The great resignation : TV news, women, and the change they need
Abstract
Journalists, especially women journalists, are exiting the news industry. Using the qualitative research method of semi-structured in-depth interviews and the unfolding theory of turnover framework, this research explored the issue of career change in television news with an emphasis on gender-driven issues. Participants consisted of women who are former television news journalists and current public relations practitioners, and the findings from this research support the unfolding theory of turnover. Based on the existing research that identified the factors that contribute to news professionals' decisions to leave the industry, the following factors drove women television journalists out of news and into public relations: burnout/mental health pressures, shortage of resources and/or quality of news standards, management issues, compensation, work-life balance, job satisfaction, rapid changes in the television news industry, unethical practices, sexism/discrimination, difficult stories, and other health issues. Additional factors included lack of appreciation, lack of long-term feasibility, lack of room for development, structural issues, and threats/safety concerns. Gender played a role in these factors, which included sexism from management and viewers, better compensation for male coworkers, senses of replaceability as women journalists, and difficult industry for working mothers. To retain more women professionals in the future, the television news industry must address burnout through better work-life balance, prioritization of employee appreciation, creation of safe environments, leverage of employee values, support of young professionals, and listening to journalists.
Degree
M.A.
Thesis Department
Rights
OpenAccess.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.