"This report presents findings from the third wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS3), conducted between 2021 and 2025. In this iteration, we focused on journalists’ perceptions of risk and uncertainty in their profession and sought to identify key factors that shape how journalists navigate
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journalism’s changing environment. These risks and uncertainties arise from four partially overlapping domains: politics, economy, technology, and news consumption. Accordingly, the WJS3 questionnaire addressed journalists’ safety, editorial freedom, professional roles, news influences, and labor conditions. Our survey confirms that journalism is under pressure. Journalists worldwide are often undercompensated, and more than one-third engage in secondary employment. Economic pressures on news organizations have intensified in most countries. Nearly half of journalists have been targeted with hate speech, while psychological, physical, and digital threats are more prevalent in the Global South than in the Global North. More than 300 researchers from 75 countries participated in WJS3. This report provides a concise overview of key global findings. Subsequent publications will analyze specific topics in greater depth; please visit worldsofjournalism.org for more information." (Foreword, page 4)
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"This report presents the main results of the surveys for journalists launched by the European cofunded project Taktak in collaboration with Display Europe in July and November 2024. The surveys aimed to have an overview of the working life of journalists in Europe, and gathered 436 replies. The two
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surveys were both translated in 13 languages (English, Spanish, German, Catalan, Galego, Greek, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, French, Italian, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian and Romanian). This report does not claim to be a representation of the working conditions of journalists in Europe but nevertheless gives an important insight on the subject. The respondents of the Taktak survey come from 33 different European countries (21 from EU member states, 13 from European countries and 8 non-European countries). The majority of respondents are experienced journalists aged between 40 and 49 years old (29,13%), and almost half of them, 49,7%, have been working for more than 15 years as a journalist. Also, for 61% of them, their journalistic work represents about 80-100% of their income [...]
The survey results include a sample of various employment contracts of journalists: over half (51,67%) of respondents are freelancers or work under non-employment contracts, while 39,44% are full-time employees. Respondents were also asked to elaborate on their type of contracts and there, a distinction must be made between employed and freelance journalists. Freelancers face precarious working conditions: low pay, lack of social benefits and administrative burdens, which leads to financial instability and stress. On the other side, employed journalists benefit from job stability, social security, and consistent income. However, respondents also mentioned restrictive work environments, and limited professional growth. Regional differences are also important to take into account regarding labor laws and the war in Ukraine. Overall, 52.5% of respondents are satisfied with their contracts, while 29.55% expressed dissatisfaction. Satisfaction varies significantly between freelancers and employees, with freelancers often struggling to sustain themselves even though the passion for journalism remains high." (Pages 2-4)
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"This paper analyzes the work experience of Israeli-Palestinian women journalists who reside and work in Israel for local news organizations or non-Israeli news agencies. It focuses on their experiences related to the intersected axes of their gender, ethnic, and national identities. Through themati
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c analysis of narrative interviews with 24 Palestinian women journalists, the study reveals that their work experiences vary between exclusion and inclusion among different news organizations. Israeli-Palestinian women journalists face barriers getting jobs at mainstream news agencies because of their accent; and when they apply to local Arab news organizations, they confront recruiting procedures based on a clan system that discriminates against women. However, a few of them report an advantage when trying to enter mainstream news organizations based on their image as an “authentic Arab woman.” Additionally, the study finds that the professional identity of all interviewees is closely connected to their ideological perceptions and political aims." (Abstract)
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"Journalists have always worked amidst risks to their safety; risks that have become all the more exacerbated in the digital age. Scholarship has documented journalists confronting cyberattacks, various forms of harassment, verbal abuse and hate speech, as well as legal threats from a variety of act
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ors, including audiences, sources, political powers, and organised criminals, among others. Such threats cause journalists psychological and physical harm and injury, including anxiety, burnout, and depression. In response, academia, industry, and think tanks have devised tools and policies to support journalists in doing their work safely. However, this chapter argues that approaching safety primarily in terms of external threats directed at journalists as a collective professional body, obscures the many ways in which journalism on an institutional, epistemic/paradigmatic level and organisational, newsroom culture level is an equally unsafe space for marginalized journalists. Drawing on concepts of ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘double burden,’ I consider the harmful impact that gendered, classed, and racialized forms of discrimination and socialization within the field have on marginalized journalists’ psychological and potentially physical wellbeing. As such, marginalized journalists work not only amidst safety threats emanating from outside of the field, but also from within it. To conclude, I suggest scholarly work rely on intersectional approaches to interrogate intra-field forms of unsafety at institutional, organisational, and individual levels, and envision solutions and approaches that disrupt dominant journalistic paradigms." (Abstract)
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"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increased challenge for journalists and media professionals worldwide. However, there is a lack of information on these adversities in many developing countries, including Bangladesh. Our study aims to explore these challenges and risks associated with journalism
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, including those who cover the health beat of news agencies in Bangladesh during the pandemic. The study follows a qualitative research approach as we interviewed national and local level journalists of leading newspapers, television channels, news agencies, and online news portals of Bangladesh. Twenty-eight in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted following purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview schedule was used for data collection. The collected data were audio-taped, transcribed, and later on analyzed thematically. Five themes emerged from our findings as the participants reported of challenges in adopting to the new communication technologies and methods, job insecurity and financial crises, loss of freedom of expression, problems accessing credible information, and health and safety issues. We conclude that specific protocols on job/salary protection, training on new information and communication technologies (ICTs), precise laws and policies on circulation and access to information, and a support system for sound physical and mental health of the journalists need to be prioritised during the pandemic." (Abstract)
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"This study explores the extent to which the Corona pandemic has changed the working conditions of journalists in Germany and how they perceive these changes. The goal is to provide both the scale and qualitative nature of Corona-induced changes in the working environment of journalists by means of
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an online survey of German journalists (n*=*983) in different employment situations. The results indicate that objective changes such as short-time work, income losses and the sudden shift to home office have notably shaped the world of journalistic work. On a subjective level, journalists’ responses mainly point to the personal financial fallout and resulting existential fears. Our findings suggest an intensified precarity in the working environment of journalists and highlight a growing gap between freelance and employed journalists." (Abstract)
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"Criticism towards journalists has increased significantly since the internet created easy and anonymous communication and has turned more abusive and threatening in recent years, becoming a regular feature of journalists’ work environment, particularly for women. This article presents survey data
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about the amount and nature of online and offline abuse, threats and violence experienced by journalists at Aotearoa New Zealand's largest news media company, Stuff. All respondents had experienced abuse, violence and/or threats, which they widely considered to be part of the job, but women received more identity and appearance-based abuse and men experienced more in-person threats of, and actual violence. Gender plays a part in how the journalists cope with the abrasive abuse received because of their job, with many more women and particularly Maori women considering leaving the profession. In line with calls for more intersectional analysis of journalists’ workplace experiences, our study considers the complex and nuanced ways that ethnicity intersects with gender to shape Maori and Pakeha journalists’ encounters with abuse, threats and violence. For instance, our subset of Maori women journalists experienced the highest rates of offline threats and violence." (Abstract)
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"Journalistic work has become increasingly precarious. Labor conditions in the profession meet several criteria of precarity, as established in the sociology of work. Journalists, especially freelancers, often have low and unstable incomes and only limited access to social insurance. Thus far, preca
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rity research in journalism has primarily focused on empirical investigations of precarious employment rather than on theorizing how journalists actually perceive these working conditions. This paper proposes a theoretical model that determines the factors of security and insecurity that can lead to a stronger or weaker perception of precarity. Drawing on a review of the precarity literature, the model allows for subjectivity within the precarious experience of journalists. It shows that family responsibilities and personality traits belong to the subjective factors influencing journalists’ perceptions of precarity. In addition, perceptions of insecure employment conditions depend on the life stage of the worker. We strongly recommend a multidimensional approach that captures not only the objective conditions of work but also journalists’ subjective sense of precarity." (Abstract)
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"Women in Afghanistan continue to have less access to information than men, particularly through TV and the internet. At least 33% of women (more in rural areas) rely on family as a key source of information, while men prioritise other information sources. Yet Afghan women’s information needs have
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never been more pronounced – due to restrictions on their activities, many are confined to their homes. Women in Afghanistan with media access rely on this more than ever to keep updated on issues that concern them, and spend more time accessing and using media: "Now women are in the confines of their homes… The virtual space is the only window for us to learn about what is happening." (Female FGD participant, Herat).
Two-thirds (65%) of female survey respondents say that the media is “very important” in their daily lives, compared with half (51%) of male respondents. Despite various efforts to cater to female audiences, 67% of female and male respondents feel that Afghan media only “somewhat” or “rarely” meets women’s needs. Reflecting restrictions on media content, respondents complain that domestic media contains too much religious content and not enough entertainment. However, educational content is still allowed, providing women and girls who are denied access to schooling with a vital source of education.
Respondents are more satisfied with the balance of content in international media and media run by Afghans in exile, and they are more likely to watch some types of entertainment, such as movies, on international than domestic TV. However, a number of international media outlets are inaccessible from Afghanistan. Journalists inside Afghanistan are banned from working with international TV/radio channels or news sites, and some have been arrested for doing so.
87% of respondents say the presence of women in the media in Afghanistan has decreased since August 2021. Only 41% could name a female presenter or journalist. Almost all of those named by respondents worked in the media before 2021, or currently work from outside Afghanistan. Audience members support women featuring in news and educational programmes but are less supportive of them featuring in comedy and sports content. Over half (54%) of the general survey respondents say they would support a female relative to work as a journalist. A further 12% would support a female relative under certain conditions, including wearing the hijab and travelling with a mahram (women cannot leave their home without a male chaperone)." (Executive summary, page 6)
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"This chapter highlights the position of freelance or self-employed journalists in the news sector from the pessimistic observation that news organizations tend to push journalists into a freelance status to cope with decreasing revenues and are inspired by neoliberal thoughts." (Abstract)
"In terms of connecting his life every human being needs a job. Human life is considered more prosperous when getting a decent job. Workers in carrying out their work in addition to getting wages, of course, need to get legal protection and work safety protection. There are many workers who work in
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dangerous areas, one of them is a journalist. Journalists in reporting for the sake of news that will be broadcast to the public or the audience, sometimes the coverage area is included in dangerous areas such as demonstrations or rallies. Demonstrations or rallies often end in chaos, in this case it is certain that many journalists from various media come to cover the demonstration. It is not uncommon for journalists to also get bad effects from such demonstrations such as accidents during demonstrations against journalists. In demonstrations the safety of journalists needs to be accounted for, because it is the journalists bet their lives for the sake of covering the news about the demonstration. Workers have the right to safety in their work area from the above problems in this study, the formulation of the problem can be raised, namely how is the form of occupational safety protection for journalists at the time of the demonstration? This study uses normative legal methods in which there is a lack of clarity on the regulation of occupational safety protection for journalists, especially when covering demonstrations. The purpose of this study is to know the form of occupational safety protection for journalists and of course provide full protection of Occupational Safety for journalists, especially when covering demonstrations. The solution that can be given is to clarify the regulations about who is responsible if journalists have an accident, especially when covering demonstrations." (Abstract)
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"This study examined the impact of job risks on job performance and the propensity to quit journalism among 576 TV camerapersons covering insecurity in Nigeria. The result of the study showed a significant main effect of job risks on job performance, F(2,548)*=*241.016, p*=*.001, eta squared, *p2*=*
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.468. Also, career longevity significantly affects the relationship between job risks and performance, F(1,548)*=*28.372, p*=*.001. Despite attaining statistical significance, the degree of the relationship was low, *p2*=*.049. A significant statistical relationship exists between job risks and the propensity to quit journalism among TV camerapersons. A further breakdown of the result showed that the more educated, the more propensity to quit journalism and vice versa. Finally, expected rewards such as career advancement, finance, commendations, and passion for journalism are why TV camerapersons have continued to cover security issues despite the known risks involved." (Abstract)
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"While most research on the Syrian revolution has been focussing on content analysis about how Western mainstream media cover and frame the conflict, this paper aims at exploring journalistic practices by Syrian journalists. We look at three concrete aspects: the socio-labor profile of the practitio
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ners and their circumstances, the dynamics of journalistic practices when covering the war and the perception of “objectivity” when doing so. A mixed method approach is employed in this study through a survey, answered by 86 Syrian journalists, and semi-structured interviews with 12 practitioners to enrich the data. Participants are members or collaborators of SIRAJ (Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism). The concept of “communities of interpretation” has been adopted to fit the role and work of both “professional” and “citizen journalists” within the sample. Findings show that local journalists, a heterogeneous group of different socio-labor backgrounds, have a preference for humanitarian topics, stories about conflicts between the government and the opposition, as well as the international global consequences of the conflict. On the other hand, there is an important gap between practitioners “positive” perceptions about their ability to achieve “objectivity” and the practical constraints they encounter when working in such extraordinarily difficult and risky circumstances." (Abstract)
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"This chapter examines the results of a number of studies that considered whether and why journalists sought to leave the profession. They found that freelance, female, and low earning journalists were the most likely to leave." (Abstract)
"The objective of this chapter is to establish a link between the concepts of job control and subjective well-being to explore the question of journalists’ happiness." (Abstract)
"Bringing together critical political economy of media and industrial relations research, the chapter argues that the collective bargaining agreement is a communicative means through which digital newsworker unions express worker resistance to labor issues." (Abstract)
"In this article, we revisit some of the debates about changing journalistic labour that have first emerged when digital technologies became widely available in newsrooms. The terms multiskilling, deskilling, up-skilling and re-skilling have been applied in a variety of contexts and in a range of st
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udies, but explorations of journalistic labour have tended to focus on core (news) workers. The de-skilling debate that originated in Braverman’s work continues to be relevant but we need a more nuanced approach to journalistic labour. Our case study addresses skills and changing work conditions in a regional Czech public service television newsroom and takes into account the experience of core as well as peripheral news workers. We conclude that camera reporters—those at the periphery of journalistic work—have faced the most detrimental loss of professional autonomy. We argue that a holistic approach to the core and the periphery of a newsroom helps us overcome some of the shortcomings of the conceptual variety of understandings of the journalistic field and the journalistic profession as well as the divergent definitions of skills involved in journalistic labour. Our case study is also important because it centres on underresearched public service media." (Abstract)
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"Dieses Arbeitspapier präsentiert erste Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Befragung von insgesamt 1.221 Journalist:innen in Deutschland, die zwischen September 2022 und Februar 2023 durchgeführt wurde. Die Studie, die von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft gefördert wird, ist Teil des Forschung
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sverbunds Worlds of Journalism, der in zahlreichen Ländern weltweit den Zustand des Journalismus und die wachsenden Komplexitäten untersucht, denen sich Journalist:innen in einer sich schnell verändernden Medienwelt gegenübersehen. Die Befragung befasst sich mit unterschiedlichen Aspekten des Journalismus, darunter Arbeitsbedingungen, Rollenverständnissen, ethischen Haltungen sowie wahrgenommenen Gefahren und Herausforderungen. Die Befunde zeigen: Journalist:innen in Deutschland sind überwiegend männlich und haben mehrheitlich einen akademischen Hintergrund; traditionelle Printmedienhäuser sind immer noch die wichtigsten Arbeitgeber; Journalist:innen in Deutschland sehen sich einem hohen Maß an Stress ausgesetzt, die Mehrheit hat in letzter Zeit Beleidigungen im Internet und Herabwürdigungen ihrer Arbeit erlebt; mehr als 40 Prozent haben Sorge, dass Angriffe gegen Journalist:innen nicht bestraft werden; beim Rollenselbstverständnis zeigt sich, dass es Journalist:innen in Deutschland besonders wichtig ist, zuverlässige Informationen zu liefern, Desinformation zu bekämpfen und Menschen zur Meinungsbildung zu befähigen. Einen hohen Stellenwert messen sie auch den Aufgaben bei, gesellschaftliche Missstände zu beleuchten und unparteiisch zu beobachten." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 5)
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"A suggestion by Government to introduce a minimum wage has the potential to ensure that journalists are paid a living wage, making it feasible to start an open conversation about the ethical implications of accepting blalizo [a “transport refund” issued to journalists by the organisers of event
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s and news conferences seeking coverage]. Once that conversation has begun in earnest, a secondary conversation can begin about industry support for eradicating blalizo. Ending the payment entirely may prevent bad actors from abusing the job title for personal gain. But Government and the industry itself will need to undertake a serious nationwide consultation to understand the full implications of all policies before they are implemented, however well intentioned. In the meantime, untrained radio volunteers should be provided with free learning opportunities to ensure they are exposed to industry ethics and norms, and understand the pitfalls and possibilities of the work journalists undertake. I believe it is possible for the media to self-regulate to ensure its freedom from government control, but it will require all outlets to come together – including government-funded outlets. Once this happens, a further conversation can begin about the principles we plan to uphold nationally, the routes to complaint and remedy, and the implications for those found wanting." (Conclusion)
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"En esta obra se aborda la situación de violencia y desigualdad que enfrentan los periodistas en América Latina, centrándose en el caso de México por ser este el país en donde se ha asesinado a un mayor número de comunicadores en los últimos 22 años. El enfoque se dirige hacia los periodista
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s de frontera, aquellos que trabajan en los márgenes físicos, políticos, económicos, culturales y tecnológicos de un territorio, y cuya condición no puede entenderse únicamente como un reflejo de lo que ocurre a nivel nacional o internacional, ya que presentan características propias y particularidades que los modelos existentes no logran explicar. Además, se explora el contexto histórico y político en el que los periodistas han ejercido su labor, incluyendo las transiciones democráticas y los regímenes autoritarios, y se destaca el impacto de la guerra contra el narcotráfico en la violencia ejercida hacia ellos en México. La autora enfatiza en la necesidad de adoptar nuevos marcos de análisis para comprender la situación de los periodistas de frontera, tomando en cuenta los márgenes del estado, la esfera pública a nivel microlocal y la capacidad que tienen para enfrentar las crisis." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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