Signing Off: An Examination Into Female Journalists Leaving Legacy Media

Abstract

The role of female journalists in local television news is a tenuous space. Having women occupy jobs in traditionally hegemonically male roles enriches perspective and content. Simultaneously, the work environment can be challenging—often hostile—which leads to negative work experiences for female practitioners. The instability has led to an outflow of women opting out of the television news industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate why female local sports journalists were leaving the business. Researchers conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with local sports television journalists who left their jobs in the last four years (since 2020). The findings of this study rendered two main themes and one smaller secondary theme that offered a perspective on several variables behind these decisions and important distinctions between those factors facing women and men. Many of the variables influencing practitioners to leave were similar. For instance, almost every respondent offered low salary and bad schedules as reasons for getting out. However, findings showed that women made less money and did not serve in newsroom leadership roles, which meant they had even worse schedules. The conclusion of this study is that newsroom leaders need to address the stronger headwinds facing female journalists and need to be more strategic about fostering healthier work environments for women in the newsroom.