1. It's amazing how out of touch management is with the journalists. The gap is very wide. Hard to tell whether they don't know or don't care. Probably half of each.
2. Threat of a layoff or reorg always hanging over your head -- though that really makes CNN like most big companies these days. Not sure that would be better anywhere else, especially anything that tries to make money off free information.
3. Wildly varying workloads. Some people phone it in or don't do a lot while people with more to do than they can handle are then given even duties. I had colleagues whose eyes would literally pop and their jaws literally drop when I showed them how much work I'd do in shift.
4. Related to No. 3 -- quality of your work has very little to do with how you fare at CNN. You can do top-notch journalism and be poorly thought of. You can do pretty lousy journalism and be deemed a superstar. We all know in corporate American how much office politics and being a player plays a role, but it's a crying shame how important it is there.
5. Lousy hours. That's part of the news business that can't be changed. But given that it is, management could do more for the people who don't work 9-5, Monday-Friday. If you're not seen in meetings, it's like you aren't there and didn't do anything. I was surprised how neglected the evening and overnight workers were given that it's a 24/7/365 place.
