The Internet has turned many news outlets into frenzies of über-competitive racing to break even the smallest tidbits of news, and many young journalists can’t handle the pressure.

• The Internet has changed the way journalism works, and now many young people who envisioned trips to exotic locales to capture groundbreaking stories are instead tasked with sitting at their computers and watching for the smallest pieces of information to publish.
• Editors now foster competitiveness by posting the most-viewed articles on their sites and even calculating paychecks based on how many clicks a writer’s articles have gotten.
• These conditions have led to increased turnover at news outlets like Gawker and Politico, with many young journalists leaving quickly because they’re exhausted.

Facts & Figures

• The top editors at Politico wake up as early as 4:30 am on workdays (a typical newspaper workday is from 10 am to 7 pm).
• Out of a staff of just 70 reporters and editors, about a dozen of Politico’s employees quit in the first half of this year.
• An entry-level reporting job at Politico can pay as much as $40,000 per year.

Best Quote

“At a paper, your only real stress point is in the evening when you’re actually sitting there on deadline, trying to file. Now at any point in the day starting at 5 in the morning, there can be that same level of intensity and pressure to get something out.” – Jim VandeHei, Politico’s Executive Editor