Skip to content
1981
Volume 46, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0810-2686
  • E-ISSN: 2517-620X

Abstract

The crisis in the news industry is affecting journalism as a profession. There are concerns about the increasing precarity of the job, with fewer opportunities of full-time employment and a clear career path. Through an analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census 2021 data, this study examines the current state of journalists’ occupation. Since 2011, there was an overall decline (19 per cent) in the number of journalists in Australia. The largest reduction occurred in print media, where the number of journalists halved. In contrast, the number of ‘journalists not further defined’ increased by 39 per cent. This category reflects the increase in the number of journalists who would not typically be working in a traditional journalism role. Workers in these categories of ‘not further defined’ and ‘not elsewhere classified’ earn less, are younger and are less likely to be employed full-time. Overall, the data reveal that many journalists in 2021 are facing precarious work arrangements.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00146_1
2024-06-13
2025-06-24
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abernathy, P. M. (2020), News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?, Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, School of Media and Journalism, Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Chapel Hill, https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020_News_Deserts_and_Ghost_Newspapers.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Abernathy, P. M. (2022), The State of Local News: The 2022 Report, Chicago, IL: Northwestern University.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2006), ‘2006 Census data’, https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/historicaldata2006?opendocument&navpos=280. Accessed 10 June 2023.
  4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2021), ‘ANZSCO: Australian and New Zealand standard classification of occupations’, 22 November, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/classifications/anzsco-australian-and-new-zealand-standard-classification-occupations/latest-release. Accessed 10 June 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2022), ‘Understanding supplementary codes in Census variables: An explanation of the supplementary codes and categories used in Census variables’, 6 June, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/detailed-methodology-information/information-papers/understanding-supplementary-codes-census-variables. Accessed 10 June 2023.
  6. Belair-Gagnon, V. and Holton, A. E. (2018), ‘Strangers to the game? Interlopers, intralopers, and shifting news production’, Media and Communication, 6:4, pp. 7078.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bruns, A. (2013), ‘From prosumption to produsage’, in C. Handke and R. Towse (eds), Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 6778.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Carlson, M. and Lewis, S. C. (2015), Boundaries of Journalism: Professionalism, Practices and Participation, London and New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Carlson, M., Robinson, S., Lewis, S. C. and Berkowitz, D. A. (2018), ‘Journalism studies and its core commitments: The making of a communication field’, Journal of Communication, 68:1, pp. 625.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Cohen, N. S., Hunter, A. and O’Donnell, P. (2019), ‘Bearing the burden of corporate restructuring: Job loss and precarious employment in Canadian journalism’, Journalism Practice, 13:7, pp. 81733.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Dawson, N., Molitorisz, S., Rizoiu, M.-A. and Fray, P. (2021), ‘Layoffs, inequity and COVID-19: A longitudinal study of the journalism jobs crisis in Australia from 2012 to 2020’, Journalism, 24:3, pp. 53159.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Deuze, M. and Witschge, T. (2018), ‘Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism’, Journalism, 19:2, pp. 16581.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Deuze, M. and Witschge, T. (2020), Beyond Journalism, London: John Wiley & Sons.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Dorer, J., Tzenbrucker, G. and Hummel, R. (2009), ‘The Austrian journalism education landscape’, in G. Terzis (ed.), European Journalism Education, Bristol: Intellect, pp. 7992.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Fisher, C. (2017), ‘Re-assessing the “public’s right to know”’, Journalism Studies, 18:3, pp. 35875.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Fisher, C. and Park, S. (2023), ‘Economic and existential challenges facing journalism’, in T. Flew, J. Holt and J. Thomas (eds), The SAGE Handbook of the Digital Media Economy, London: Sage Publications, pp. 126.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Fisher, C., Park, S., Howden, S., Lee, J. and McGuinness, K. (2019), Australian Regional Journalists: What They Need and How They See the Future, Canberra: News & Media Research Centre.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Fisher, C., Nolan, D., McGuinness, K. and Park, S. (2022), ‘Australia regional journalists’ role perceptions at a time of upheaval’, Media International Australia, 184:1, pp. 92105.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Grenby, M., Kasinger, M., Patching, R. and Pearson, M. (2009), Girls, Girls, Girls: A Study of the Popularity of Journalism as a Career Among Female Teenagers and Its Corresponding Lack of Appeal to Young Males, Brisbane: Centre for Public Culture and Ideas, Griffith University.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Hummel, R., Kirchhoff, S. and Prandner, D. (2012), ‘We used to be queens and now we are slaves’, Journalism Practice, 6:5–6, pp. 72231.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Jenkins, J. (2020), Publish Less but Publish Better: Pivoting to Paid in Local News, Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Josephi, B. and Alonso, M. O. (2021), ‘Testing the connection between tertiary journalism education and the rising number of female journalists’, Journalism Practice, 17:5, pp. 109813.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Josephi, B. and O’Donnell, P. (2023), ‘The blurring line between freelance journalists and self-employed media workers’, Journalism, 24:1, pp. 13956.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Josephi, B. and Oller Alonso, M. (2021), ‘Re-examining age: Journalism’s reliance on the young’, Journalism, 22:3, pp. 72647.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Josephi, B. and Richards, I. (2012), ‘The Australian journalist in the 21st century’, in D. H. Weaver and L. Willnat (eds), The Global Journalist in the 21st Century, London: Routledge, pp. 11525.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Josephi, B., Hanusch, F., Alonso, M. O., Shapiro, I., Andresen, K., de Beer, A., Hoxha, A., Moreira, S. V., Rafter, K., Skjerdal, T., Splendore, S. and Tandoc, E. C. (2019), ‘4. Profiles of journalists: Demographic and employment patterns’, in T. Hanitzsch, F. Hanusch, J. Ramaprasad and A. de Beer (eds), Worlds of Journalism: Journalistic Cultures Around the Globe, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 67102.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Kartveit, K. (2020), ‘How do they do it? Multimedia journalism and perceptions of the practice’, Journalism, 21:10, pp. 146885.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Mathisen, B. R. (2017), ‘Entrepreneurs and idealists: Freelance journalists at the intersection of autonomy and constraints’, Journalism Practice, 11:7, pp. 90924.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. McGuinness, K., Park, S., Lee, J. Y., Fulton, J. and Lukamto, W. (2023), Valuing Diversity in News and Newsrooms, Canberra: News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. McNair, B. (2018), ‘The truth is out there, somewhere’, Journalism, 20:1, pp. 22225.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. [Google Scholar]
  32. Norbäck, M. (2022), ‘Maintaining a freelance career: How journalists generate and evaluate freelance work’, Journalism Studies, 23:10, pp. 114159.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Oliver, L. (2021), What the COVID-19 Pandemic Means for Freelance Journalists in the Global South, Oxford: Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. O’Regan, T. and Young, C. (2019), ‘Journalism by numbers: Trajectories of growth and decline of journalists in the Australian census 1961–2016’, Media International Australia, 172:1, pp. 1332.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Örnebring, H. (2018), ‘Journalists thinking about precarity: Making sense of the “new normal”’, International Symposium on Online Journalism, 13–14 April, Austin, TX: University of Texas.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Park, S., Fisher, C. and Lee, J. (2020), Local News Consumers, Canberra: N&MRC.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Park, S., Fisher, C. and Lee, J. (2021), ‘Regional news audiences’ value perception of local news’, Journalism, 23:8, pp. 166381.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Park, S., McGuinness, K., Fisher, C., Lee, J., K., McCallum, K. and Nolan, D. (2022), Digital News Report: Australia 2022, Canberra: N&MRC.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) (2023), ‘The Australian newsroom mapping project’, https://anmp.piji.com.au/. Accessed 15 May 2023.
  40. Quandt, T. and Singer, J. B. (2009), ‘Convergence and cross-platform content production’, in K. Wahl-Jorgensen and T. Hanitzsch (eds), The Handbook of Journalism Studies, London: Routledge, pp. 15064.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Reinardy, S. (2011), ‘Newspaper journalism in crisis: Burnout on the rise, eroding young journalists’ career commitment’, Journalism, 12:1, pp. 3350.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Royal, C. and Kiesow, D. (2021), ‘From boundary to bridge and beyond: The path to professionalization of product roles in journalism’, Journalism Studies, 22:11, pp. 154665.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Sherwood, M. and O’Donnell, P. (2018), ‘Once a journalist, always a journalist? Industry restructure, job loss and professional identity’, Journalism Studies, 19:7, pp. 102138.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Simons, M. and Bosland, J. (2020), ‘From Journal of Record to the 24/7 News Cycle: Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Court Reporting in Australia’, in A. Gulyas and D. Baines (eds), The Routledge Companion to Local Media and Journalism, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Swart, J., Peters, C. and Broersma, M. (2019), ‘Sharing and discussing news in private social media groups’, Digital Journalism, 7:2, pp. 187205.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Zion, L., Dodd, A., Sherwood, M., O’Donnell, P., Marjoribanks, T. and Ricketson, M. (2016), ‘Working for less: The aftermath for journalists made redundant in Australia between 2012 and 2014’, Communication Research and Practice, 2:2, pp. 11736.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Zion, L., Marjoribanks, T. and O’Donnell, P. (2022), ‘Who is a journalist now? Recognising atypical journalism work in the digital media economy’, Media International Australia, online first, https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X221134207.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Zion, L., O’Donnell, P., Ricketson, M. and Dodd, A. (2017), ‘Life after redundancy: What happens next when a journalist leaves the newsroom’, The Conversation, 9 May, https://theconversation.com/life-after-redundancy-what-happens-next-for-journalists-when-they-leave-newsrooms-77154. Accessed 22 September 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00146_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00146_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test