How to navigate a toxic newsroom — and know when it’s time to leave
From abusive bosses to negative coworkers, unhealthy workplace cultures can take many forms. Here’s what you can do about them.
Newsrooms, like many workplaces, have a history of tolerating abuse and mistreatment.
Some cases involve serious allegations of misconduct. Journalists who sexually harass their colleagues. Managers who police the hair of Black women. Bosses who belittle junior reporters and editors or require them to work long hours without additional compensation.
Other incidents of workplace toxicity can feel like routine negativity. Readers who share racist, sexist, homophobic and other abusive messages in comments and emails addressed to staffers. Competitive coworkers who put down others and fight over assignments to get ahead.
Related Knowledge Center: Inside the newsroom
As newsrooms struggle with rickety business models and precarious finances — as well as new technologies — they are deploying an array of editorial responses.
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