This book chapter appeared in What do we mean by Local?, an academic text focusing on regional and grassroots journalism. It was constructed from research conducted for my MA in Print Journalism at Leeds Trinity University which was titled Where did all the staff go? – A study of Journalists in the UK regional print media.
An updated excerpt from the chapter was published by the Guardian in May 2012. This focused on the potential democratic dangers caused by regional newspapers closing.
The full chapter as published in the book, under the title Autumn Leaves: The sad and fast decline of the British regional press, is below.
The allure of working in journalism is as strong as ever. In the face of all the warnings of job insecurity, falling circulations and poor working conditions, it seems contradictory that journalism remains so popular as a choice of career. This despite sobering warnings from professionals like BBC radio presenter Andrew Edwards[1], who tells graduates that “there are more people graduating from media related courses this year than there are jobs in the whole of the British media.”
The difficulty facing aspiring journalists is that employers not only want them to develop journalistic skills but add on specialist abilities on top. Bosses at Reuters and the Financial Times named the ability to speak exotic languages like Chinese, Persian, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin as key for employability[2]. There is a real possibility that the coalition government’s plan to increase student fees will thin down the numbers applying for training in an increasingly insecure and low paying sector. In September it was confirmed six leading journalism degrees (Bournemouth, De Montford, Lincoln, University College Falmouth, Kent and Sheffield) will charge the maximum £9,000 fees, with the expectation most will follow suit.[3] This provoked a storm of anger from existing journalism students who branded new expensive courses a “waste of money” and paying to study journalism at that price “reckless”.
Other figures in the print industry have called for a uniformity of qualifications to avoid students choosing between taking courses accredited between the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) and Periodicals Training Council (PTC). Ponsford (2007) argues that “Both trainers and employers must find the seas of acronyms in the world of journalism training baffling…[set standards] could help minimise the sort of mistakes which bring the whole profession into disrepute.”
However it appears having a blizzard of courses and qualifications is a situation some training bodies prefer. In the NCTJ 2009-2010 annual report the body announced plans to “diversify into new areas of journalism including the broadcast sector” (traditionally the BJTC’s domain) with their new Diploma in Journalism despite Chief Executive Joanne Butcher admitting “We’re conscious that we have moved from an under-supply to an over-supply of qualified new entrants.”
All this evidence seems to support the viewpoint that students themselves will have to regulate journalism education throughout the next decade and beyond. For those graduates lucky enough to gain a first job, starting salaries on weekly papers are typically £10,000. “Too many graduate trainees are giving up after a year or two…Teachers, nurses, policeman all have significantly higher starting salaries” (Cole, 2003: 58-59).
For those graduates unable to gain full time employment or reporters made redundant, the prognosis is potentially even worse. Freelance or short-term contracts are becoming increasingly prevalent. Research into the impact of this unstable environment indicates “an elevated risk of poor subjective health…irregular earnings force many freelancers to work long hours, to postpone vacations or even to disregard episodes of illness” (Ertel et al, 2005).
Despite ‘suffering’ from the same desire as the new class journalists working within the print media find the allure of the industry from beyond a bizarre spectacle. Caesar (2010) observes “just as belts are being tightened and we are attempting to map our future in the internet age, the legions of graduates keep coming…[Are they] making what the hero of Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland calls ‘a historic mistake’?”
It is clear that with such a large, willing talent pool to pick from, the corporate owners seeking to maximise profits hold all the aces. Under-pressure newspapers no longer merely keep hours long and wages low, but employ ‘interns’ – unpaid, often well-trained journalists to work alongside senior colleagues. “It has become a fact of life,” says the deputy editor of a national broadsheet. “Interns are being used to fill the paper. If you’re struggling to have enough money to fill the pages, to have a stream of bright people who are willing to work for free because they want to learn something…it has become quid pro quo.” (Caesar, 2010).
All this is also making advancement to nationals doubly difficult for the hard working regional hack. Faced with competition from an increasingly ‘higher class’ of intern who can afford to work for national and prominent daily newspapers for free advancement is becoming extremely difficult. “Typically, what people do is they go to London and work for free, or for very little, until they get something. A very talented journalist from Newcastle who hasn’t got somewhere to stay in London is not going to be able to do that.” (Caesar, 2010).
Despite the gloom Jay Rosen (2011), professor of Journalism at New York University and creator of the PressThink blog, believes the graduates of today who succeed will have a unique opportunity to become the leaders of tomorrow as the press continues to evolve. “You have to be coming out with skills news organisations don’t know they need yet. We want students to teach their employers what they don’t know. One of the strange situations is that journalists previously going for a job interview were being asked about skills they already had themselves. Now it’s quite likely that employers are asking for skills they don’t have themselves.”
My study of regional reporters
In order to further investigate the reality of working within the regional newspaper industry I conducted my own study into the views of those who have worked and continue to work within the sector.
To gain perspective on how opinions can shift over time – as evidence by the Journalism Training Forum (2002), Williams and Franklin (2007) and Nel (2010) – I surveyed 63 existing and former regional newspaper reporters, BA Journalism graduates from 2005 and BA Journalism graduates from summer 2011 via social media and e-mail. The response rate was nearly a third (28.6%). The aim of this approach was to gain a rounded picture of the reality of being in a regional newsroom.
The view from the regional newsrooms
By far the most critical feedback came from those journalists who had solely worked in regional newspapers.
All but two of the respondents were experienced journalists who had worked in the regional newspaper industry for five years or more. One had been a reporter for between 1-3 years and another between 3-5 years. All of the respondents felt that newspapers were the most stressful media sector to work in over online, radio and television. They all also believed the regional newspaper sector had changed ‘for the worse’ or ‘definitely for the worse’ in the past five years.
“[The] quality is getting worse and worse. Conditions for employees are getting worse and worse. This is bad for society and the industry as a whole in terms of a lack of reporting of current affairs / politics etc. The shocking level of inaccuracy also gives an inaccurate perception of events to society.”
Respondent A, Male daily senior reporter
“Lack of investment… means newspapers are understaffed, staff are underpaid, under trained and morale is low. Goodwill and youthful enthusiasm only last so long and do not constitute a business strategy.”
Respondent C, Female daily senior reporter
The reasons for this were laid clear. Every reporter with daily regional experience answered, they worked ‘more than two hours per day’ in excess of their contracted hours, staff had decreased by ‘ten people or more’ at their title during the last five years and that they had a ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’ view of the regional sector.
“Most newspapers are losing staff, readers and profits with no ideas about how to rectify the situation. The current economic situation is making things worse and there are few signs that things will improve in this regard. Hence decline will doubtless continue.”
Respondent B, Male daily senior reporter
“Local newspapers need to major on their strengths – community engagement, campaigns, being in touch with what readers need – but don’t. Papers are run by accountants who don’t see the real inherent worth of the product and the people and the communities…There is no investment in people, just cutting back, and it shows in the product, the morale of those involved and the sales.”
Respondent D, Female daily senior reporter
It was clear from the survey that daily reporters feel that making them produce content for a variety of platforms has led to an increasing workload due to low editorial headcounts. However it appears a pragmatic approach towards the realities of multi-platform content may be establishing itself. As Respondent B observes “[It] initially resulted in an increased workload for no more pay, but latterly the newspaper has abandoned most of the contributions made to website by reporters so the workload has gone back down again.”
Respondents were also heavily critical of the attempts to resolve industrial disputes that occur between staff and management at regional newspapers. There was heavy criticism for the NUJ, with only ? reporter feeling they resolve problems well ‘but not often enough’.
“They were talking about securing better pay for trainees when I was reporter in 2005 and I doubt very much they’ve succeeded. Also they seem to have done little to protect job after job loss and newspaper closure after newspaper closure.”
Andrew Price, Former weekly trainee reporter
“The NUJ is as out of touch as the management…[They] should have never let Johnston Press get away with claiming to not employ journalists – arguing local centres did that…thereby winning the battle against a proposed strike on the grounds it was effectively illegal.”
Respondent D
Those surveyed who have left the industry within the last five years to pursue careers elsewhere cite low pay, long hours, cutbacks in staffing levels, excessive pressure to deliver, becoming ‘disillusioned with the industry’ and the promise of a promotional structure in their new job as their motivation.
Interestingly those who have left have retained a clear passion for journalism, reflecting the findings of the Journalism Training Forum (2002), Williams and Franklin (2007) and Nel (2010). All said they would ‘definitely’ or ‘possibly’ consider returning to newspaper journalism at some point. Reasons given for this include a lifelong passion for journalism, the excitement and enjoyment, the kudos of being a journalist, the opportunity to work freelance and the opportunity to be a better journalist than before.
“[I would return] if I won the lottery and could work any job I chose, without having to earn a living wage”
Respondent C
2005 BA Journalism graduates – How are they fairing?
I contacted single and joint BA Journalism 2005 graduates from the University of Central Lancashire, an NCTJ-accredited course, to investigate how their careers in journalism have developed since leaving the course.
Five out of nine respondents still considered themselves journalists, with four employed full-time in the industry. Those employed within the industry felt either ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ about their career. Six of the respondents believed newspapers to be the most stressful journalistic sector to work in, with the remaining three selecting online.
Only one still worked in the regional newspaper sector, with three leaving it during the last six years. The overwhelming majority felt the regional newspaper sector had changed ‘for the worse’ or ‘definitely for the worse’ in the last five years. Reasons given for this were the prevalence of ‘churnalism’, shifting production away from local communities, the increase in free media, less staff/more redundancies and falling readership.
“The industry needs to find a reliable model for the modernisation of online platforms…the current practice of giving away the entire shop for free online, while expecting audiences to pay for print equivalents seems unsustainable.”
Andy Walker, Daily newspaper reporter
“[I] saw a very promising young journo covering a council meeting. He was doing shorthand, taking pictures and filming it on his phone. A few weeks later he asked me how to get into PR.”
Respondent E, Former weekly reporter turned PR consultant
From those who had worked within regional journalism there were both positive and negative reactions to being asked about how training as a multi-platform journalist had affected their role. All of them reported working ‘up to two hours a day’ more than their contracted hours in fulfilling their roles.
“Once my employers knew I could turn my hand to a number of tasks I was always assigned everything associated with my skills sets – therefore it was hard to manage my workload at times as expectations of me were often too high.”
Gemma Stead, Former weekly reporter
“I have no complaints about my workload. For example, if I am working on a video, this is my tour of duty for that day; the print workload is relieved for that period of time. I often find myself tweeting news snippets in my spare time, but this is through instinct, rather than pressure from above to get a certain number of hits.”
Andy Walker
When those who have left the regional newspaper sector were asked their motivation, their answers closely collated to those above. The main motivations were better pay, more opportunities to progress, seeking a more creative role and working conditions. It was also clear some had considerable concern about the direction corporate owners were moving the industry in and had lost faith in the NUJ’s ability to affect this.
“[My] journalism role did not provide the challenges I needed, and the pay wasn’t satisfactory. In fact, it was offensive.”
Gemma Stead
“The NUJ is pretty useless. They don’t seem to be able to do anything about the changing landscape and when push comes to shove, they don’t save jobs.”
Jon Phipps, Former daily journalist and sub-editor
Noticeably amongst this group of graduates there was much less of an appetite for returning to full-time journalism than those who had purely worked in regional journalism. Reasons for not considering a return included a “poor roles to applicant ratio”, “no longer having the drive or desire”, and more freedom in current jobs – however these were countered by respondents stating they still had the passion for the industry, believed in journalistic ideals and wanted to improve ethical standards post-Leveson (2012). This group had more of an opinion about the number of journalists being trained than their regional counterparts but opinions were split. Some worried about a lack of jobs, falling standards and too many ‘cheap trainees’ but others felt there “would always be a demand” despite too many journalists being trained.
“Many untrained ‘journalists’ are now operating online damaging the industry’s reputation. Overworked/underpaid journalists are adopting a cut and paste culture.”
Respondent E
“I feel sorry for people who have trained as journalists but cannot find work in the industry, however I know a number of people who did journalism training and have gone onto other successful career paths.”
Andy Walker
2011 BA Journalism graduates – What is it like as a newbie?
In order to compare these experiences with those just leaving journalism training I surveyed BA Sports Journalism graduates from the University of Huddersfield to assess how the felt about future in journalism. From this I was able to pinpoint four respondents who could offer an insight into the journalism landscape in 2011.
Five months after graduating, three of the four graduates still considered themselves active journalists and had found some work in the industry. The two students who had been unable to secure full-time roles were understandably ‘unsure’ about their career fearing they were inexperienced, had unsecured roles and were struggling to find companies prepared to pay for content. Those who rated themselves as ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ about their career had been able to find full-time employment and felt they were doing their ‘dream job’.
“My degree/interest is in Sports Journalism where you will always be behind retired sportstars moving in and getting jobs”
Simon Mahon, graduate seeking full-time employment in radio
“Having learnt skills in print, internet and broadcast journalism throughout university I feel I’m in a position to combat anything thrown at me with some ability.”
Daniel Samme, Newspaper reporter
Surprisingly the respondents had no overall viewpoint on the numbers of journalists being trained. It was even more surprising that one citing fears over job stability and progression was in a full-time position whereas one seeking work was more philosophical stating ‘there will always be more trained journalists than jobs’.
All of the graduates considered newspapers the most stressful journalistic sector to work in. Three out of the four consider themselves ‘very unlikely’ to peruse a career in the industry with the one student ‘very likely’ to move into the industry already working for a newspaper. Reasons for not pursuing a future in regional newspapers include cutting journalists, getting ‘more for less’, fears over a dying brand of journalism and pressure being at an ‘all time high’.
“[Regionals are] dying out, [there is] not enough money [and] not enough interest in them anymore.”
Shamoon Hafez, Online journalist
“[It is] good experience on a smaller scale, builds you up for the future. [You] gain good rapport with local people [which is] useful in future.”
Daniel Samme, Newspaper journalist
Is there still hope?
Before undertaking this research it was already abundantly clear to me as a former regional reporter the local newspaper sector was in huge trouble. Anyone with basic journalistic knowledge who has picked up a regional during recent years will have noticed the tell-tale signs of an industry under enormous pressure – longer articles, fewer stories, poorer picture quality, more subbing errors, fewer pages and the same bylines appearing.
I had hoped investigating viewpoints from industry experts, academics, students and most importantly the under-pressure hacks at the centre of it all may have provided some solace and light for the future. However it has sadly confirmed what I suspected when I left my full-time post in 2008 – that in their current form hundreds of regional newspapers will simply not survive the next decade.
That is not to say regional news will not survive. The reporters I have surveyed and those spoken to by Nel (2010), the Journalism Training Forum (2002) and Williams and Franklin (2007) show a clear desire to protect journalism’s ‘fourth estate’ role and bring the latest information to the public’s attention. But it is clear many of the historic regional brands will not survive the fall.
Corporate ownership in regionals draws parallels with another bastion of the local community, football clubs. Like regional titles in the 90s, Premiership sides have been snapped-up in inflated multi-million pound deals by investors in recent years – many seeking to make capital out of fans. Ticket prices and TV rights have soared but despite this interest in the product has gone from strength to strength. This is where the comparison with regional newspapers ends.
As Cole and Harcup (2010) establish Trinity, Johnston and Gannett invested hundreds of millions of pounds in an industry already in ‘irreversible decline’. Thanks to the internet, regionals were already losing their fanbase. Corporate owners chasing their losses as advertising revenue and readership began falling off a cliff at the start of the Credit Crunch appears to have only hastened their newspapers’ demise.
Long hours, the ever-present threat of redundancy, matching high output with increasingly fewer staff and ‘offensive pay’ are unfortunately the lot of the regional reporter. Despite retaining an enormous passion for the industry it is unsurprising that many young trained journalists quickly seek pastures new to avoid running the clock down on failing titles. As someone who aspired to deliver the news to communities it is painful to see the sector becoming reduced to a training ground for Public Relations and other better paying careers.
The disdainful attitude to regionals is also clearly filtering through to graduating students. As my study shows, those who left university in 2005 were badly burnt by the industry. These negative experiences have filtered down to such an extent that in 2011 even graduates seeking work view their local rag as the bottom of the media pile due to the huge pressures and low rewards on offer.
Unless the orderly default suggested by Fowler (2011) can be arranged it is clear we must now look to an alternative future, which hopefully may lay in print in some guise. As corporate regionals disappear they will be space for entrepreneurial projects – such as Litchfield Live, the community blog run by journalist and lecturer Ross Hawkes[4] – to thrive or independent owners appearing in the stead of shareholders to run regionals at more realistic profit margins.
If they do one thing is clear – there will always be a team of passionate hacks ready and waiting to run them.
References
Caeser, E (2010) Hold the front page I want to be on it Sunday Times, 15th May 2010.
Cole, P (2003) Escaping from the Timewarp British Journalism Review (Vol 14, No 1) London, Sage
Cole, P and Harcup, T (2010) Newspaper Journalism London, Sage
Ertel, M. Pech, E, Ullsperger, P. Von Dem Knesebeck, O and Siegrist, J (2005) Adverse psychosocial working conditions and subjective
health in freelance media workers Work & Stress 19 (3), London, Taylor & Francis
Fowler, N (2011) Have they got news for you? The rise, the fall and the future of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom The Guardian lecture at Nuffield College. 9th November 2011.
Journalism Training Forum (2002) Journalists at Work. Journalism Training Forum,
Publishing NTO and Skillset, London.
Nel, F. (2010). Laid Off: What do UK Journalists Do Next? Report published in collaboration with Journalism.co.uk, September 2010. [http://www.scribd.com/doc/37088778/Laid-Off-What-Do-Journalists-Do-Next] Accessed 20th December, 2011
Ponsford, D (2007) Can journalism training be unified? Press Gazette, 19th July 2007. Available at http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/editor/2007/07/19/can-journalism-training-be-unified/, Accessed 5th April 2011.
Rosen, Jay (2011) Just what do we mean by local? Coventry University conference, 9th November.
Williams, A and Franklin, B (2007) Turning Around the Tanker: Implementing Trinity Mirror’s multimedia strategy, report for the NUJ
[1] Wake, (2010) More media graduates than jobs in entire industry, warns BBC radio presenter Journalism.co.uk, 24th February. Available at http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/tag/bbc-radio/, Accessed: 12th March 2011.
[2] Pg. J6-7, Press Gazette (2009) So you want to be a Journalist? Journalism Training Supplement 2009 Press Gazette: London
[3] Alexander, M and Zeynalova, F (2011) Students condemn journalism degree fees hike Press Gazette, 26th September. Available at http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47938&c=1, Accessed 14th November, 2011.
Paul Marsden 