Happiness in Journalism by Bélair-Gagnon, Valérie; Holton, Avery E.; Deuze, Mark;

Short description:

This book examines how journalism can overcome harmful institutional issues such as work-related trauma and precarity, focusing specifically on questions of what happiness in journalism means, and how one can be successful and happy on the job.

Long description:

This book examines how journalism can overcome harmful institutional issues such as work-related trauma and precarity, focusing specifically on questions of what happiness in journalism means, and how one can be successful and happy on the job.

Acknowledging profound variations across people, genres of journalism, countries, types of news organizations, and methodologies, this book brings together an array of international perspectives from academia and practice. It suggests that there is much that can be done to improve journalists’ subjective well-being, despite there being no one-size-fits-all solution. It advocates for a shift in mindset as much in theoretical as in methodological approaches, moving away from a focus on platforms and adaptation to pay real attention to the human beings at the center of the industry. That shift in mindset and approach involves exploring what happiness is, how happiness manifests in journalism and media industries, and what future we can imagine that would be better for the profession. Happiness is conceptualized from both psychological and philosophical perspectives. Issues such as trauma, harassment, inequality, digital security, and mental health are considered alongside those such as precarity, recruitment, emotional literacy, intelligence, resilience, and self-efficacy. Authors point to norms, values and ethics in their regions and suggest best practices based on their experience.

Constituting a first-of-its-kind study and guide, Happiness in Journalism is recommended reading for journalists, educators, and advanced students interested in topics relating to journalists’ mental health and emotion, media management, and workplace well-being.

This book is accompanied by an online platform which supports videos, exercises, reports and links to useful further reading.

Table of Contents:

1 Fostering a Culture of Well-Being in Journalism

Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Avery E. Holton, Mark Deuze, and Claudia Mellado

PART I: JOURNALISTS, JOY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

2 Journalists Considering an Exit

Jana Rick

3 The Joy in Journalism

Richard Stupart

4 Finding Joy as Journalists: Motivations for Newswork

Gregory P. Perreault

5 What Psychology Can Offer in Understanding Journalists’ Well-Being

Jennifer M. Ragsdale and Elana Newman

6 Building Resilience Through Trauma Literacy in J-Schools

Lada Trifonova Price and Ola Ogunyemi

PART II: IN SUPPORT OF JOURNALISM WELL-BEING

7 Recruitment and Retention Practices in a Changing African News Media Ecosystem

Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara and Trust Matsilele

8 Developing Psychological Capital to Support Journalists’ Well-Being

Maja Šimunjak

9 How Newsroom Social Media Policies Can Improve Journalists’ Well-Being

Logan Molyneux and Jacob L. Nelson

10 Supporting Digital Job Satisfaction in Online Media Unions’ Contracts

Errol Salamon

11 Establishing Individual, Organizational and Collective Practices for Journalists’ Well-Being through Disconnection

Diana Bossio

12 Championing a Security-Sensitive Mindset

Jennifer R. Henrichsen

13 Job Control and Subjective Well-Being in News Work

Víctor Hugo Reyna

PART III: STEPS AND PRACTICES TOWARD HAPPINESS

14 Cognitive Dissonance in Journalistic Trauma

Danielle Deavours

15 Safer Vox Pops and Door Knocking

Kelsey Mesmer

16 Teaching Student Journalists to Refill their Happiness Tanks

Alexandra Wake and Erin Smith

17 Self-Employment in the News Industry

Sarah Van Leuven and Hanne Vandenberghe

18 Workplace Happiness, Journalism and COVID-19 in South Asia

Achala Abeykoon, Archana Kumari, Mohammad Sahid Ullah, Pallavi Majumdar, Sajjad Ali, Mou Mukherjee Das, Santosh Kumar Biswal, M. C. Rasmin, Shilpa Kalyan, Mohd Shahid, and Mamunor Rashid

19 Engaged Journalism and Professional Happiness

Lambrini Papadopoulou and Eugenia Siapera

PART IV: ESSAYS

20 Has Journalism Forgotten the Journalists?

John Crowley

21 Happiness in Journalism as a Public Good: Implications for Teaching and Research

Herman Wasserman

22 News, Negativity, and the Audience’s Role in Finding Happiness in Journalism

Seth C. Lewis