Thursday 29th July: Protecting the mental wellbeing of those in the newsroom

July 29, 2021

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Chris.

We've heard some heartbreaking stories about journalists being burned out due to exposure to traumatic subject matter or online harassment lately. John Crowley recently published some research specifically around the impact of the pandemic on mental wellbeing at newspapers, for example. And there have been so many instances of mental health issues over the past year that some newsrooms are struggling to cope.

That's why we're glad to see that an endeavour to get to grips with it has received funding from the Google News Initiative. The Headlines Network, run by two journalists itself, is designed to tackle the stigma around trauma in the industry: "[Journalists] are scared of admitting they are having a tough time for fear they will be overlooked for their next deployment, their reputations will suffer, they won’t be taken seriously, that their colleagues will think they can’t ‘hack it’.

"We know that journalists who have been marginalised by our media because of their backgrounds and identity are those who are most vulnerable and we are determined to make our training as inclusive as possible." A very laudable operation and one we'll be keeping our eyes on.

I know, I hate the term too. But the news that Twitter has 'acqui-hired' *shudder* the team from news aggregator and summary app Brief is evidence of both its intention to be a major player in the subscription newsletter space and the wider race in the industry to gobble up any and all tools that might give platforms a competitive edge in the subscription revenue race.

On the back of its half-year results yesterday I wrote about how broadcaster ITV is expanding its brands into mobile gaming and the metaverse. One lesson that sticks out for all publishers - you can't expect younger audiences to seek your content out where it's traditionally lived. Instead, you have to take it to them.

The Guardian's sheer reach has always been a cause for celebration. Without it, its drive for memberships and commitment to open journalism wouldn't have been as successful as it has been. The latest results from Ofcom show that it's on the right track (in terms of the sheer amount of use it receives, anyway).

This week's episode:

In this week’s episode we hear from Sophie Cross, the founder and editor of Freelancer magazine. She talked about her penchant for writing business plans, the freelance community that inspired the Freelancer magazine launch, and how she kept the spark going after the initial rush of the first issue.

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