that need more attention in our field of research. Yeah. Okay, last question. For you, Valerie. This is your first time to Oregon. Thank you for coming. It's been great to have you here in this beautiful state. We want to have you back again soon. But just reflecting on what you've seen over the last couple of days. What what things will you take away with you from your time on campus?
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon 27:16
Well, I loved it. I mean, the nature is wonderful. And I think it's great. I mean, it is a great journalism school right now in a podcast, podcast studio, you can see that the university is really student oriented. So my take away is really that there's there's a good future for journalism. You know, we shouldn't it's not like, as you said before, not everything is dark. And it seems that we there's a lot of opportunities. And as long as we like everybody that I've met here, in the past couple of days as as long as we have an attitude of care and well being a well being mindset. I think there's a really good future for journalists who want to cover communities and like this one here in Eugene.
Seth Lewis 28:01
Wonderful. Yeah, thank you so much. And we could talk about these things for hours, I'm sure but we've got to draw to a close here. We hope you've enjoyed this discussion today. Do keep an eye out for other materials from Valerie's visit to the University of Oregon, which you can find on our website. demystifying dot you oregon.edu In the meantime, I want to say thank you again to our guests Valerie Bailey again, yawn. I'm Seth Lewis. Until next time, thanks for listening