For many young journalists, learning to cope with the complexities of the media industry is a daunting task. Novice reporters, especially young adults working towards a degree in journalism, mass communication or a related field, grapple with establishing themselves as professionals in an industry that is high-stress, riddled with job anxiety and perpetually morphing.

We discussed the fears and frustrations of those who are gearing up to enter the workforce with a focus group of 12 journalism students at Stony Brook University and asked how they coped with stress. Oluwatunmise Akinfeleye, the editor of the student-run publication, Black World, shared his tips for dealing with deadlines and the pressure of work in this video.

Video by Oluwatunmise Akinfeleye

"Some people go on long walks. Some people eat their favorite food. Some people watch TV. I prefer to play video games. If you're a journalist and you feel you have a heavy workload, you should just act like you're in Minecraft. Look at this guy. I press this button and he starts mining. He doesn't say, 'Omigod, I'm tired.'"

Oluwatunmise Akinfeleye, class of '24, Stony Brook University

Student journalists in our focus group voiced their worries about the job market and over-saturation of the media. Anybody with a smartphone can capture and share content, and AI is bringing further disruption.

"I feel like it's going to be difficult to find a job where I know I can support myself and pay my bills and student loans. That's definitely a fear of mine. I might end up veering into a career that I might enjoy less, just because it pays the bills."

They described encountering hostility toward journalists, even from fellow students. Learning to rebound from feelings of rejection and hearing "no" can be a tough pill to swallow. One participant recalled being shunned by students she was merely trying to interview about plans for spring break.

"People are so afraid they're going to appear online that they really aren't open to talking."

The students said they struggled with producing fresh, original stories that had not already received a level of media attention.

"As soon as someone has that initial idea, they can post something on X (Twitter) about it. And then a big news organization picks it up. It's hard to grab material that's completely novel."

Others spoke about the burden of events at a time of polarization and conflict.

"Just following the news sometimes, whether in the US or globally, is hard. I understand the importance of it. But it's really hard to push aside that I'm having anxiety about all these things happening in the world. And then knowing that you have to immerse yourself in it . . . that's always been one of the hardest things for me."

How do the students cope? One participant emphasized the importance of developing a personal life that is as separate as possible from your work.

"It's important to have hobbies and things you can do to ensure that you spend time away from the news. I know it's hard because it's so pervasive online. But if you don't, you are going to fatigue yourself and not want to report on anything. So you have to make sure you build time into your schedule to have no contact with the news."

STUDENT JOURNALISTS' QUESTIONNAIRE

As part of our project, we asked student journalists to answer a brief questionnaire about their experience of navigating trauma. In all, 74 respondents completed our survey. We found that nearly half the men (47.6%) and over a third of women (35%) had covered riots and protests; 17.5% of women (but no men) had reported on rape and sexual assault and nearly a quarter of men (23.8%) and 8% of women had reported on death and bereavement.

We also asked for comments and observations. Some respondents mentioned the pressure of pitching ideas and meeting deadlines; others referred, below, to the anxiety caused by reporting on traumatic or controversial events.

"Reporting on a mass shooting that a friend was affected by; stress about covering Israel/Palestine objectively without getting hate directed at me from either side."

"I was called out in an extremely hostile way by an on campus group after they didn't like how I presented them in my writing. This caused large feelings of panic and stress."

"When it came to the story I wrote about a distressing topic, I felt very stressed about making sure my subject's story was represented correctly."

For further details of our survey, please see the Appendix to this guide.