Down, but not out: journalism jobs and media sustainability in the UK

Abstract

Coming as it did on the back of long-term structural changes that challenge its role and revenues, the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic has raised profound questions about the sustainability of the news media industry in the UK. To engage with the question of media sustainability, this chapter provides an original analysis of key results from a 2012 survey of journalists who had been laid off. We then analyse what has happened in the news media industry in the decade since this survey, and consider what that might mean next – for the numbers of professional journalists employed in the UK (How many?), the profile of those journalists (Who?), their area of work (What sector, what channel?), and the economic model that sustains them (How are professional journalists paid?). We conclude by reflecting on the role that a diverse cohort of professional journalists working in the public interest can play in the sustainability of the societies they purport to serve (Why it matters?).