Between Exhaustion and Resilience: A Systematic Review of Burnout Outcomes and Coping Strategies in Contemporary Journalism (2000–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52152/RCR.V13.S12Keywords:
Burnout, Mental Health, Journalists, Systematic Review, Prisma 2020Abstract
This systematic review synthesises publicly available empirical evidence (2000-2025) on burnout among journalists, an understudied occupational health phenomenon whose individual and systemic repercussions raise critical questions about media integrity, professional resilience and democratic accountability. Guided by two objectives, the review first examines the consequences of burnout on journalists’ quality of life and quality of work. Studies report chronic fatigue, insomnia, hypertension, depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress, along with diminished creativity, ethical tension and disengagement within newsrooms. Thus, burnout not only compromises personal well-being and collective performance but also affects the civic mission of journalism. The second objective identifies and evaluates coping strategies at individual, organisational and sectoral levels. By integrating the findings through the frameworks of job demands-resource and conservation of resources, this review highlights burnout as a systemic imbalance between increasing demands and insufficient resources. The study concludes that effective responses require multi-level coordination to foster sustainable and mentally healthy journalism.
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