The impact of changing the work environment in journalism on the career shift of art director: A study on the phenomenon of professional burnout

Author

Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University

Abstract

What if Print Journalism Disappeared? This hypothesis has been raised by many studies in recent years and has become more evident in the Egyptian press market recently, because of recent decisions to merge various publications and institutions. This professional situation has raised questions about the future of jobs and roles tied to print journalism, especially for designers, who already experience significant levels of occupational burnout. They are now facing the highest level of burnout, professional transformation.
Using a questionnaire applied to designers, and 10 in-depth interviews with art directors, the study found that designers indeed experience a certain degree of occupational burnout. More than half of them have already taken up other jobs in addition to design, and they have also attended training courses in other artistic fields. Interestingly, they have both positive and negative feelings about their work, with no clear dominance of one over the other.
 The study also showed that there is a state of burnout resistance rooted in a belief in the importance of preserving print journalism, with the crisis seen primarily as economic, alongside issues with content. If economic conditions improve and newspapers adopt a different approach to content, talk of print newspapers disappearing may cease, especially as solutions like digital newspapers are already beginning to emerge.
If designers are forced to change their career paths, website design and social media platform work are the closest alternatives for them. However, they may face psychological, functional, and administrative challenges after transitioning.
The study concluded that occupational burnout is positively impacted and increases with the sense of crisis in print journalism and the openness to other jobs (work or training). At the same time, resistance to burnout also increases. Burnout is inversely related to the designer's perception of their work; the more positive their perception, the lower the degree of burnout. Burnout also decreases the stronger their belief in the importance of print journalism. Meanwhile, no effect was observed from demographic factors, years of experience, ownership, or publication type.

Keywords

References

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