The 'Wild West' of freelance journalism

LONDON, March 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- New research, commissioned by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and conducted by CREATe, reveals a profession characterised by financial precarity, inequalities and a "Wild West" approach to regulatory oversight that means journalists are missing out on much-needed revenue streams.

The research surveyed almost 500 freelance journalists in the UK. The findings were announced at the AGM of the All Party Writers Group in Parliament on Tuesday 19 March.

Freelance journalist Anna Cordea-Rado said: "The ALCS report hammers home a harsh reality: freelance journalism pay cannot sustain a livelihood. It doesn't for me, nor scores of my freelance colleagues."

Pay

"I have loved my work and know the huge importance of journalism but, sadly, would hesitate to encourage a young person today to become a freelancer."

The survey found that pay for freelance journalists is unacceptably low. Median income for primary-occupation freelance journalists sits at just £17,500, a figure below the minimum wage, assuming a typical 35-hour work week.

There was also anecdotal evidence that pay is stagnating: "In staff jobs people get pay rises and promotions - or they change jobs and get an increased salary. As freelancers we just get paid the same rate. I think most freelancers are afraid to ask for more in case they aren't commissioned anymore."

The 'Wild West' of freelance journalism

"Contracts are an endangered species."

A surprising number of respondents invoked the metaphor of the 'Wild West' to illustrate the profession's lack of regulatory oversight and systemic approach to remunerating journalists. This means that most journalists are missing out on desperately needed sources of licensing revenue. The survey found that:

• 40% of journalists took on work without contracts.
• 47% of journalists allowed their copyright to be assigned to news publishers.
• 47% of journalists have signed an exclusivity clause, locking them out of benefiting from wider opportunities, often in perpetuity.
• 93% of journalists have never received a payment from established international licensing agreements between publishers and online platforms.

The report revealed a profession characterised by informal contract practices, where agreements are routinely made orally or over WhatsApp. Copyright allows journalists to be compensated for the exploitation of their work. However, where contracts exist, they typically compel journalists to forfeit these rights and potential associated revenue streams.

While there are some licensing agreements in place between publishers and platforms in the UK for so called news scraping, the survey also found the vast majority (93%) of freelance journalists have never received a payment from this source. This is despite the increasing significance of secondary uses for online content.

Artificial intelligence

"As AI grows more sophisticated, I grow more concerned that the journalism that we were trained to do, that we have spent years honing, could become extinct. I've had colleagues laugh about how my job will be extinct in a few years. They might be right."

The research highlighted widespread concern among freelance journalists that technology companies are using their content to train artificial intelligence systems, without consent or compensation. Given the nature of freelance journalism, they are also concerned that these artificial intelligence systems will have the effect of devaluing, or even outright replacing, their labour.  

Inequality

"There's a great deal of invisible exclusion, masked a lot by performative inclusion."

The research found significant inequalities based on class, ethnicity and disability:

• Most freelance journalists came from professional family backgrounds (63%), whereas only 19% came from "lower" socio-economic backgrounds. Journalists from lower socio-economic backgrounds were found to earn nearly half that of journalists from more privileged backgrounds.
• Freelance journalism was found to be an "overwhelmingly white profession". Black freelance journalists were found to earn seven times less than their white counterparts, although we should be cautious due to the very small sample size.
• Disabled journalists earned significantly less (£11,500) than their non-disabled colleagues (£17,500).
• There were however no observed inequalities among women and LGBTQIA+ journalists, in terms of both representation and pay.

Next steps

In the report CREATe recommend the following steps to improve the conditions, rights and livelihoods of freelance journalists:

Compulsory negotiation requirements between digital platforms and rightsowners. Similar 'bargaining codes' have already been employed in both Australia and Canada. It is crucial that any such mechanism should apply equally to all rightsowners, including journalists as well as publishers.

Establishment of a freelance commissioner. ALCS is actively campaigning for a dedicated commissioner to facilitate discussions between freelancers and the UK government. Freelancers are too often overlooked by policymakers; the creation of such a role would greatly improve engagement and plug gaps in knowledge.

Changes to copyright legislation. The establishment of clearer rights for the use of journalistic content for emerging secondary use markets (such as news scraping) should be considered, which may, in turn, also bring about more comprehensive collective bargaining and licensing (resulting in more payments).

Reducing barriers to access for marginalised demographic groups. The report demonstrates that the profession risks becoming the exclusive remit of the 'privileged', excluding workers from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Active, supportive advocacy may be needed at the early stages in a prospective journalists' career.

Rights and contracts education. This report confirms that many journalists are uncertain about their rights, particularly in regard to rights assignment and waivers of moral rights, both of which may have important implications for routes to earnings. More effective signposting to existing resources would greatly assist freelance journalists.

Chief Executive of ALCS, Barbara Hayes said: "As ALCS prepares to distribute more than £31million to over 100,000 writers, we are shocked to see so few freelance journalists benefit from the new and emerging online reuses of their work. This report reveals some worrying trends for the profession, including low pay and informal work practices. While digital platforms and artificial intelligence present both risks and opportunities for freelance journalists, the Government must do more to empower these creators, by supporting mechanisms to negotiate compensation for the use of works in the platform economy."

Professor Martin Kretschmer, Director of the CREATe Centre, said: "Our latest data on freelance journalists indicates a still strong reliance in earnings on traditional media organisations. Whether new digital business models can deliver sustainable quality journalism is one of the big questions of our time. It matters for the future of democratic societies."

EDITOR'S NOTES 

Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) 

ALCS is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers' work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal for writers. It represents over 120,000 members, and since 1977 has paid over £650million to writers.
alcs.co.uk

CREATe

CREATe is the Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy, funded as UK research infrastructure by the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) and hosted by the University of Glasgow's School of Law (a global top 50 Law School). CREATe is an acronym for Creativity, Regulation, Enterprise and Technology. It was established in 2012 as the result of a competition for a national centre for "copyright and new business models in the creative economy" and specialises in interdisciplinary research in the context of intellectual property, competition, information and technology law.