University of South Carolina student newspaper staff takes "mental health" break
The staff of The University of South Carolina’s student journalism organization, The Daily Gamecock, announced a decision to take an intentional break from reporting news.
Under the pressure of global pandemic, midterm exams, classes and jobs, the staff of The Daily Gamecock is taking a break from reporting news for the sake of their mental health.
The Daily Gamecock Editorial Staff published an editorial entitled “Why we’re going dark” on Oct. 18; the article’s purpose was to inform readers that they will not be producing content of any kind for the next week and why.
“We haven’t been sleeping. We’ve forgotten to eat. We’ve been staring at screens for hours on end. Our neglect of our mental health has started to impact our physical health, and it has also affected our ability to produce the highest-quality content possible. There was a tension in the newsroom, a feeling that everyone was close to their breaking point.”
The journalists said that they hope their decision to take a break would set an example for other organizations and that, “It is O.K. to not be O.K.,” and they will not apologize for going dark. “We are each struggling in different ways but are reminding ourselves to fight the guilt and comparison that tells us to invalidate ourselves and each other.”
At the end of the article they mentioned that they will return to their normal schedule fully on Monday, Nov. 2.
The Daily Gamecock announcement to take a break drew both support and criticism. In online posts, some questioned whether there was another route the organization could have taken to solve their burnout, that The Daily Gamecock was shirking its responsibility to inform the public and questioned whether or not the staff is cut out to work under real-world pressure.
Erin Slowey, 22-year-old editor-in-chief for The Daily Gamecock responded, “We want to make sure we’re putting out fair and accurate news, and to do that, we need to make sure we’re healthy. ... It would be counterproductive to continue working in that toxic mindset.”
Slowey also mentioned that her staff is committed to their mission of reporting news that is relevant to the USC community.
