More journalists have become freelance and left wing, says Reuters Institute report
Survey also reveals lack of diversity and fewer older female and ethnically-diverse journalists
The proportion of journalists on permanent contracts has fallen from three-quarters to two-thirds since 2015, according to a new Reuters Institute report on the make-up and practices of the profession.
Called UK Journalists in the 2020s, the review revealed that the number of freelancers grew from 17% to 28% between 2015 and 2023.
The report also found that 90% of UK journalists are white, 91% are college-educated and 71% come from a privileged background.
In addition, the majority of journalists are aged 40 or over (63%) but there are fewer female and ethnic minority journalists aged over 50 - suggesting the working conditions are less conducive to those two groups remaining in the sector.
The survey also found that most journalists have left-leaning values - even more so as a group than since 2015; the last time the Reuters Institute carried out the same survey. Then around half (54%) identified with the political left, but this had increased to three quarters (77%) by 2023.
UK Journalists in the 2020s is based on a survey conducted between September and November 2023 with a representative sample of 1,130 UK journalists and “more than 200 other relevant sources”, said Eduardo Suárez, head of editorial at Reuters Institute.
The report reveals how the profession has become increasingly uncertain and that inequalities continue within the profession, particularly “between specific groups in terms of pay and seniority”.
Showing the work that still needs to be done on the gender pay gap, the survey found that men and those aged 40 or over had higher salaries and are more likely to have a permanent contract and senior management role.
Concerningly, just 18% of UK journalists reported they had ‘never’ experienced safety threats related to their work over the previous five years and - in what appears to be a weakened commitment to a universal professional ethos - fewer than 60% agreed that professional standards should always determine ethical behaviour.
This compares with the 94% who agreed in 2015 that ‘journalists should always adhere to codes of professional ethics, regardless of the situation’.
Other key findings include:
- A higher percentage of UK journalists were privately educated (13% at primary, 22% at secondary schools) than is the case for the general population (6%).
- Only 12% of UK journalists grew up in a working-class household. Those journalists who had a parent who worked in one of the three most privileged occupations (71%) were more likely to be employed by the national media.
- In 2023, the median annual income for UK journalists was between £37,501 and £45,000 after tax. Men, those aged 40 or over, those whose main employer was a broadcaster, and those who worked for publicly owned media all had higher salaries on average.
- Most UK journalists worked from home at least three days per week, with some variation by gender, age, and main employer.
- 84% of UK journalists had a main employer from a legacy media background.
- The distribution platform (from print to podcasts) that UK journalists were most likely to produce journalism for was websites (97% at least ‘rarely’), followed by social media (80%), print (74%), email newsletters (62%), podcasts (56%), news apps (53%), radio (39%), television (36%), and messaging apps (32%).
- Social media was widely used by UK journalists professionally, with 70% saying they regularly (‘always’ or ‘often’) used it to discover news stories and 57% saying they regularly used it to promote their journalism.
- 60% of female journalists disapproved of payment for confidential information, compared with 48% of male journalists.