Building Bonds And Breaking News: Exploring Male Journalists’ Personal Relationship Challenges

Authors

  • Sheila May S. Balagan University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
  • Maria Karmeena M. Eslava University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
  • Christine Nicole DC. Montojo University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
  • Marie Carisa U. Ordinario University of Santo Tomas, Philippines https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0275-3340

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v55i2.89835

Keywords:

Work-life balance, 24-hour news cycle, Personal relationships, Newsroom demands, Philippine journalism

Abstract

Workplace conditions significantly impact journalists' work-life balance and psychological well-being. This study explores male journalists' challenges in maintaining personal relationships outside of work via a phenomenological approach using purposive and non-proportional sampling to understand how they experience newsroom demands and balance their relationships. Respondents revealed the complexities of balancing such relationships and their professional responsibilities. The study identified three main themes: the impact of newsroom demands on work-life balance and romantic prospects, coping mechanisms and boundary management, and conflict resolution outside work. Researchers also saw a divide between older and younger participants regarding these themes. These findings provided valuable insights into the challenges faced by male Filipino journalists and the strategies they employ to navigate their personal and professional lives. Recommendations emphasize the need for tailored support systems within newsrooms. By advocating for policy changes such as respecting journalists' time off, newsrooms can foster an environment that protects their well-being.

References

Allen, T. D., Merlo, K., Lawrence, R. C., Slutsky, J., & Gray, C. E. (2020). Boundary management and Work‐Nonwork balance while working from home. Applied Psychology, 70. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12300

Napoli, L. (2020). UP ALL NIGHT : Ted Turner, CNN, and the birth of 24-hour news. Abrams Press.

Pingol, A. (2001). Remaking masculinities: identity, power, and gender dynamics in families with migrant wives and househusbands. UP Center for Women’s Studies.

Reyes, J. (2015). Loób and Kapwa: Thomas Aquinas and a Filipino Virtue Ethics. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2019). Emotions, media and politics. Cambridge ; Medford Polity Press.

Navarro, A. M., & Elumbre, A. L. (2017). Muling Pagtanaw sa Konsepto ng Pagkalalaki: Pagkatao at Sekswalidad sa Loob at Lab as ng Pilipinas. In Handbook of Filipino Psychology Volume 2: Application (Vol. 2, pp. 164–185). essay, University of the Philippines Press .

Angeles, L. (2001). The Filipino Male as “Macho-Machunurin”: Bringing Men and Masculinities in Gender and Development Studies | Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies. Journals.upd.edu.ph. https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/kasarinlan/article/view/1073/1105

Anson, J., & Lauk, E. (2020, November). Multiskilled in many ways: Ghanaian female journalists between job and home. Communication Today. https://www.communicationtoday.sk/multiskilled-in-many-ways-ghanaian-female-journalists-between-job-and-home/

Arcalas, J., Tuazon, J. P., & Opiniano, J. (2022). How Journalists Cope with News Work’s Stresses While Remaining Creative Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Study. Journalism Practice, 18(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2151039

Banjac, S., & Hanusch, F. (2020). A question of perspective: Exploring audiences’ views of journalistic boundaries. New Media & Society, 146144482096379. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820963795

Barnett, R. C. (2014). Role theory. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 5591–5593. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2535

Beckett, C., & Deuze, M. (2016). On the role of emotion in the future of journalism. Social Media + Society, 2, 205630511666239. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116662395

Bobis, M. (2013). Confounding light: subversion and transnational sympathy. Social Identities, 19(2), 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2013.789208

Church, A. T., & Katigbak, M. S. (2002). Indigenization of psychology in the Philippines. International Journal of Psychology, 37(3), 129–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020759014300031

Dadouch, Z., & Lilly, M. M. (2020). Post-trauma psychopathology in journalists: The influence of institutional betrayal and world assumptions. Journalism Practice, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1755606

Emslie, C., & Hunt, K. (2009). “Live to Work” or “Work to Live”? A Qualitative Study of Gender and Work-life Balance among Men and Women in Mid-life. Gender, Work & Organization, 16(1), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2008.00434.x

Fedler, F., Buhr, T., & Taylor, D. (1988). Journalists who leave the news media seem happier, find better jobs. Newspaper Research Journal, 9, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/073953298800900202

Finneman, T., & Thomas, R. J. (2021). “You Had to be Reporting Constantly”: COVID-19’s impact on U.S. weekly newspapers’ journalistic routines. Newspaper Research Journal, 42, 330–345. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532921103039

Hanusch, F., & Bruns, A. (2016). Journalistic branding on twitter. Digital Journalism, 5, 26–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1152161

Harro-Loit, H., & Josephi, B. (2019). Journalists’ perception of time pressure: A global perspective. Journalism Practice, 14, 395–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1623710

Hayes, K. (2021). The networked newsroom: Navigating new boundaries of work. Journalism Practice, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1949627

Hindman, E. B. (2005). Jayson Blair, The New York Times, and Paradigm Repair. Journal of Communication, 55(2), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/55.2.225

Hoffman, M. F., & Cowan, R. L. (2008). The meaning of Work/Life: A corporate ideology of Work/Life balance. Communication Quarterly, 56, 227–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370802251053

Hollnsteiner, M. R. (1963). Social Control and Filipino Personality. Philippine Sociological Review, 11(3/4), 184–188. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43596332

Hove, V., Asdourian, B., & Bourgeois, D. (2018). My tweets are (not) my own! “Normalizing” journalists’ branding and digital identity on Twitter. Popular Communication, 16, 263–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2018.1535659

Hu, H. (2012). Can journalists have a work-life balance? A study of the relationship between journalists’ personal blogs and their professional work. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1343317252

Jaffe, S. (2021). Work won’t love you back: How devotion to our jobs keeps us exploited, exhausted, and alone. In Google Books. Public Affairs. https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7yDeDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&ots=nTBDxd308l&sig=Dnlw-tpJp7kZb5xuXEggjr6NgtI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Jukes, S. (2015, December). Journalists at risk – looking beyond just physical safety. Bournemouth University. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23308/

Kafle, N. P. (2013). Hermeneutic phenomenological research method simplified. Bodhi: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5(1), 181–200. https://doi.org/10.3126/bodhi.v5i1.8053

Karlsson, M. (2011). The immediacy of online news, the visibility of journalistic processes and a restructuring of journalistic authority. Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, 12, 279–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884910388223

Kolbenschlag, M. (1979). Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-bye: Breaking the Spell of Feminine Myths and Models. Bantam Books.

Kotisova, J. (2019). The elephant in the newsroom: Current research on journalism and emotion. Sociology Compass, 13, e12677. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12677

Kotišová, J. (2019). Crisis reporters, emotions, and technology: An ethnography. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21428-9

Lee, M., Ha, E. H., & Pae, J. K. (2017). The exposure to traumatic events and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder among Korean journalists. Journalism, 19, 1308–1325. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917707596

Lewis, J., & Cushion, S. (2009). THE THIRST TO BE FIRST: An analysis of breaking news stories and their impact on the quality of 24-hour news coverage in the UK. Journalism Practice, 3, 304–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512780902798737

Lukan, T., & Čehovin Zajc, Jožica. (2022). “If you don’t agree to be available 24/7, then you have nothing to do in journalism”: the boundary work tactics of precarious journalists. Community, Work & Family, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2022.2050356

Lukan, T., & Čehovin Zajc, Jožica. (2023). Love, cynicism, wanderlust: the role of emotions in the career trajectories of precarious journalists. Emotions and Society, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1332/263169021x16717182753840

Lynch, F. (1962). Philippine Values II: Social Acceptance. Philippine Studies, 10(1), 82–99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42719760

Marín-Sanchiz, C.-R., Carvajal, M., & González-Esteban, J.-L. (2021). Survival strategies in freelance journalism: An empowering toolkit to improve professionals’ working conditions. Journalism Practice, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1929414

Masurier, L. (2014). What is slow journalism? Journalism Practice, 9, 138–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2014.916471

McGlonn-Nelson, K. (2005). Looking outward: Exploring the intersections of sociocultural theory and gifted education. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17, 48–55. https://doi.org/10.4219/jsge-2005-391

McDonald, P., Brown, K., & Bradley, L. (2005). Explanations for the provision‐utilisation gap in work‐life policy. Women in Management Review, 20(1), 37–55. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420510579568

Mellado, C. (2014). Professional Roles in News Content. Journalism Studies, 16(4), 596–614. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2014.922276

Mendez, S. E. N. (2022). Sense-Making and Spirituality: Single Filipinas’ Lived Experiences of Meaning in Life. Psychological Studies, 67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-022-00665-8

Morini, C., Carls, K., & Armano, E. (2014). Precarious passion or passionate precariousness? Narratives from co-research in journalism and editing. Recherches Sociologiques et Anthropologiques, 45, 61–83. https://doi.org/10.4000/rsa.1264

Örnebring, H., & Möller, C. (2018). In the margins of journalism. Journalism Practice, 12, 1051–1060. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1497455

Pe-Pua, R., & Protacio-Marcelino, E. A. (2000). Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology): A legacy of Virgilio G. Enriquez. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 3(1), 49–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-839x.00054

Reich, Z., & Godler, Y. (2014). A Time of Uncertainty: The effects of reporters’ time schedule on their work. Journalism Studies, 15, 607–618. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2014.882484

Robinson, P. (2005). The CNN effect revisited. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 22, 344–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180500288519

San Juan, E. (2006). Toward a Decolonizing Indigenous Psychology in the Philippines: Introducing Sikolohiyang Pilipino. Journal for Cultural Research, 10(1), 47–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/14797580500422018

Seely, N. (2019). Journalists and mental health: The psychological toll of covering everyday trauma. Newspaper Research Journal, 40, 239–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532919835612

Snyder, I., Johnson, K., & Kozimor-King, M. L. (2019). Work–life balance in media newsrooms. Journalism, 22, 146488491984175. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919841759

Suri, H. (2011). Purposeful Sampling in Qualitative Research Synthesis. Qualitative Research Journal, 11(2), 63–75.

Tan, A. L. (1997). Values Research in the Philippines. Philippine Studies, 45(4), 560–569. https://doi.org/10.13185/ps2006.544

Thornthwaite, L. (2004). Working Time and Work-Family Balance: A Review of Employees’ Preferences. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(2), 166–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1038411104045360

Väliverronen, J. (2022). Boundaries in motion? Finnish political journalists’ external and internal boundary work in a time of change. Journalism Studies, 23, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2022.2065340

Visser, M., Mills, M., Heyse, L., Wittek, R., & Bollettino, V. (2016). Work–Life balance among humanitarian aid workers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45, 1191–1213. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764016634890

Walker, W. (2007). Ethical considerations in phenomenological research. Nurse Researcher, 14(3), 36–45. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2007.04.14.3.36.c6031

Ward, S. J. A. (2009). Journalism Ethics. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), The Handbook of Journalism Studies (pp. 295–309). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203877685

Witschge, T., & Nygren, G. (2009). Journalistic work: A profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2009.11073478

Wyatt, W. N. (2018). Press Criticism. The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0104

Young, S. (2009). SkyNews Australia: The impact of local 24-hour news on political reporting in Australia. Journalism Studies, 10, 401–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700802636250

Main, P. (2023, March). Sociocultural theory. Www.structural-Learning.com. https://www.structural-learning.com/post/sociocultural-theory

Ordinario, M. C. U. (n.d.). Beatspeak communicating pakisama in the fourth estate. Tuklas.up.edu.ph; Master’s thesis, University of the Philippines. Retrieved June 5, 2023, from https://tuklas.up.edu.ph/Record/UP-99796217613097073

Stobb, D. (2017). How working in local TV news affects journalists’ personal lives. https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3286&context=etd

Thankge, Clarah Thandi. (2013). The work-life balance of journalists. https://hdl.handle.net/10210/10495

Valledor-Lukey, V. (2012). Pagkababae at pagkalalake (femininity and masculinity) Developing a Filipino gender trait inventory and predicting self-esteem and sexism - ProQuest [Dissertation]. In www.proquest.com. https://www.proquest.com/openview/8622f5e1fdb7b4c83610fac6eed3a1ff/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750

Downloads

Published

2025-12-31

How to Cite

Balagan, S. M. S., Eslava, M. K. M., Montojo, C. N. D., & Ordinario, M. C. U. (2025). Building Bonds And Breaking News: Exploring Male Journalists’ Personal Relationship Challenges. Informasi, 55(2), 134–149. https://doi.org/10.21831/informasi.v55i2.89835

Issue

Vol. 55 No. 2 (2025): Informasi

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Sheila May Balagan, Maria Karmeena Eslava, Christine Nicole Montojo, Marie Carisa Ordinario

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).