This dissertation investigates the pressures that heighten the vulnerability of media practitioners today. It focuses on a recent critical juncture in U.S. journalism marked by three interlinked crises between March 2020 and January 2021: the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the U.S. presidential election. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 47 journalists who encountered health and safety hazards during these events, the study develops the concept of embodied precarity to examine vulnerability as both a systemic phenomenon and instances of acute risk. Analysis across individual experiences, occupational practices, and institutional structures unravels the far-reaching consequences of this insecurity and its uneven distribution of burdens and rewards. It uncovers a widening gap between journalists’ idealism-driven dedication and the harsh realities they face, exposing a professional culture that normalizes adversity while individualizing its impacts. The findings reveal how intensifying precarity is reshaping journalistic labor, practices, and roles. These shifts unsettle core assumptions about newswork, offering insights into the evolving landscape of news production and its broader societal implications. Ultimately, this research prompts a reevaluation of the foundations of journalism and redefines the stakes of journalism research moving forward.