View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
June 15, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 7:50pm

Young, cheap media casuals replacing senior staff across globe, says IFJ

By Press Gazette

A new report by the International Federation of Journalists highlights a worldwide trend of experienced senior media staff being replaced by younger graduates who are often employed on a casual or freelance basis on less pay.

The report, The Changing Nature of Work: A global survey of work in the media industry, surveyed 41 journalists'

organisations in 38 countries that are affiliated to the IFJ, including the NUJ in the UK.

IFJ general secretary Aidan White (pictured), said the survey showed that freelances, casuals, short-term workers on rolling contracts and temporary workers make up around 30 per cent of the membership of IFJ affiliates. He claimed this rising trend was setting new challenges in the battle to maintain high-quality journalism.

White said: "If journalists' employment is precarious and threatened, it is harder for them to resist pressure to shape stories to satisfy governments or commercial interests, it is harder for them to carry out investigative journalism and harder to challenge management's editorial line."

The report also documents a trend toward the privatisation of state media and said younger journalists were being hired in new areas of employment, including new media and some areas of the developing world where media ownership is expanding. As a result, journalists' average pay has declined in real terms over the past five years.

Insecurity in employment and a lower rate of pay appears to be having a negative impact on the quality of editorial content and may be jeopardising the media's role as a watchdog for society, the report says.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Among the key findings are:

■ An increasing privatisation of stateowned media and employment of younger, less qualified journalists at lower wages.

■ More than half of IFJ affiliates (53.6 per cent) reported that the average rate of pay for journalists had either decreased or significantly decreased in real terms over the past five years. Only 14.6 per cent said there had been an increase in real terms.

■ Only 12.2 per cent of freelances had maternity leave benefits, and only 9.8 per cent were entitled to sick leave and holiday pay.

■ More than three-quarters (75.6 per cent) of International Federation of Journalists affiliates worry that editorial content is affected by the nature of the employment relationship, specifically highlighting timid reporting due to insecure employment; a decline in critical, investigative reporting; bland news coverage due to media concentration and government pressure; and pressure on ethical reporting due to low wages.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network