Madhya Pradesh’s journalists are overworked, stressed, and sleepless: Study

Nearly 95 percent of working journalists in Madhya Pradesh struggle with stress, overwork, and sleeplessness, a recent study has found.

The study, conducted by Dr Anwar Khan, a journalist himself, found that over a third of the journalists, male and female, “accepted that they work for media institutions for over 12 hours a day while a significant majority work between 9-12 hours.”

It was published by Amity University, Noida, in the December edition of its quarterly research journal.

Analysing responses to a questionnaire that he had given 500 journalists, 63 of them women, Khan found that back pain, obesity, high blood pressure, and abdominal illnesses were also high among them. The working journalists included in the study included editors, sub-editors, reporters, photo and video journalists, anchors, and news readers, 307 of whom worked in print media, 112 in electronic media and 81 in digital.

Over 51 percent of the journalists reported that they did not get casual and medical leave, while 42 percent “have not made accident insurance from any company for their safety”.