Mental health remains a relatively under-discussed issue for those working in journalism, a profession that is often precarious for many. AI has now been added to this situation.
Instability and precariousness, low salaries, the “obligation to stay connected” and the pressure to keep up the pace: these are the factors that cause journalists in Italy the most suffering, according to the most comprehensive research to date on the mental health of the profession. The snapshot, conducted by IrpiMedia in 2023 with a sample of 558 professionals, did not yet take into account the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence in the field.
Flipping through the report, the most common issues that emerge are stress (87%), anxiety (73%) and a widespread sense of inadequacy (68%). More than 40% of respondents also reported burnout, unprovoked outbursts of anger and addiction to the internet and social media. “One in three explicitly mentions depression,” the survey notes. Who are the respondents? “46% are between the ages of 18 and 35, 31% are between the ages of 35 and 45, 14% are between the ages of 45 and 55, 6% are between the ages of 55 and 65, and only 2% are over the age of 65.” More than half of the respondents (65%) identified themselves as “freelancers”.
Alice Facchini, the journalist behind the research, explains that the idea came from the publication of a toolkit by the Greek newspaper Solomon on the situation in Greece. “What seemed most unexplored to me,” says Facchini, “was how much the issue of mental health also affects the quality of information”.
On the other side of the Adriatic, Iliana Papangeli, a journalist at Solomon, tells Voxeurop that her toolkit “was born out of direct experience of the mental health challenges faced by journalists. We developed it during the Covid-19 crisis, while also dealing with the pressures of working at an independent newspaper and years on the frontline covering migration and refugees, alongside the constant struggle to secure resources – something that often feels like an endless race,” Papangeli says.
Solomon, like IrpiMedia, is an independent news organisation. Both focus on investigative journalism and tackle issues that are not easy to handle, both humanly and politically.
“We wanted this book to be written by journalists for journalists. There was already a discussion about mental health in our newsroom and we knew that other colleagues from different media and freelancers were facing the same difficulties. Freelancers, in particular, are even more vulnerable due to precarious working conditions and a lack of institutional support. But we found that even more established media and organisations often lack the tools, policies and resources needed to support the mental health of their journalists,” Papangeli says.
For Solomon, Papangeli says, mental health in journalism is more than an individual issue: “It is deeply linked to working conditions, financial constraints, attacks on press freedom and the urgent need to rethink newsroom culture.” In Greece, there is no comprehensive data on the situation, and this gap, she adds, “makes it even more urgent to start this conversation”.
Artificial intelligence and mental health
One thing that neither Solomon nor IrpiMedia had considered was the “new kid on the block” in the profession: artificial intelligence. At least not explicitly, since this technology has been gaining ground among journalists and newsrooms, especially after the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Does AI today contribute to journalists’ concerns, for example by increasing precariousness or pressure? For now, in Greece, it doesn’t seem to be the case, according to Aristea Protonotariou, journalist at Solomon: “Based on our experience at Solomon, AI tools have been helpful so far, especially for administrative and operational tasks,” she explains.
We asked four journalists – three Europeans (from France, Spain and the Czech Republic) and one Filipino – about their experiences. Our interviews suggest that AI often makes journalists’ work easier and more accessible.
However, confidence in using this tool varies. With many “ifs” and “buts”, artificial intelligence is now an integral and active part of the journalism world, and has been since the era of “pre-generative AI”. Each advance only expands the range of possible applications, while exponentially increasing both the risks and the opportunities.
How will AI be perceived and used?
The idea is that AI acts a bit like a “junior colleague”, a sort of “assistant that gives us powers we didn’t have before and allows us to do so much more”, says French journalist Caroline Harrap.
The main uses that emerged from the interviews include finding and transcribing information, dealing with long reports and identifying leads for interviews. It can also help improve the style and flow of texts written in a language other than your mother tongue, but “never write from scratch: it’s an ethical issue,” says Harrap.
Harrap freelances for the international and UK press, focusing on travel, culture and sustainability, but her ‘no’ to using AI to create from scratch is echoed by all the other voices we gathered. They include Laurens Vreekamp, who founded the Future Journalism Today Academy and Irene Larraz, who coordinates Spain’s Newtral media innovation lab.
“AI makes my work life easier in terms of ideas, finding contacts and publishing,” admits Harrap, although she stresses that AI is only a tool – it doesn’t make the final decisions, which remain human.
Interpretation is another key task that AI makes more feasible and efficient. For someone like Ronald Rodrigues, who covers migrants’ rights as both a freelancer and multimedia editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the agility with which AI translates local/regional languages is invaluable – not just in terms of time, but also in expanding storytelling possibilities.
Looking beyond Europe, in places where writing and language courses are less accessible, AI can make the difference between the presence or absence of diverse voices and perspectives in journalism.
In the Philippines, George Buid, who still doesn’t feel confident in his English despite efforts to take courses, is now able to publish and meet editorial standards with the help of AI. “It used to take me a week to write an article; my editor wanted it in an hour. Now I can do it,” says the journalist.
Pros and cons, putting people first
Despite the potential of AI, journalists remain critical. Harrap points out that the use of AI “increases feelings of loneliness, which has a significant impact on the copywriting jobs that some journalists take on to supplement their income, given how poorly they’re paid,” he says.
A widespread concern, however, is copyright and the use of content to train artificial intelligence. Vreekamp has even proposed the idea of a “subscription model to pay journalists for the use of the content they produce, to control search results” because “we are giving our content away for free and risking obsolescence”.
Larraz also expresses concern about the rise of fake news, Buid about a “flattened narrative”, and Rodrigues about an “absence of human perspective”, highlighting how algorithms can also “reinforce biases and stereotypes, especially towards marginalised communities for which data and information are lacking”.
These statements echo an analysis by the European Journalism Observatory, which argues that it’s necessary to “dispel the specter of the robot journalist”.
For journalism, AI remains a double-edged sword. Newsrooms, individual journalists and journalism associations need to roll up their sleeves because “resources will be needed to better manage this technology, along with more rules and tools,” says Harrap. And reassurances about protecting journalism jobs. “There is a lot of fear among freelancers that cannot be ignored,” he explains. For example, the Italian newspaper Il Foglio has launched an entirely AI-powered version, while an analysis by the US organisation Data & Society examines the potential for worker exploitation in the use of AI.
Salaries and remuneration
Salaries remain one of the most worrying issues. Irpi’s research shows that “excessively low pay is seen as the most important factor affecting the psychological well-being of the profession”. In Italy, for example, “six out of ten journalists earn less than €35,000 gross a year”, writes La Via Libera (Ingp data, report on employment dynamics in the journalism sector), and “almost half of freelance journalists – often precarious workers or VAT-registered employees – earn less than €5,000 a year, with 80% earning no more than €20,000”.
According to Alessandra Costante of the Italian National Press Federation (Fnsi): “Journalism in Italy is not only poorer and older, it’s also more precarious. This precariousness is the greatest threat to the freedom and independence of information, which is protected by the Article 21 of the Constitution”.
The issue of mental health in journalism needs to be addressed more openly and widely, says Papangeli: “A real change must take place within media organisations, through concrete policies, structured support systems and a fundamental change in newsroom culture. Mental well-being should be integrated into the way the media work, not treated as an afterthought.
While this discussion is taking place at the European level – “Mental health and well-being has become a central topic at journalism conferences and an important part of safety seminars,” says Greek journalist Aristea Protonotariou – she adds that the priority is to “share this mindset with other small media and freelance colleagues, encouraging them to adopt similar practices and prioritise mental health in their work”.
This article was produced in the thematic networks of PULSE (by n-ost and OBCT), a collaborative cross-border journalism initiative to foster a vibrant European public sphere.
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