A new survey by PR Newswire reveals that the increased demand for online content, including Twitter and other forms of social networking, is occupying more and more of journalists’ time — while their regular workload stays the same.

Continuing a trend from the 2008 and 2009 surveys, over 70% of respondents in this year’s survey indicate a heavier workload as compared to last year, with the majority (58%) stating that the number of stories for which they are responsible has increased over the past two years. As in 2009, the primary cause of the increased workload is the need to contribute to online reporting. Of those surveyed, 62% are required to write for online news sections, with 39% contributing to their publication’s blog. 37% of US journalists also now must maintain a Twitter feed.

The study goes on to suggest that fear of losing their jobs seems to have stifled most journalists’ complaints about the additional work load.

This Fishie has worked with some salty, hard-nosed investigative journalists in his day. The thought of these folks taking even 30 seconds away from their phones for company-mandated Tweeting depresses him mightily. Then again, most of the salty dogs in question have lost their jobs and are now wildly underemployed — so it’s probably a moot point.

H/T AAN Wire