The Inbox...

A number of TV newsies are emailing FTVLive to give their thoughts, vent and to share ideas. FTVLive has become posting some of the emails in a new feature that we call The Inbox.

Here is an email from a TV newsie that feels they are overworked and underappreciated:

Hey Scott, thanks for the posts during these trying times.

I work for a TV station and this notion that management is doing the best they can during this pandemic and that I'm not a "real" journalist for wanting to be overworked and underpaid is a bit shortsighted.

The reason why folks continue to leave this industry in droves is because of the notion that we need to be "tough" -- ie -- sacrifice work/life balance, deal with mediocre management and still get criticized for not doing more. I could work 12 hours and still get lectured for something mundane by my manager.

Any form of self-care, like not answering an email or text after 9 p.m., or before 9 a.m., is needed. There's going to be chaos today, chaos tomorrow and chaos next week. Everything cannot be a five-alarm fire. Assuming this comes to pass in a few months, what's next? Are we supposed to get excited about "election content" and those long hours, too?

For the record, I've worked the 50-plus hour weeks (I'm hourly, not salaried), nights and weekends, only to have management want more and more from me. They'll never say, "Hey, you're doing a great job, let's give you less work." This newsroom culture isn't healthy and I think we'll see more folks burnout and leave the industry once this pandemic subsides.

Thanks for reading.

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