COLUMBIA, Mo. -- When it comes to jobs that are potentially harmful to one's health, many people immediately think of construction, farming or other jobs that require strenuous physical labor. However, one MU researcher says look no further than jobs in television news.
Vernon Stone, professor emeritus in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia, found two out of every five television news photographers have suffered back problems from their jobs. In a mail survey, Stone asked 1,780 news professionals who work at various commercial television stations in the United States, "Have you had health problems related to your job?"
Half, or 53 percent, of the 255 photographers in the survey answered yes, and 40 percent named back ailments as a problem. Most blamed their bad backs and other muscular disorders on lugging and shooting with camera equipment, which many photographers said is better suited to tripods than to shoulders.
"To cut costs, television stations are increasingly using one person to handle and operate equipment that's built for two," Stone said. "While many stations are sensitive to the physical well-being of their photographers, others seem to care only for profits."
Staff in other television news positions reported job-related health problems less often. Thirty-six percent of the executive producers, 32 percent of news anchors and 13 percent of the weathercasters surveyed also reported job-related health problems. Stone found that their problems were usually caused by job stress. Injuries and muscular ills were limited mainly to photographers.
In the survey, women who work in television news were almost twice as likely as men to name stress or other related problems such as ulcers, headaches and fatigue as problems that stem from their jobs.
Jobs in radio news also come with their fair share of health problems. Stone surveyed 414 nationwide radio news professionals and found that 29 percent -- 35 percent of the women and 26 percent of the men -- said they had suffered from job-related health problems. Most professionals in radio news rarely suffer from back pain; they said their health problems caused by their jobs were usually related to stress.
Full reports of Stone's research on professionals who work in television and radio news are available on his research Web site at www.missouri.edu/~jourvs.
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Contact: Rajah Maples Wallace
Senior Information Specialist
(573) 882-3346
WallaceRD@missouri.edu
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