Deadlines and Struggles: The Everyday Issues Journalists Face
Deadlines, selecting a story, time constraints — these are all problems that will have plagued journalists at one point in their careers. Just how can you turn these struggles into assets?
Now that newspapers are in circulation daily and online news is capable of being updated constantly, there’s even more pressure on journalists to find a good story and write to incredibly specific deadlines.
The Blame Game
If only one member of the news team misses their deadline, there could be a black hole where the news was meant to be the next morning, and it puts large amounts of pressure on other employees to pick up the pieces.
In this occurrence, you’re likely to be responsible for a large proportion of the blame if the stories intended don’t make it to print in time.
“When I was working in newspapers, if your print story was late it then put pressure on the sub-editors to do their job faster. That meant the graphics team did not have as much time for creativity, then the page layout designers would not know in advance what would fit on the page, then deputy editors and the editor would be late signing off on it and finally if it missed the printer’s deadline, it would not make it into the paper and everyone would yell at you.” Shelly Horton
It’s perfectly understandable, however, why some journalists struggle so much to meet deadlines. In its simplest form, Yerkes-Dodson law details how people become more productive when their stress is increased, but are less productive when that stress exceeds a certain amount.
If an employee is pushed too far, stress can hinder their performance even more, causing them to constantly be watching the clock in a state of panic.
Story Shortage
One of the most common pressures journalists face is that of finding stories. With the news world becoming more and more saturated through the means of social media and citizen journalism, finding quality stories is becoming more and more difficult.
Since the shift to online news, journalists are challenged to produce more content to satisfy an audience who are constantly online.
Overall 64% of UK adults say they use the internet for news. However, qualitative research suggests that the frequency with which people consume online news could be under-reported. Ofcom
With widespread sources and a hungry audience, information can quickly become misinformation, and suddenly your story idea is invalid.
Retrain Your Brain
The word “deadline” comes from the initial meaning in which prisoners would be shot for crossing a particular physical boundary inside their correctional institutions. If the word didn’t strike fear into the hearts of many before, it sure will do after learning its origin.
The trick to combating this, experts say, is to look at deadlines differently, and when it comes to finding a story, you don’t necessarily need to be completely original…
Think of a deadline as a goal rather than a limit. This will have you feeling as though you’ve achieved something, rather than dreading it. Even better if you can hit these goals early — more time to relax and do what you want to do!
Psychology says people respond well to setting goals “because it provides a distinct feeling of having achieved something within a timeframe.” Shelly Horton
Goal setting can be a more achievable way of hitting a deadline, breaking it up into smaller chunks and putting a more positive twist on the scenario.
Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman discovered that:
“a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.”
This goes to show that the way in which you can approach a deadline (aka, by avoiding procrastination) can change depending on the attitude you approach the deadline with!
Inspiration
When it comes to being under pressure to write a story, many people think coming up with a completely unseen idea is the way to go.
The opposite can sometimes be true — on occasions, following on from and updating a previous story can be more interesting and even nostalgic for readers!
“Sudden scoops are great, but developing original thoughts by assessing existing stories and picking out a new line are equally important.” BBC
Good journalism is all about training your brain to find stories in the everyday, and come at them with a different angle in order to entice and attract your audience.
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