Freelance Journalists and Stringers

Abstract

Freelancing for news organizations refers to short‐term, temporary, or contract work rather than full‐time salaried employment. While freelance journalists may enjoy the flexibility and fun of doing this type of work, they also have to deal with low pay, no social security benefits, and insecure employment relationships. Yet freelance journalists have formed labor unions and professional associations to advocate for higher pay, benefits, and labor rights. Through these labor organizations and ad hoc alternative labor organizations, freelance journalists have used digital communications tools to refuse freelance contributors' contracts and unfair company demands, attempting to translate online collective action into organizational and legal change.

Digitizing freelance media labor: A class of workers negotiates entrepreneurialism and activism

“…Such entrepreneurial labor is indicative of the “precarious” nature of media employment conditions (Bibby, 2014: 8; Cohen, 2016; Picard, 2015; Walters et al, 2006: vi). There are three key markers of precarity in the media industries (Salamon, 2018a, 2019). The first marker is a decrease in total number of jobs.…”

“…Freelancing is one subcategory of atypical work (Bibby, 2014: 11–12; Cushion, 2007: 122), particularly in journalism and professional writing (Cohen, 2016; Cushion, 2007: 127). The third marker of precarity is relatively low income (Salamon, 2016, 2018a, 2019). These markers of precarity are interrelated.…”

“…As rights-grabbing contracts have spread, media workers’ labor organizations have launched campaigns to support freelance media workers (Salamon, 2016, 2018a, 2019). Some of my interviewees stressed that they have been part of these campaigns, using social media networking sites as a key tool to resist unfair freelance contributors’ contracts.…”

“…Freelance journalist and labor organization representative Mary said, “[Social media] can reach a lot of people a lot faster than traditional communication like email or even mail. Social media can be a faster way to drive the engagement further into meetings or into other actions.” Through their collective organizations, freelance journalists have used digital technology to facilitate two tactics—boycotts and strikes—to resist unfair contracts, demanding that they waive their moral rights and assign their copyrights to their company (Salamon, 2016, 2018a, 2019). By using digital technology, then, “[f]reelancers with common interests and problems could communicate freely, cheaply and in far greater numbers than would ever make it to a formal meeting” (Sutcliffe et al, 2000: 23).…”

“…According to the terminology of entrepreneurialism, freelance workers see themselves as individual businesses that negotiate with clients rather than a class of workers with similar interests that should fight back. In a context of competitive project-based digital media work, freelance media contributors have been discouraged from engaging in activism that could alienate future clients due to the promotion of entrepreneurial journalism (Cohen, 2015, 2016; Rottwilm, 2014; Salamon, 2016, 2018a, 2019; Vos and Singer, 2016). Textual analyses have aimed to understand what entrepreneurialism means for writers, while political economic analyses have aimed to explain the role of freelance workers’ activism.…”