Journalists and Job Loss explores the profound disruption of journalism work in the 21st century’s networked digital media environment. The chapters analyse how journalists have experienced and navigated job loss, re-employment, career change and career re-invention as traditional patterns of newsroom employment give way to occupational change, income insecurity and precarious work in journalism globally. The authors showcase the design, methodology and results of the New Beats project, a ground-breaking longitudinal study of change in the work of Australian journalists, as well as related case studies of job loss and career change in journalism based on research in different national settings across the global North and global South. The book also considers the wider implications of changes in journalism work for media sustainability, gender equity, and journalism work futures. The book provides a theoretically informed and empirically grounded analysis of job loss and the new contours of journalistic work in a critical political, cultural, economic, and social industry. It will be an important resource for researchers and students in disciplines including journalism, media and communication studies, business, and the social sciences in general.

This timely collection of essays analyses the crisis of journalism in contemporary South Africa at a period when the media and their role are frequently at the centre of public debate. The transition to digital news has been messy, random and unpredictable. The spread of news via social media platforms has given rise to political propaganda, fake news and a flattening of news to banality and gossip. Media companies, however, continue to shrink newsrooms, ousting experienced journalists in favour of 'content producers'. Against this backdrop, Daniels points out the contribution of investigative journalists to exposing corruption and sees new opportunities emerging to forge a model for the future of non-profit, public-funded journalism. Engaging and dynamic, the book argues for the power of public interest journalism, including investigative journalism, and a diversity of voices and positions to be reflected in the news. It addresses the gains and losses from decolonial and feminist perspectives and advocates for a radical shift in the way power is constituted by the media in the South African postcolony. A valuable introduction to the confusion that confronts journalism students, it has much to offer practising media professionals. Daniels uses her years of experience as a newspaper journalist to write with authority and illuminate complex issues about newsroom politics. Interviews with alienated media professionals and a semi-autobiographical lens add a personal element that will appeal to readers interested in the inner life of the media.

This book is your guide to understanding what journalism is and could be in an age of digital technology and datafication. Journalism today is entwined with the digital. Stories can come from crowdsourcing and content farms. They can incorporate data visualisations and virtual reality. Journalists can find themselves working as self-employed digital entrepreneurs or for tech giants like Google and Facebook. This book explores the development of journalism in this era of digital tech, and big and open data. It explores the crucial new developments of online journalism, data journalism, computational journalism and entrepreneurial journalism, and what this means for our understanding of journalism as a profession, and as a part of society. Using a wealth of international case studies, Jingrong Tong explores contemporary issues such as: AI, Automated news, ‘robot reporters’, and algorithmic accountability. Digital business models, from venture capital to tech start-ups to crowd-funding. Audiences and dissemination in and age of platform capitalism Questions of censorship, democracy and state control. Digital challenges to journalistic autonomy and legitimacy. With clear explanations throughout, Journalism in the Data Age introduces you to a range of ideas, debates and key concepts. It is essential reading for all students of journalism. Dr Jingrong Tong is Senior Lecturer in Digital News Cultures at the University of Sheffield.

TODAY ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT happens in the world has an economic impact. Business and financial journalists make sense of it all. They cleverly craft their stories so everyone can readily understand the ever-changing trends of a global economy. Their reporting resonates with savvy financial and corporate professionals, as well as those who find the intricacies of business transactions and the jargon in annual reports, profit-¬and-loss statements, and public stock offerings, totally mystifying.Once part of an overlooked department in a bustling newsroom, business and financial reporters are front and center when it comes to reporting today's headlines. Business news has come into its own over the last 30 years. The business desk is no longer the dumping ground for boring stories that only make it to the back pages of a publication or get cut when a television news program is running too long. Business and financial news is much more than a footnote to history these days, as fluctuations on the world's financial markets reach into everyone's wallet. In a money-driven world, the business or economic angle of a story is usually in the lead. With jobs and benefits, mortgage rates and household budgets, retirement plans and pension funds all hanging in the balance, news from the world of business and finance is not just for Wall Street types anymore. People in all walks of life - from blue-collar workers to white-collar professionals - want the latest news from the world of business and finance, and they want it put into perspective to help them understand how it impacts them.Business and financial journalists have to figure out the importance of the latest business headlines and report, and what they mean both short and long term. Federal and state government agencies are constantly reporting on economic indicators, from jobs reports to housing starts, but determining what those findings mean for a particular region requires the insight of business and financial reporters. These intrepid journalists take an unbiased look at the numbers and determine whether a lower unemployment rate stems from surging job growth, or it simply means that a certain segment of the population has given up searching for work. Understanding the nuances of the worldwide economy, business and financial reporters separate propaganda from truth. They sift through financial reports and determine whether there is really good news to report, or there is just a positive spin being put on a rather bleak economic outlook. These journalists ask the tough questions, trying to pry out information from tight-lipped business executives who do not like bad news of any kind to leak out. Navigating between the movers and shakers of the business world, trying to augment their bottom line, and government officials, working to increase their political capital, journalists who report on the financial world keep these powerful people honest and hold them accountable. Reporting on the economy was not always seen as a job that would get your blood flowing, but times have certainly changed. Today, business and financial news is where bold, ambitious, dogged reporters build their reputations

Journalism is in transition. Irrevocable decisions are being made, often based on flimsy evidence, which could change not only the future of journalism, but also the future of democracy. This book, based on extensive research, provides the opportunity to reflect upon these decisions and considers how journalism could change for the better and for the good of democracy. It covers: the business landscape work and employment the regulatory framework audiences and interaction the impact of technology on practices and content ethics in a converged world The book analyses research in both national and local journalism, broadcast, newspaper and online journalism, broadsheet and tabloid, drawing comparisons between the different outlets in the field of news journalism, making this essential reading for scholars and students of journalism and media studies.

This is a critical examination of the impact of sustained large-scale austerity cuts on local government communications in the UK. Budget constraints have left public sector media teams without the resources for robust citizen-facing communications. The "nose for news" has been downgraded and local journalists, once the champions of public interest coverage, are a force much diminished. The book asks, what is lost to local democracy as a result? And what does it mean when no one is holding the country’s public spenders to account? The authors present extensive interviews with communications professionals working across different council authorities. These offer important insights into the challenges currently being faced by communicators within local public services. The book also includes in-depth case studies on the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Rotherham child-grooming scandal and the Sheffield tree-felling controversy. These events all raise serious questions about the scrutiny and accountability of local authorities and the important role the media can and does play. Local Democracy, Journalism and Public Relations provides new empirical data on, and the real-world views of, working communications teams in local government today. For students and researchers interested in local journalism and public relations, the book illuminates the current relationship between these professions, local democracy and political accountability.

Low pay. Uncertain work prospects. Diminished prestige. Why would anyone still want be a journalist? Drawing on in-depth interviews in France and the United States, Matthew Powers and Sandra Vera-Zambrano explore the ways individuals come to believe that journalism is a worthy pursuit—and how that conviction is managed and sometimes dissolves amid the profession’s ongoing upheavals. For many people, journalism represents a job that is interesting and substantial, with opportunities for expression, a sense of self-fulfillment, and a connection to broader social values. By distilling complex ideas, holding the powerful to account, and revealing hidden realities, journalists play a crucial role in helping audiences make sense of the world. Experiences in the profession, though, are often far more disappointing. Many find themselves doing tasks that bear little relation to what attracted them initially or are frustrated by institutions privileging what sells over what informs. The imbalance between the profession’s economic woes and its social importance threatens to erode individuals’ beliefs that journalism remains a worthwhile pursuit. Powers and Vera-Zambrano emphasize that, as with many seemingly individual choices, social factors—class, gender, education, and race—shape how journalists make sense of their profession and whether or not they remain in it. An in-depth story of one profession under pressure, The Journalist’s Predicament uncovers tensions that also confront other socially important jobs like teaching, nursing, and caretaking.

Photojournalism Disrupted addresses the unprecedented disruptions in photojournalism over the last decade, with a particular focus on the Australian news media context. Using a mixed methods approach, the book assesses the situation facing press photographers and their employers in the supply of professional imagery for news storytelling. Detailed qualitative case studies looking at special events and crisis reporting complement a longitudinal study of sourcing practices around everyday events. Additionally, interviews with industry professionals offer insights into how news organizations are managing significant structural change. Ultimately, the book argues that photojournalism is being reshaped in line with wider industrial disruptions that have led to the emergence of a highly casualized workforce. As a comprehensive study of contemporary photojournalism practices, Photojournalism Disrupted is ideal for scholars and students internationally, as well as (photo)journalists and media professionals.

Following recent developments in digital technologies, financial crises, and changes in audience preferences, this book addresses the critical challenges and disruptions facing the profession of journalism: an arguably precarious industry suffering from employment insecurity, individualization, and loss of autonomy. Drawing on research from the Norwegian and Nordic media landscape, Journalism Between Disruption and Resilience elaborates on how boundary struggles between journalism and other forms of content, such as marketing and public relations, have become blurred, while social distinctions within the profession are deepened and exacerbated by downsizing and cutbacks in newsrooms and their journalistic staffs. The impact of these developments on the institutional and democratic role of journalism in society is discussed alongside the tensions between professional autonomy and precarious work. Expanding upon several earlier research studies, grounded in the sociology of professions and freelance work, this book provides a new theoretical framework from which to addressjournalistic precarity and the role of journalism in society. This is an insightful study for advanced students and researchers in the areas of professional journalism, journalism education, and media industries including marketing and public relations.

This book examines how journalism can overcome harmful institutional issues such as work-related trauma and precarity, focusing specifically on questions of what happiness in journalism means, and how one can be successful and happy on the job. Acknowledging profound variations across people, genres of journalism, countries, types of news organizations, and methodologies, this book brings together an array of international perspectives from academia and practice. It suggests that there is much that can be done to improve journalists’ subjective well-being, despite there being no one-size-fits-all solution. It advocates for a shift in mindset as much in theoretical as in methodological approaches, moving away from a focus on platforms and adaptation to pay real attention to the human beings at the center of the industry. That shift in mindset and approach involves exploring what happiness is, how happiness manifests in journalism and media industries, and what future we can imagine that would be better for the profession. Happiness is conceptualized from both psychological and philosophical perspectives. Issues such as trauma, harassment, inequality, digital security, and mental health are considered alongside those such as precarity, recruitment, emotional literacy, intelligence, resilience, and self-efficacy. Authors point to norms, values and ethics in their regions and suggest best practices based on their experience. Constituting a first-of-its-kind study and guide, Happiness in Journalism is recommended reading for journalists, educators, and advanced students interested in topics relating to journalists’ mental health and emotion, media management, and workplace well-being. This book is accompanied by an online platform which supports videos, exercises, reports and links to useful further reading.