Journalism is becoming a profession for only the rich – so why won’t anyone talk about it?
Expensive degrees and unpaid internships have priced out all but the most wealthy young people from becoming reporters, broadcasters or writers in Australia – but many are keeping quiet. In this long-form investigation, Mumbrella’s Adam Thorn speaks to struggling wannabe journalists, industry legends as well as the biggest players worldwide fighting to ensure the fourth estate reflects the public it serves.
On the surface, Young Australian Writers is an invite-only Facebook group set up as a forum for aspiring authors under 40. In reality, it operates more as a kind of support group for its 3,500 frustrated members, many of whom are trying to get their first job in journalism.
So you’ll see posts on the kind of topics you’d expect – articles on new indie mags, adverts for new courses, tips on how to structure features – but also the type you maybe wouldn’t: there’s an anonymous database revealing 250 journalists’ salaries, advice on how to copyright work against theft and even a page that reviews internships.
It’s also why I’m now sat in a hot chocolate cafe in the suburbs of Sydney with Isla Williams, one of the members who answered my post asking for interviews for this feature. I must have spoken to dozens of young people with similar tales of toil for little results, but her situation seemed particularly typical of Australia: a talented young writer from a country town who’s put in thousands of hours of work and study, but without a full-time journalism role to show for it.
Isla, call me
FT role. Journalism.
0405128867
I read this for free. I read all my news this morning for free.
That is why there is no money in journalism and not enough jobs.
No one wants to pay or needs to pay.
One can only hope you’re not that stingy as to enable an adblocker whilst you consume others time-consuming work for free.
Yeah but their point is right isn’t it? The point being made is that because 90% of newspapers now give their news away for free online, no one pays for it. This means no one makes much money = papers don’t hire many journos etc. Also, most people nowadays don’t want to pay for news because most news is now free. It’s a vicious circle. It has nothing to do with your ad block comment.
The point is not whether I do or not (i don’t, as it happens) but that I *can*.
I could also source my news from ad-free sources such as the BBC and ABC.
I recall talking to a UK journalism associate who said that several attempts to create online news sites in the UK had failed because of the dominance of the BBC (whether this is problematic or not is a separate debate).
The point is that free stuff obliterates paid stuff. The amount of people who (a) can and (b) will pay for content if equivalent content is up there for free is a fraction of what is required to fund paid journalism.
If we want news to be more than media releases and opinion, then it will require more people paying more for it.
This article required research, and appears to contain no traces of media release. Yet all I’m paying for it is briefly directing my brain to an ad for a Mumbrella entertainment awards night that I’m only looking at to write this sentence. (I am not going to submit anything or attend). I can’t imagine that’s of much value to Mumbrella. I don’t know what proportion of people interested in journalism are in the entertainment marketing industry, but I’m guessing there’s relatively little overlap.
Unfortunately, most media outlets offer me the option of spending hundreds of dollars a year for access to vast amounts of articles I don’t want (and a few I do), or only seeing headings and the first par or so.
But how do you change that mindset?
You can’t. The world has moved on. All you can do is provide a service worth subscribing to that is better than what’s on offer for free (like Netflix or one of the music services, perhaps).
But doing that for news may not be possible. Just consider how many people watch current affairs documentaries compared to reality and drama TV series or movies. The only mass-interest news sources are the equivalent of the latter: eg the Daily Mail Online, which is essentially celebrity trash and photos. You could probably cut its “news” content with no appreciable drop in viewership. And even then, I don’t think a critical mass of their readers would subscribe if it went paywall. Also consider traditional tabloid circulation figures versus broadsheets. Always an order of magnitude higher.
The best hope is that news is preserved as transparent public information critical for democracy and education, and is publicly funded (eg ABC, BBC).
There is probably something interesting in that piece but it is too long for the average working person to read. Could be subbed into 10 tight pars.
Mike, Adam has nailed it. I have been at every stage of this story over the course of almost 40 years. Gifted a job through “the network”, fighting hard to get one where I no contacts, mentoring the next generation and then, like Linnell, spat out. But every step of the way, I was paid for my labour. I trust your comment is ironic. Even a 10 par tabloid would give this story the space or deserves. Well done Adam.
Here, here. Well said, Simon,and great work Adam.
Thanks Simon!
Hi Simon, You and I both know that publishers have to make money. That’s why all non-government media were launched in the first place. Fairfax, News, Mumbrella, Prime, Key – they all have to make profit to survive. People get hired and “spat out” according to the publisher’s ability to make money from the words they write. Sure, journalism schools are turning out too many graduates. Everyone in the industry knows that. They are also filling those graduates heads with the idea they’ll be able to write the “truth” according to some “journalistic code of ethics” (my first editor used to pretend to throw up whenever someone mentioned journalistic ethics). Publishing is a business. It hires and fires who it needs to make a profit. The kids coming out of journalism schools will find jobs – it just might not be the job they envisaged. – BTW I still think that could have been said in ten tight pars!!!
@mike tight pars
Wrong, you are fake news.
thanks Adam for an excellent feature piece – the interviews were outstanding
I went to the job network the other day. They told me even though I have a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Grad Dip in Communication they couldn’t help me find a job in related fields. My options are Hospitality or Retail. I have four years comms experience, and only two years in retail and zero in hospitality.
This article lost all credibility with “… Seven ousted 150 people from its Melbourne Broadcast Centre …” as those people were not journalists, but on-air presentation staff as 7 moves to outsource its playout. In fact, with the broadcast industry’s continued obsession with “news” and “reality” as the staples of the schedule, far more people in those other areas have lost their jobs (or never been able to start one) – particularly in regional areas. Yet another example of a self-centered so-called “journalist” not doing the necessary research before whinging.
THIS WAS BRILLIANT ADAM!
Congratulations Mumbrella team for investigating such an incredibly important topic.
Nepotism in journalism is also alive and well.
Having strong connections in the industry is a pre-requisite to get an internship, let alone an entry level job.
Thanks Ayla! And you make a very good point, Offspring. It would be fascinating to know exactly how many of those that get on the few precious grad scheme places left have parents in senior positions in the industry…
Adam
This all rings depressingly true for me. I live in Tasmania, went to entirely public schools, I’m a daughter to loving parents who have never been to university, and I had to move 500-odd kilometres away from home to study journalism, a job I’d dreamed of since I was nine years old. By nothing more than a happy coincidence, my family moved at the same time for my father’s job, which meant I could keep living with them and save my money. Without them, I would have been in real trouble.
I know on the mainland, numerous unpaid internships is key to being a competitive journalism job applicant. In Tasmania, my university offers only one chance at an internship. If you want to intern at a large newsroom on the mainland, you have to pay flights, accommodation, living expenses, course fees and, of course, sacrifice any money you’d usually get from part-time work. If you want to do more than one, which is increasingly a necessity, you have to pay for your own workplace insurance and make the secure the internships yourself.
I’m lucky. I work for the ABC on a casual basis with a lot of hours (a job I pestered and networked relentlessly for), I can live at home, and I’ve used the money I’ve saved to pay to do internships in Sydney and overseas, but I’m the exception to the rule. If my parents didn’t move when I did and if I didn’t manage to get a job with the ABC, I’d be fundamentally disadvantaged, and that just perpetuates the cycle of journalists representing only a fraction of total society. Journalism can’t expect to uphold democracy if it’s so inherently undemocratic itself.
Thanks for writing E. Your story mirrors so many that I’ve heard.
Feel free to pop me an email on adam@mumbrella.com.au, too, as I would love to talk in future.
“Work for free” and then later “you have to pay for your own workplace insurance”.
The word is “slavery” not journalism.
Journalism is no longer a profession. It lacks two things:
1) Commitment to ever improving standards (the trend in journalism is down, not up, with behavioural standards)
2) The possibility of being de-registered for failing to meet those standards (does not exist).
Its fair to say that if journalism had these things not only would it be a profession…it would have a future.
And who are you to judge? How do you form this opinion? Do you work as a journalist or in the media, or are you another armchair critic who thinks they know everything, but doesn’t have the first the clue about journalism and what is involved??
The two criteria are sound, in the sense that that’s typically how other “professions” operate. To put journalism in line with other professions, criteria 1 should include the mandated annual completion of PD.
As to whether these are currently being upheld by the journalism industry or not, and whether they’re required for the industry to survive, I don’t have a valuable opinion.
You wouldn’t pay for it any more than you pay for it now, despite the (utterly misplaced) sanctimony.
Two ad-homs guys. Try harder.
As a hiring editor for quite a while young people can still make it. And no you don’t have to know someone there. Reputable orgs do paid internships, or you could ask to do a short one (a week or so, with modified hours if necessary) to get unpaid experience.
My advice is for people to get as many bylines as they can. If you do get an internship, work your arse off, always have story ideas & suggestions, make yourself indispensable.
Also work towards your goal. Everyone wants to work for big newspapers and the ABC. Find a publication where you can get experience and learn to file fast and accurate copy. Once you have that experience you can start to look for jobs at your dream organisations.
It’s not easy and young people are definitely exploited within the industry. But it’s not impossible.
“If you do get an internship, ”
That’s a big if, as this article makes clear.
the rest of your response is therefore pointless.
An internship is not mandatory though – if someone had a great portfolio, interviewed well and could complete a writing test I’d still consider them.
But how would one obtain a “great portfolio” without a job or internship? It’s a viscious cycle.
Still not addressing the core issue
How about some actual solutions?
Rachel Buchanan wrote an excellent article for The Age back in 2013 stating why she could no longer be a journalism academic:
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/from-the-classroom-to-the-scrap-heap-20130927-2ujm6.html
Great article. I graduated from my journalism degree a few years ago and have since been freelancing regularly for Fairfax, SBS and News Corp. I can’t seem to break it into the industry because most places do require experience in a newsroom. Six of my seven internships over the years have been unpaid and without having a bar job on the side I wouldn’t be able to support myself or my career. I won’t give up any time soon and i’ll continue to work into the early hours of the morning and weekends. I just hope there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Thanks KG. And keep going if you can! But I know how hard it is, too. I’m planning to keep digging away at this topic in future, so feel free to email me with your experiences on adam@mumbrella.com.au.
Only two jobs listed under journalism on the Mumbrella job board. If you search around there’s plenty of journo jobs listed elsewhere. How about creating a ‘journo job week’. There are vacancies and people crying out for jobs. Perhaps Mumbrella can play a more active role?
Located 23 job vacancies in Australia that contain in the title: Journalist
https://au.indeed.com/jobs?q=Title%3A%22journalist%22&l=Australia
Compare that to:
‘Content producer’ 27
‘Vet’ 74
‘PR’ – 99
‘Data scientist’ 278
‘Account Manager’ 1495 vacancies
Actuary was 15……
There were zero lion tamers…
Hi Simon, You and I both know that publishers have to make money. That’s why all non-government media were launched in the first place. Fairfax, News, Mumbrella, Prime, Key – they all have to make profit to survive. People get hired and “spat out” according to the publisher’s ability to make money from the words they write. Sure, journalism schools are turning out too many graduates. Everyone in the industry knows that. They are also filling those graduates heads with the idea they’ll be able to write the “truth” according to some “journalistic code of ethics” (my first editor used to pretend to throw up whenever someone mentioned journalistic ethics). Publishing is a business. It hires and fires who it needs to make a profit. The kids coming out of journalism schools will find jobs – it just might not be the job they envisaged. – BTW I still think that could have been said in ten tight pars!!!
I have never read such a load of crappy “poor little old me” rhetoric since I read Humpty Dumpty!
I find it weird that an industry that wields the sharpest tool in the draw (the pen is mightier than the sword) can’t see/write their way out of the woods!
I failed English at school and never did an educated idiots course so I can still use my creative imagination to create I future that I want and not one that others have laid before me then whipped away!
I have run a successful monthly 52-page community-based news-magazine with a distribution of 24K for the last 22 years.
I started this with a few hundred dollars in the bank and while I was recovering from major brain surgery due to an aneurysm at the time.
While the first few years were incredibly tough eventually it all came together
While the Big Boys take their toys and leave emptiness, there is a massive opportunity for the brave to change the game.
My publication may not be the Australian news paper, but over that time it has achieved a substantial local readership in its niche and has become relevant in their lives.
We write, because of who we are not just because its a job, we have to be creative independent thinkers, not just mime artists parroting platitudes.
The state of journalism in the world has come about because of the lack of the independence and integrity of editors and journalists and the sweeping away of the small publications that underpin the industry by the lure of the mighty dollar has resulted in most news for the masses has now become networked info-tainment.
Readers are getting bored and don’t they don’t know what to believe anymore they are turning off the main stream news feeds
The recent political stories around the Prime Minister spill were an obvious strategy to get people on board yet I didn’t hear one question though the main stream media questioning this! Instead the theatre and drama became the news and it became so that the journalists have become the game show hosts!
The one thing that will never ultimately work on a large scale is local news publishing as the one thing that eventually gets broken is the connection with the readers.
The nirvanic promise of social media and the internet killing off print media (this originally was a media release from facebook) is all turning to mush as there is too much hogwash and not enough substance and factual truth. Even when there is it is tossed into the nightsoil bucket and gets mixed up with uneducated opinions and outright lies.
Start your own organic small print media community newspaper/magazine and watch how successful it will grow.
Publishing started initially at the grassroots level and to rebuild a quality news network in Australia or in any free country that advocates democracy; this is where we must begin again.
Sharpen your pencils get over the piss-weak excuses, we have a hard job to do but we will not fail!
Barry Searle -Ed
info@thelocalbulletin
thelocalbulletin.news
‘My publication may not be the Australian news paper, but over that time it has achieved a substantial local readership in its niche and has become relevant in their lives.’
I would be glad it isn’t The Australian, otherwise you would probably be insolvent by now! http://www.abc.net.au/news/201.....ns/8796800
The barriers to entry for journalism have never been lower. Literally all you need to get started is a laptop, a decent mic and a YouTube account.
You need to be driven and great at marketing yourself also. Some of the best ever journo’s were great with a pen and that was it… Their editor / publishing house looked after the rest…
Agreed, the great journo’s who are able to gain a foothold online could cut through and do really well…
Journalism in this country is a joke.
Unpaid interns working on major stories, while experienced people are thrown on the scrapheap.
Even the ABC’s once respected bulletins are often train wrecks