Dr. Kortni Alston Lemon (01:03)
Happy Wellbeing Wednesday. I'm Dr. Kortni. Welcome back to the Compassionate Newsroom. I'm your host, happiness scholar, mental health first aid instructor, and the founder of the KALM Institute for Workplace Wellbeing.
If you're joining us for the first time, welcome. So happy that you're here. And if you've been with us through our recent three part series on mental health first aid, I want to thank you so much. We talked about certification, resilience, and what it looks like to truly support one another in the newsroom. Now, if you happen to have missed it, you can check it out.
You can find our series on episode 28, Why Newsrooms Need Mental Health First Aid Now, episode 29. It's all about the mystifying mental health first aid, what it is and what it isn't. And episode 30 is called Certify to Care. It's becoming a mental health first aider in your newsroom and it provides all the information that you need.
to really begin to understand how mental health first aid can help you and your team. So today we're gonna go even deeper because we need to talk about a word that comes up in almost every workshop I conduct, training sessions I have with news organizations, and it's a word often unspoken after staying late, possibly writing.
a story or working on breaking news. It's about a word that many of us over time really didn't say much about. I can certainly speak to that when I was first starting out in the industry and actually sadly throughout my time working in news. A word that, hmm, maybe in the past, if we brought it up,
might be considered a weakness in the profession. It's something that's shared quietly in groups, might be in chats, covering traumatic breaking news events, and often confessed, maybe during a long walk, maybe to the parking lot, I don't know much longer how I can continue to do this. And the word I'm talking about just happens to be burnout.
And what I'm so grateful for although I told you about my time in the industry as a reporter and a news director, that I operated in silence, but I'm just so grateful that now we're making noise.
And that word in terms of burnout is what we're going to talk about today. And it doesn't have to just affect frontline journalists, news leaders, editors, producers, managers burning out too. Mention when I was a news director, didn't talk much about it, but the weight of carrying budgets, deadlines, team morale, often while silently shouldering
their own emotional strain. Leadership doesn't make you immune to burnout. It often makes you more vulnerable to hiding it. And if you're a journalist, editor, photographer, producer, or even a student preparing to enter the field, what I'm about to share might be painfully familiar, but I promise this episode
isn't just about naming the pain, it's about finding a path forward. So let's begin with the data. The Reynolds Journalism Institute has been doing important work examining emotional health of journalists. Their findings show what many of us already know intuitively,
Burnout is not just a personal issue, it is an institutional one. In their studies, journalists reported a deep concern about long-term mental health.
If you're nodding along, well, it's not just you. Burnout is everywhere and it's costing us our creativity, our connection, and in some cases, our career.
So here's what RJI's Reynolds Journalism Institute's research tells us. 94 % of former journalists and news managers understand the concept of burnout. 84 % of current and 88 % of former journalists say they've been personally impacted by burnout. 92 % of current and 91 % of former journalists have seen a colleague experience burnout.
Think about those numbers. Only 13 % of current and 8 % of former journalists say they've never experienced burnout in their careers. Really small numbers. The study also found that burnout is driving people out of our industry.
One in five current journalists are actively planning to leave the profession because of burnout. Two in three former journalists say burnout contributed to their decision to leave. Burnout isn't just a personal crisis, it is an industry 48 % of active journalists say burnout is significant industry problem.
43 % of current journalists say burnout is dramatically affecting staffing and morale. Now these are a lot of numbers and these numbers they're beyond concerning. It is a wake-up call. So let's pause for a moment because burnout is more than just being tired.
It is a whole body, a whole being depletion. I often say, opposed to burnout, I always refer to it as emotional exhaustion because it just speaks to all of the impact that burnout makes. So here's what it might feel like.
You dread opening your email, not because of volume, but because you already know there's something urgent waiting. You go on air or you're about to go live, but the joy is gone. You edit a story and question whether it even matters. You leave work, but your mind never shuts off and your body never fully relaxes. And maybe you're just not simply feeling like yourself.
And the hardest part, you wonder if it's your fault. Let me be clear. Burnout is not a personal failure. It is a professional red flag. One we must learn to recognize and respond to with compassion and urgency. So what do we do?
Normalize mental health conversations. Make space for journalists to be human. Create psychological safety in your newsroom where checking in is standard and not shameful. Invest in training, programs like Mental Health First Aid. The same training we now offer through KALM.
Teach your team to recognize the signs of crisis and provide appropriate support. It's not therapy, it's preparedness. Think of it as CPR, but for mental health. Another is change culture. Redefine success, elevate empathy, move away from the grind culture and toward sustainable leadership. Rested journalists write better stories, period. And also make sure
You are walking the walk and talking the talk, which means it's important to model. I've often shared this in past episodes, the value of modeling. And one of the things I often talk about a great deal is the words from Sam Ragland, who is the vice president of journalism at the American Press Institute. I love Sam and I love what she shares.
about how her boss in the industry would often talk about leaving loudly. So when you're leading, think about leaving loudly, letting your team know that you're leaving to focus in on your wellbeing and that you value theirs. Another is center belonging. When journalists, especially those from marginalized backgrounds feel isolated, the risks
A burnout can just skyrocket. Inclusion is not optional. It is essential. And here's the best part. You don't have to wait for your HR department to start doing this. You can begin in your next editorial meeting. You can begin by asking one question. How are you? And I don't mean just how are you. ⁓ I'm fine. No. How are you really?
How are you really? And when you ask that question to your team, be ready to hear those responses. But before you ask your team, I want you to ask yourself, how are you really? Because it's so important as a leader that you are in touch, that you are taking care of you. The only way
to serve your team you need to begin to think about how you're going to serve your wellbeing so you can show up even better. One of the things I really treasured is when I was a news director and I went through a training session, multiple, with National Association of Broadcasters. But there was one that really resonated that I often talk about today. And that is that example.
that you hear like if something happened to you when you're on a plane and what do you do first? You gotta put the oxygen mask on yourself first. So remember this as a leader, how are you? Ask yourself that question and then also ask your team. At the KALM Institute for Workplace Well-being, we're creating tools, trainings and conversations that support the whole journalist.
And when I say journalists, I mean everyone that's a part of the team. And as a former news director, I also mean leadership. It's important, right? Because it has to start with you. We recently launched our Mental Health First Aid pilot training for news professionals, and we're already seeing such impact in regards to people wanting to be part of this pilot training.
one of the things I often say is that it's about finding tools to meet you where you are, but to equip you, empower you, and remind yourself that you deserve to feel well while doing meaningful work. If you made it to this point of this episode, I want to say,
Hey, I'm proud of you. I also want to say thank you so much for listening, but also thank you for caring. Thank you for being part of this movement toward a more compassionate newsroom. If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to do a couple of things. I would love for you to share the episode with a colleague. I would also love it to share it with your team, right? Share it with people outside of your...
station, news organization. I would love for you to leave a review on either Apple or Spotify. You can also follow the Compassionate Newsroom LinkedIn newsletter. You'll see a link in the show notes. And also visit, visit our website at kalminstitute.org to learn more about mental health first aid certification and also how
It can support you and your news team. You'll find all of these links and resources mentioned today in the show notes. And as we close, I want to leave you with this. Remember your wellbeing is your most important job. And I'm always here to help you. I'm here to help you every step of the way. Until next time, I'm Dr. Kortni cheering you on as you lead with care.
with purpose, and also with commitment to building a more compassionate newsroom. See you next week.
