I had a friend who joined the media business a few years ago, before recruitment he was jovial, very talkative fellow but after a few years of reporting he was often seen sad & gloomy, his face changed from that of a playful youngster to an old lonely man.
His face grew wrinkles and hair turned grey, I approached him on a bench one day when he was having a rest, “what makes you so upset these days man, you look like you have been from a funeral, what is stressing you up?” “You know what old friend,” he spoke in a low tone, when I became a news anchor I was very excited, I thought I am going to be the happiest person in the business, bringing to people marvelous stories from every corner of the world, now it’s the opposite, now I feel like I should find another job, which isn’t possible because I have spent many years training for this career , imagine a steady stream of heart-breaking stories flowing in from the big screen, every hour, every minute of the day and they expect you to be the one making those announcements, you can’t take in all that even if you are extremely patient. I am tired of broadcasting depressing news, maybe I should try something else, maybe I should try sports news.”
It became apparent there was no way I could help this fellow, I wasn’t sure whether it was his job that was responsible for the changes in his character or could it be a combination of many events taking place in his life, that have brought him to this point of despair… although a good majority remained unchanged after many years of working in the media business, there is a good number that is traumatized by the images they see and stories they broadcast on a daily basis, “I feel very sorry for you old friend, maybe you should come and drive my truck part time.”
I asked a journalist who was waiting at a press conference, why is it that your face looks so sad? The presentation is about to begin, very soon the interviewees will be out giving their testimonies, “it’s not that”, he said, “it’s just that I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen.” you look at the signs on these people’s faces, everything tells you that things are not right here,”
I know of many reporters who became pessimists after being in the media business for a very long time, their dream careers completely changed their lives and left them with a stale taste of the society.
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