HurricaneBatman

A very large part of why I'm leaving is because of the toxicity in nearly every newsroom (Edit: 3/4 that I have worked in). Unfortunately as the medium continues to become obsolete, management has become more desperate and takes it out on staff. Combine this with shrinking salaries (I qualified for food stamps in my first market) and the public's general hatred for "the media", and what we’re now seeing is a mass exodus from the industry. My current station has seen somewhere around 60% turnover in the past two years, and is just straight up not getting applicants for open positions.

Honestly, no not really. I've worked with producers who had strong opinions of course, but on the rare occasions where they didn't separate it from their shows they were shot down by the rest of the staff.

I think it gets misrepresented by Hollywood, but producers actually arent that high on the totem pole in a newsroom. They sit pretty equally with the reporters and photographers

I'm moving into a public communications role! I'm excited because it should be a lot less stressful and give me more free time to spend with family, while still letting me serve my community

Buzzfeed of course! But seriously most stories pitched in the morning meeting come from reporters calling on their local beats, looking through local meeting agendas, viewer tips, and just plain investigating things they want to know the answer to

It's really no different than any of the other businesses suffering right now. Pay livable wages, increase benefits, and stop treating people like shit. Other than that, I dont see a way out for these companies.

As for the general public hating us, yes it's pretty frustrating. In the course of the past 2 years:

• I've been harassed/threatened about once a month

• was tear gassed by police while covering protests

• was screamed at by the same people whose protest I was covering

• heard people say disgusting and disturbing things to female reporters I work with

It's not all bad though, at the end of the year, we were all given a 1% raise and a $20 Amazon gift card