Freelance Journalists as a Flexible Workforce in Media Industries

Edström, Maria; Ladendorf, Martina

doi:10.1080/17512786.2012.667275

Cited by 56 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…It remains unclear whether educational level plays a clear and explicit role within this process. In every way, the Belgian findings in relation to educational level do not correspond to research results from, for example Sweden where the level of education is even higher among Swedish freelancing journalists (87 % have a higher education diploma) than among employed journalists (78%) (Edstrom and Ladendorf 2012). In his book Changing journalism, Lee-Wright (2012, 23) points out the loss of 'mentoring relationships' within a news room in which, traditionally, young journalists were supported and trained by experienced news room staff.…”

Section: Profile Of Freelance Journalistscontrasting

confidence: 82%

Freelancing in Flemish News Media and Entrepreneurial Skills as Pivotal Elements in Job Satisfaction

Cock¹,

Smaele

2016

Journalism Practice

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In this study, we focus on a segment of journalists that is often neglected or marginalized in the bulk of research on the profiles of journalists and their careers: freelancers or entrepreneurial journalists. The most recent large scale survey among professional journalists in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, shows that one in five journalists is a freelancer (Raeymaeckers et al. 2013, 10) but that only half of them is satisfied with their job against 93% of employed journalists. Seen from this perspective, Flanders does not appear as a very fertile ground for entrepreneurial journalism. In spring 2012, based on a randomly selected sample of freelancers from the database of the Flemish Union for Journalists (VVJ), we conducted a qualitative in-depth interview study among 22 freelancers. Interviews were built around three main research questions: 1) What are considered the advantages and disadvantages of working as a freelancer in Flanders? 2) How satisfied are freelancers in Flanders with their work and lives? What are the reasons for their (dis)satisfaction? And most importantly: 3) What are the preconditions to make entrepreneurial journalism 'work' in Flanders? Our results show that there is no such thing as a 'fixed' list of advantages and disadvantages as most features of freelance work (e.g. flexibility in working hours and assignments) can be considered in both ways. Free choice is the main precondition that discriminates between the perspective of the master and the servant and entrepreneurial skills serve as a pivotal element in job satisfaction.

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Section: Profile Of Freelance Journalistscontrasting

confidence: 82%

Freelancing in Flemish News Media and Entrepreneurial Skills as Pivotal Elements in Job Satisfaction

Cock¹,

Smaele

2016

Journalism Practice

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“…Flitting between individual freelance projects, working for startups, and being employed by established media organizations has become a fairly established career path for journalists in general and pioneer journalists in particular (Deuze, 2007; Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012; Witschge and Harbers, 2018). The point we want to make here is that in their self-understanding, being personally mobile is crucial for pioneer journalists if they want to be a transformative force: individuals’ mobility across these different spheres of work is one of the main ways pioneer journalists, from their subjective point of view, transfer knowledge and initiate a ‘push’ in the field.…”

Section: The Dynamics Of Pioneer Journalism: Established Media Organimentioning

confidence: 99%

Pioneer journalism: Conceptualizing the role of pioneer journalists and pioneer communities in the organizational re-figuration of journalism

Hepp

Loosen

2019

Journalism

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Recent journalism research often argues that it is high time that we moved beyond the newsroom and begin asking who it is that is stimulating transformation and not what it is, as individual journalists, entrepreneurs, technology firms, and startups assume an increasingly critical role in the development of the field. This article introduces the concept of ‘pioneer journalism’ to provide just such an analysis across different organizational contexts. Pioneer journalism is understood as a particular group of journalists that incorporates new organizational forms and experimental practice in pursuit of redefining the field and its structural foundations. To introduce this concept, the article argues along three stages. First, it develops a theoretical basis on which to pin our understanding of pioneering practice by reviewing previous research into journalism’s transformation beyond the newsroom. Second, it extends the theoretical discussion into the empirical realm by looking at five extreme cases of pioneer journalists through an explorative interview analysis. Third, and to conclude, an integrated concept of pioneer journalism is outlined as a point of departure from which to further consider journalism’s re-figuration more generally.

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“…While freelance media work in journalism and professional writing was long underrepresented in media studies scholarship, researchers have considered the professional role perceptions of freelance journalists (Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012; Mathisen, 2017; Örnebring, 2018), labor process of freelance journalism and professional writing (Cohen, 2016), freelance journalists’ and professional writers’ perceptions of their working conditions (Cohen, 2016; Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012; Gollmitzer, 2014) and job satisfaction (Massey and Elmore, 2011), and freelance journalists’ uses of digital media for work purposes (Holton, 2016; Hunter, 2015). On the one hand, individuals may willingly choose to freelance to gain relative control over the labor process, seeing themselves as entrepreneurs, with more autonomy, flexible employment relationships, and increased job satisfaction (Cohen, 2016; Edstrom and Ladendorf, 2012; Gollmitzer, 2014; McKercher, 2014; Mathisen, 2017; Örnebring, 2018). Some scholars have also described the recent feminization of freelancing (McKercher, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Salamon

2019

New Media & Society

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Due to economic instability and technological change in digital media industries, media organizations and educators have encouraged freelance media workers to see themselves as individual businesses rather than a class of workers that should collectively protect their rights and fair pay. This article examines how freelance media workers negotiate individualism and collectivism, producing a contradictory freelance class ideology. It is grounded in an exploratory critical political economy of communication and sociology of work approach. It is based on interviews with 21 freelance journalists and professional writers, considering how they discursively construct their work practices and coping strategies vis-à-vis their uses of digital technology and the structural factors that shape media industries. Through discourse, these workers produce a contradictory “e-lance” class ideology as both entrepreneurs who temporarily sell goods and services and activists who temporarily resist demands from clients that they give up their rights and pay.

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Freelance Journalists as a Flexible Workforce in Media Industries

Cited by 56 publications

References 16 publications

Freelancing in Flemish News Media and Entrepreneurial Skills as Pivotal Elements in Job Satisfaction

Freelancing in Flemish News Media and Entrepreneurial Skills as Pivotal Elements in Job Satisfaction

Pioneer journalism: Conceptualizing the role of pioneer journalists and pioneer communities in the organizational re-figuration of journalism

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

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