Media Freelancers and Platforms: How Beginner and Experienced Media Freelancers Perceive Online Platforms

Abstract

The article presents the perspectives of media freelancers on digital platforms. This article is based on a qualitative study comprising 20 participants (10 beginners and 10 experienced media freelancers). Our findings indicate that the degree of flexibility is often overstated, as many freelance media workers on online platforms are compelled to adhere to tight deadlines, client demands, and offered prices. Regarding the issue of precarity, our study participants, particularly the beginners, understand the challenges they encounter serve as necessary steppingstones towards more established positions. The experienced freelancers are adept at navigating the challenges and threats that arise when working with online platforms. This collective knowledge leads us to reassess the extreme positions of either uncritically celebrating flexibility or outrightly rejecting the casualisation of work.