The local TV news industry is groaning under the weight of a massive burnout problem, but Amanda St. Hilare has found a way to shift the load.
St. Hilare, an investigative reporter and news content manager at WITI Milwaukee, says since joining the Fox-owned station, she’s been able to organize her PTO for the best work-life balance she’s known in her career. And in her capacity as a news manager, she has also been empowered to lift her head above the daily fray and help find more sustainable career pathways for her coworkers.
In this Talking TV conversation, St. Hilare describes her own journey to a healthier work life in a deeply stressful industry and how WITI’s use of “development days” for reporters, producers and anchors has fostered productivity and creativity and pushed burnout that much further away.
Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.
Michael Depp: Young people entering the TV news business are increasingly insisting on a better work-life balance. Their older colleagues have sometimes looked on in amazement as they put up red lines around hours they’re willing to work or extra tasks they’re unwilling to take on.
Burnout is, after all, sending people out of the industry in droves. And many newsrooms are still unable or unwilling to stop fanning the flames. Amanda St. Hilaire is one person who may have found a way out of that trap.
St Hilaire is an investigative reporter and news content manager at WITI, a Fox-owned station in Milwaukee,