Layoffs, inequity and COVID-19: A longitudinal study of the journalism jobs crisis in Australia from 2012 to 2020

Abstract

In Australia and beyond, journalism is reportedly an industry in crisis, a crisis exacerbated by COVID-19. However, the evidence revealing the crisis is often anecdotal or limited in scope. In this unprecedented longitudinal research, we draw on data from the Australian journalism jobs market from January 2012 until March 2020. Using Data Science and Machine Learning techniques, we analyse two distinct data sets: job advertisements (ads) data comprising 3698 journalist job ads from a corpus of over 8 million Australian job ads; and official employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Having matched and analysed both sources, we address both the demand for and supply of journalists in Australia over this critical period. The data show that the crisis is real, but there are also surprises. Counter-intuitively, the number of journalism job ads in Australia rose from 2012 until 2016, before falling into decline. Less surprisingly, for the entire period studied the figures reveal extreme volatility, characterised by large and erratic fluctuations. The data also clearly show that COVID-19 has significantly worsened the crisis. We then tease out more granular findings, including: that there are now more women than men journalists in Australia, but that gender inequity is worsening, with women journalists getting younger and worse-paid just as men journalists are, on average, getting older and better-paid; that, despite the crisis besetting the industry, the demand for journalism skills has increased; and that, perhaps concerningly, the skills sought by journalism job ads increasingly include ‘social media’ and ‘generalist communications’ skills.

The blurring line between freelance journalists and self-employed media workers

“…O’Regan and Young’s figures specify a 20% decline of Australian print journalists over a 30-year period, whereas the number of journalists ‘not further defined’ and journalists ‘not elsewhere classified’ remains on the rise. The authors interpret these findings as an indication of the broadening of journalistic practices, with journalists moving progressively away from reporting professions and taking on a diverse portfolio of roles, largely opened up by the Internet and social media ( O’Regan & Young, 2019 : 28; Dawson et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The findings are marked by the timing of our research, which was carried out in October–November 2020, at the height of the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Australia, similar to the United States and Great Britain, the media industry’s advertising market collapsed, precipitating publication closures, massive job shedding and suspension of freelance budgets ( Dawson et al, 2021 ; Samios, 2020 ). In this context, many freelancers lost their regular contracts and had to resort to jobs outside journalism, although this pattern was already established prior to the pandemic.…”

Australian regional journalists’ role perceptions at a time of upheaval

“…Detailed analysis of job ads show losses significantly worsened during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (Dawson et al, 2021), and 199 regional journalism outlets closed, merged, or contracted between January 2019 and February 2021, partly offset by smaller, new offerings (PIJI, 2021). Most recently, the loss of WIN Network regional TV news bulletins in three states resulted in further cuts.…”

The COVID-19 pandemic: Resilience of Indonesian journalists

“…With the slowing economic growth due to COVID-19, the media industry is experiencing an economic crisis. Dawson et al (2020) noted that while the need for journalists in the press industry in Australia is increasing, the skills required by a journalist have also increased despite getting a disproportionate return on income. The situation has been evolving since 2012 and COVID-19 is only exacerbating the situation.…”