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

Abstract

This study uses the question, ‘what makes a freelancer specifically a journalist’ as a starting point for investigating the ways Australian freelance journalists experienced and managed precarious employment in COVID-19 impacted 2020. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 32 self-identified freelance journalists, we analyse the types of work they did, the influence of the precarious job situation on their work choices and the consequent ways they chose to display their identity as journalists. Our findings reveal a complex picture, which calls into question some of the binaries established around journalism. While nearly all participants had to resort to work outside journalism in 2020, at least half still displayed strong links to journalism, demonstrated by their sense of belonging to a community of journalists, and their continued interest in doing self-funded public interest journalism as ‘passion projects’. However, we also noticed a blurring between the descriptors of journalist and writer, based partly on employment opportunities but also, importantly, on interest in increasing creativity in the journalistic space. These results lead us to question work-test definitions as a signifier of a freelancer’s bond to journalism and to propose, instead, that freelancers merit a new standing in the flattening hierarchy of journalism.

Media crisis and its effects on digital journalism careers in Canada

“…The relative job stability of most of the interviewees (15 of them held full-time positions at the time of the interviews) may give the false idea that the precariousness and declining working conditions was something that only affected them when they were starting their careers, when entering into the labor market. However, this is in contrast to the market trend revealed in some studies which detected an increase in the number of cases of resignations after having already entered the profession, and throughout the entire journalism trajectory (Örnembring and Möller, 2018; Cohen et al, 2019; Josephi and O’Donnell, 2022). Recognizing this situation and the current state of the job market in the media sector generates a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty among the interviewees:“I feel like sometimes that it’s even pressure we put on ourselves, because a lot of times the media in Canada, they don’t have the money to kind of upgrade to the latest in structure, or to the latest whatever it is […] Like it’s more of a self-imposed pressure, I think.…”

“…There is a relative decline in the organizational model where the individual makes choices with the objective of remaining or advancing in the newsrooms structure. This is now replaced by more flexible career models (Davidson and Meyers, 2016; Reyna, 2021), structured from performing tasks, projects, or even by adopting the logic of (self) entrepreneurship (Salamon 2020; Josephi and O’Donnell, 2022). (c) Due to the difficulties of building trajectories that favor a work-family balance (Grönlund and Öun, 2018; Snyder et al, 2021), forcing journalists to mostly prioritize the professional side of their careers.…”

“…There is a relative decline in the organizational model where the individual makes choices with the objective of remaining or advancing in the newsrooms structure. This is now replaced by more flexible career models (Davidson and Meyers, 2016; Reyna, 2021), structured from performing tasks, projects, or even by adopting the logic of (self) entrepreneurship (Salamon 2020; Josephi and O’Donnell, 2022).…”

“…These findings suggest the emergence of transnational digital journalism identity (Hellmueller and Konow-Lund, 2019). This hypothesis is based on the dynamics of circulation of innovations and on the way in which the labor market has been structured in recent years, especially the so-called “mature” media systems (Europe and North America), which have been most affected by the “crisis” of the journalism business model and its effects on the working conditions of journalists (Josephi and O'Donnell, 2022; Salamon, 2020). For that reason, certain findings about the emergence of new career segments observed in Canadian journalism can be generalized to other countries in the Global North.…”

“…Due to the constant demand for innovation, media companies have had to invest in new practices (data journalism, newsgames, fact checking, etc. ), while more and more journalists are opting to work outside the conventional newsroom as entrepreneurs, self-employed media workers, or in independent journalism projects (Josephi and O’Donnell, 2022; Deuze and Witschge, 2018).…”