Posted By, Hannah Blahut

Every job comes with it’s own personal set of trials and tribulations. Of course, the field of journalism is no different. In class, we have discussed many of these difficulties. It’s difficult to constantly adapt to the ever-changing landscape of journalism, which is constantly evolving and being altered by the strong impacts of social media and technology. Likewise, it’s difficult to remain unbiased, to garner the respect and trust of worthwhile sources, and to remain ethical and informative without becoming boring. We haven’t discussed as much the personal impact that being the occupation of journalism has on many successful journalists. Dave Cook discusses some of these challenges in his article “Why I Gave Up Games Journalism To Kick start A Comic.”   Cook admits that he felt like he struck the lottery when he first started getting paid to do what he loved most- review video games. However, as time went on, Cook seems to challenge the age-old saying, “love what you do and never work a day in your life.” He began to feel stressed out and uninterested in video games, which has previously been a huge outlet for stress and anxiety. Likewise, Sheila Weller’s new book, “The News Sorority,” delves into the personal struggles faced by some of the medias most successful female anchors. Being an on air news journalist means being professional and calm under some of the most trying of circumstances, like when Katie Couric received a call about her sisters life-threatening cancer diagnosis just minutes before appearing on the Today Show with Jay Leno. As viewers or consumers of news, we rarely think about the journalists behind the story. Both articles posted above give us an insider’s view of some of the lesser contemplated struggles that journalists face.