Journalists on the move : how professional transitions impact a sense of identity, community and family

Abstract

This paper studies the lives of three current and/or former newspaper journalists who agreed to participate in a literary journalism-style project addressing social and psychological issues involving transitioning into and/or out of journalism jobs and/or journalism careers. The paper draws on oral history reporting conducted from a series of in-depth interviews (phone, email and/or in-person) between January 2013 and October 2013 individually with current and/or former journalist participants. Using primary and secondary research, findings suggest common factors contributing to journalists who make professional transitions include economics; news room burnout; stress; salary and impact to personal and family lives. The objective of the project was to learn about whether or not professional transitions involving newspaper journalists’ careers have impacted a current and/or former journalist’s sense of identity, community and/or family.