Challenges in freelance journalism academic research: a literature review
Retos de la investigación sobre periodismo freelance: una revisión bibliográca
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January-June of 2023
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
Cómo citar este artículo:
Marín Sanchiz, C. R. and Valero-Pastor, J. M. (2023). Challenges in freelance journalism academic research: a literature review.
Doxa
Comunicación
, 36, pp. 87-105.
https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n36a1692
Cristian Ramón Marín Sanchiz.
Journalist and pre-doctoral research sta at the Miguel Hernández University (UMH).
Professor Marín currently lectures on the UMH Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, as well as on the Double Degree in
Journalism and Audio-visual Communication and on the Master’s Degree in Innovation in Journalism, always on
topics related to business management and entrepreneurship. His main research interests are freelance journalism,
business models for news media companies, business models for sports journalism. He has published in Spanish and
international journals, such as Journalism Practice.
Miguel Hernández University, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-8263-4549
José María Valero-Pastor.
Lecturer and researcher in the area of Journalism at the Miguel Hernández University. He has
published scientic papers in several high-impact journals, such as Journalism Studies,
El Profesional de la Información
and
Revista Latina de Comunicación
, among others, and in prestigious publishing houses, such as Routledge. He has
enjoyed stays of research at CEU San Pablo (Madrid) and Fordham University (New York). He is currently working on
the international project “Journalism Innovations in Democratic Societies”. He also coordinates the Advanced Web
Design module in the Master’s Degree in Innovation in Journalism. His main research interests are related to media
management and innovation, organizational innovation in news outlets.
Miguel Hernández University, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-6210-2761
Abstract:
Freelance journalism is a form of employment in which the self-
employed professional oers his or her services to dierent clients
without a long-term commitment. In a context of economic
turbulence, journalistic companies use this type of employment to
make their workforces more exible and reduce budgets. As a result,
it has experienced tremendous growth over the past two decades. In
view of this expansion, the aim of this research is to bring together
the knowledge that the scientic literature has generated about this
Resumen:
El periodismo freelance es una modalidad laboral en la que el profesio
-
nal empleado por cuenta propia ofrece sus servicios a distintos clientes
sin un compromiso a largo plazo. En un contexto de turbulencias eco
-
nómicas, las empresas periodísticas utilizan esta modalidad de empleo
para exibilizar sus plantillas y reducir los presupuestos. En consecuen
-
cia, ha experimentado un gran crecimiento en las dos últimas décadas.
Atendiendo a esta expansión, el objetivo de la presente investigación
es agrupar el conocimiento que la literatura cientíca ha generado en
Received: 24/05/2022 - Accepted: 08/11/2022 - Early access: 29/11/2022 - Published: 01/01/2023
Recibido: 24/05/2022 - Aceptado: 08/11/2022 - En edición: 29/11/2022 - Publicado: 01/01/2023
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1. Introduction
At the end of the 20th century, a growing interest in freelance employment began to take shape: a gure halfway between
entrepreneurship and self-employment that has been conceptualized in numerous ways. Generically, it can be understood as
a worker who creates a portfolio of clients for himself or works through collaborations with other companies, and even as “a
business without employees” (Kitching and Smallbone, 2008; Van den Born and Van Witteloostuijn, 2013).
is employment dynamic, closely linked to production outsourcing processes (Örnebring and Ferrer-Conill, 2016), has clearly
spread in the creative industries. Already at the end of the 20th century, Handy (1989) defended the idea that companies would
have three types of workers in the future: more stable employees, who provide key skills for the company; freelancers hired for
specic projects; and a contingent workforce more oriented towards routine tasks.
e phenomenon has been analyzed by more than 1200 publications in indexed journals (Baitenizov et al., 2019). However,
although journalism has undergone an evolution similar to that of other sectors and the freelancer has become a key gure
for the information market, the scientic literature specialized in media has not yet developed a broad theoretical corpus that
addresses the phenomenon from a journalistic point of view and oers keys for the development of the eld of study. Most
studies focus on the working conditions of professionals, a complex reality that needs present and future development, but
which should be the prelude to an expansion of the scientic literature.
In this context, the objectives of the present study are twofold: (1) to conduct a literature review on the working conditions and
self-management strategies of freelance journalists, with the aim of establishing a state of the art; and (2) to identify potential
future lines of research that will contribute to the theoretical and practical advancement of the body of studies.
employment alternative. To this end, a systematized bibliographic
review (n=58) is used. e results reveal that freelance journalism
is a heterogeneous profession, although women predominate, and
that this majority group faces diculties related to the reconciliation
of personal and professional life. Furthermore, there is evidence
of a predominance of unsatisfactory working conditions in various
markets around the world, although freelance journalism also brings
professional advantages to well-positioned individuals, such as
exibility and autonomy, which enhances the importance of self-
management strategies. erefore, it is concluded that the scientic
literature should continue to focus on working conditions, but should
also delve into the training of journalists, the development and
teaching of this type of strategies and, as a topic little explored to date,
the policies and legislation aecting the sector.
Keywords:
Freelance journalism; working conditions; self-entrepreneurship;
media entrepreneurship; journalism employment.
torno a esta alternativa de empleo. Para ello, se emplea una revisión
bibliográca (n=58). Los resultados revelan que el periodismo freelance
es una profesión heterogénea, aunque predominan las mujeres, y que
este colectivo mayoritario se enfrenta a dicultades relacionadas con
la conciliación de la vida personal y profesional. Además, se evidencia
un predominio de las condiciones laborales insatisfactorias en diversos
mercados del mundo, aunque el periodismo freelance también aporta
ventajas profesionales a los individuos bien posicionados, como la e
-
xibilidad y la autonomía, lo que realza la importancia de las estrate
-
gias de autogestión. Por ello, se concluye que la literatura cientíca debe
continuar centrándose en las condiciones laborales, pero también debe
profundizar en la formación de los periodistas, el desarrollo y la ense
-
ñanza de este tipo de estrategias y, como temática poco explorada hasta
la fecha, en las políticas y legislaciones que afectan al sector.
Palabras clave:
Periodismo freelance; periodista autónomo; condiciones laborales; em
-
prendimiento periodístico; periodismo emprendedor.
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To achieve these objectives, a series of research questions are posed:
–
RQ1. What is the denition of the freelance journalist?
–
RQ2. Are there sociodemographic features that dene this group?
–
RQ3. What are the working conditions in which freelancers operate?
–
RQ4. What strategies of self-management and resistance do professionals employ to improve their work situation?
–
RQ5. What future lines of research are proposed by academia in the studies conducted to date?
1.1. Advent and consolidation of the freelance professional in today’s economy
e freelance professional has become a key gure for the knowledge economy thanks to the Internet, which has oered
the possibility of developing independent career paths in light “of the popularization of a culture based on technologically
advanced forms of work that are sustained by entrepreneurship and innovation through creativity” (Gandini, 2016). Self-
employment is considered to be the simplest form of entrepreneurship, and has a remarkable impact on the economy of
numerous countries (Baitenizov et al., 2019).
Although the origins of freelance journalism date back to centuries ago, when some writers who were hired by the upper
echelons of society to write political pamphlets (Cohen, 2015), nowadays this concept generally refers to professionals in
creative industries who work simultaneously with several clients without a long-term link with them, and who are hired for
specic tasks that depend on their knowledge, such as the creation of informative content, web programming, or graphic
design (Florida, 2002; Baitenizov et al., 2019). Consequently, they are also known as ‘portfolio workers’, because they develop a
catalog of work that they use as a sample of the quality of their services to obtain new assignments in the future (Handy, 1985;
Fraser and Gold, 2001).
e crystallization of self-employment as an increasingly frequent labor alternative in economies around the world (Waters-
Lynch et al., 2016) is rooted in neoliberal philosophy, a globally widespread approach that advocates little public intervention in
the economic system. is vision thus defends the rational logic of markets (Mitchell, 2006) and has allowed the consolidation
of the concept of neoliberal governmentality (Van den Born and Van Witteloostuijn, 2013; Arnold, 2001), which gives increasing
protagonism to the individual in terms of the development of his or her career path.
ese transformations in labor relations have led to a growing interest in the gure of freelance professionals in elds as
diverse as art (Woronkowicz and Noonan, 2017), translation (Moorkens, 2020), software companies (Ahmed and van den
Hoven, 2010) or the media, whose specic situation is analyzed below.
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1.2. Socio-economic context of the contemporary media ecosystem
e evolution of digital technologies over the last three decades has generated profound disruptions in practically all
economic sectors, of which the media industry has been particularly aected (Díaz Nosty, 2017). e change in information
consumption habits and technical possibilities has established itself as a constant, which is becoming increasingly pronounced
and heterogeneous, and forces companies to adapt continuously in order to survive (Küng, 2017). In addition, new actors are
emerging and consolidating, more focused on intermediation between producers and consumers than on the direct generation
of value, such as social platforms (Feijóo, 2013, p. 7). ese digital multinationals monopolize the attention of audiences and
monopolize advertising investment in the network, with more atomized formats, better segmented campaigns and aordable
prices for a greater number of companies (Myllylahti, 2018). e loss of social and economic inuence of the media accelerates
the obsolescence of its traditional business model and its subsequent hegemonic digital version, characterized by free content
and excessive advertising dependence (Boczkowski and Mitchelstein, 2017, p. 16).
However, while traditional media suer to sustain their huge cost structures and transform their product and corporate
culture (Küng, 2017), the digital ecosystem provides opportunities for other types of journalistic organizations born under
the umbrella of the post-industrial philosophy (Anderson, Bell and Shirky, 2012). Generally, these are more austere initiatives
that take advantage of the low entry barriers to the internet publishing business and grow to the extent that their products
manage to validate their starting hypotheses (Valero-Pastor and González-Alba, 2018). Digital native media have shown a
better performance in convulsive contexts, as they tend to adopt new technologies earlier and experiment more profusely
with journalistic formats, business models and organizational methods (De Lara et al., 2015; Salaverría, 2020; Valero-Pastor
et al., 2021). In short, the absence of large infrastructures and business inertia gives these initiatives the necessary agility to
continuously meet the needs of the audience and overcome technical challenges (Küng, 2017).
In any case, traditional newspapers continue to have a dierential value in the rootedness of their journalistic brand, which
generates greater trust in a context marked by misinformation (Vara-Miguel, 2018). e industry’s recent shift towards business
models sustained to a greater extent by revenue from users accentuates the importance of this factor, which the academic
literature points out as essential for payment intentionality (Goyanes et al., 2018; O’Brien et al., 2020). e promising start of
these models therefore represents an opportunity for traditional media to reinvent themselves and adjust their structures to
the demands of the new ecosystem.
is adaptation not only involves making teams and workows more exible, but also the human capital on sta to reduce
xed costs. Organizations, both digital natives and traditional, are designing networks of freelancers and outsourcing services,
which allows them to improve their coverage and products at specic moments without compromising their long-term
sustainability. On the contrary, the stability of workers is aected and journalism begins to experience a reprofessionalization
that aects the labor relations between journalists and media (Deuze and Witschge, 2017).
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1.3. Structural characteristics of freelance journalism: autonomy vs. precariousness
In parallel to what has happened in other sectors of the creative economy, the gure of the freelance journalist has experienced
enormous growth in recent decades. In 2005, Spain registered 11.5% of self-employed reporters, while in 2020 the proportion
of freelance journalists stood at 31% (
Asociación de la Prensa
de Madrid, 2005;
Asociación de la Prensa
de Madrid, 2020).
Meanwhile, between the years 2008 and 2015, the national information market destroyed 11,875 jobs (Gómez Patiño, 2018),
an evolution that has turned out to be similar in other countries. Proof of this is that, in the Netherlands, freelance journalism
“is increasingly the norm” (Vandenberghe and d’Haenens, 2021); in the United Kingdom, 35% of journalists call themselves
freelance (Spilsbury 2016; Hayes and Silke 2018); and in Canada, the gure has grown from 5% in 1996 to 17% in 2019 (Wilkinson,
2019; Bertuzzi, 2020). Given this situation, the scientic literature has attempted to unpack the elements that shape this mode
of employment, resolving that it is mainly characterized by a tension between autonomy and precariousness (Cohen, 2012;
2015; Mathisen, 2017; Das, 2007; Gollmitzer, 2018, p. 12).
e concept of autonomy can be understood in three dierent ways, according to Nygren et al. (2015). First, as a professional
ideal that is permanently strived for. Second, as a perception that professionals have about their ability to be independent
(e.g., independence in making decisions related to the informational content they create). And nally, there is a real and
eective autonomy that professionals have when performing the tasks inherent to their job, although determining this is a
dicult task due to the absence of clear and unequivocal indicators (Asp, 2012). Not surprisingly, many studies explore the
autonomy perceived by freelancers, considering that autonomy is a key factor for the professionalization of journalism (Hallin
and Mancini, 2004).
Previous studies reveal that freelance journalists from dierent countries perceive a high degree of autonomy and exibility,
something that is positively valued for the opportunities it oers in terms of reconciling professional and personal life. However,
it can also be understood negatively, because it often implies instability and the need to work at night or on weekends (Marín
Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban, 2021). In addition, freelance journalists tend to earn low incomes and do not enjoy the
same social protections -such as unemployment benets- as their employed peers, circumstances that result in a loss of control
over their own work (Salamon, 2020). Moreover, because of their independent status in the market, they are forced to deal with
problems in payments by their employers (Cohen, 2017), and even to practice what is known as ‘hope work’[1] (Kuehn and
Corrigan, 2013), characterized by agreements in which the journalist works for free or for less compensation than they actually
deserve in the hope that such collaboration results in future paid assignments. Although the latter circumstance also occurs in
other modalities of labor linkage, such as internships. All of them belong to the category of ‘atypical employment’; that is, that
which is temporary, part-time, dependent on several parties -subcontracting, for example- or which does not involve a formal
and well-dened relationship, such as the gure of false freelancers (Deuze et al., 2020).
In short, freelance journalists are, a priori, more vulnerable to the eects of precariousness, a term that was coined by Bourdieu
(1963) to dierentiate between workers with permanent positions and those with temporary positions. e concept was
consolidated in Europe starting in the 1970s, when it was adopted by left-wing movements that denounced the diculties in
accessing stable positions, especially among younger citizens (Alberti et al., 2018).
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In light of these ndings, it is possible to determine that freelance journalists operate in a context plagued by diculties, both
in labor and purely journalistic terms, as professionals “do not go beyond covering news and stories in the short term because
of nancial and temporal pressures” (Hayes and Silke, 2018, p. 13). e complexity of this situation calls for a literature review
to determine what the state of the art is and to enable future researchers to make theoretical-practical contributions of greater
impact at the academic and industry levels.
2. Methodology
e methodology used in this study is a literature review that was carried out in four phases. e rst was the selection of
the research sample (Annex 1). To this end, a search was carried out in three databases: Scopus, Web of Science and Google
Scholar, using the keywords “
periodismo
freelance
” and “freelance journalism” in all three cases. e reason for choosing these
two more generic terms is that searches that narrowed the focus (e.g., “freelance journalism” + “working conditions”) yielded
extremely limited results, taking into account that this is a young eld of study in which there is not a large scientic production
and no standardized terminology.
In Scopus and WoS, all references were included, while in the case of Google Scholar, the search was limited to the rst 20
pages because, after that point, papers appeared that were clearly outside the focus of the study (e.g., more generic studies
on journalism). Final Degree Papers were also discarded because they were not peer-reviewed and did not belong to authors
usually cited in the eld of study. In summary, WoS and Scopus were used as reference databases to obtain research articles
published in indexed journals, while Google Scholar served as a complement for the search.
e sample obtained was subjected to an evaluation to follow a snowball strategy and detect research that was frequently
cited and pertained to the informative eld. In addition to including several papers that did not appear in the aforementioned
databases, non-peer-reviewed works by Nicole S. Cohen, author of a reference book in the eld, were added. Similarly, reports
and white papers produced by various international research centers were added. Despite not being subject to blind peer
review, these papers are included because of their high citation rate in the literature selected rst. Book reviews and those
records that could not be found, even partially (rst pages), were discarded from the sample. Finally, a Google Scholar alert
was created to detect new research during the course of the study. is initiative resulted in the addition of three research
studies to the sample.
ird, the sample was analyzed through a keyword search within each document, following the research questions. Table 1
shows the terms used, although a second reading was subsequently carried out to detect relevant information that was not
expressed in those terms.
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Table 1. Terms employed for sample selection according to research questions
Research questionSearch terms (in Spanish)
What is the denition of freelance journalism? “denición”, “concepto” “conceptualización”
Are there sociodemographic traits that dene this collective?“femenino”, “masculino”, “hombre”, “mujer”, “género”
What are the labor conditions for freelance journalists?“condiciones laborales”, “precariedad”
What self-management and resistance strategies do these
professionals employ to improve their position?
“resistencia”, “estrategias”, “autogestión”, “prácticas”
What future research lines does academy propose in the
current literature?
“futuro”, “futuras investigaciones”, “próximos estudios”
Fuente: prepared by the authors
Finally, the results found were subjected to a critical synthesis process aimed at identifying trends in research, as well as
exposing diverse results that reect the kaleidoscope of ndings made by authors from around the world.
3. Results
3.1. Denition of the freelance journalist
e scientic literature shows that one of the concerns of academia is to nd an accurate conceptualization of freelance
journalism. To this end, some of the studies analyzed go back to the etymological origin of the expression, recalling that a “free-
lance” (Argiz Acuña, 2003) was a professional soldier who, during the Middle Ages, oered his services, but “had no permanent
connections or professional obligations” (Banning, 2005, p. 1) beyond the provision of specic services agreed with clients.
Over time, this meaning was applied to the creative professional who, generally, “is self-employed and sells his or her services
and/or work to a variety of employers without a long-term commitment to any of them” (Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González
Esteban, 2021a; Walters, Warren and Dobbie, 2006, p. 6). Freelancers “are paid for the stories they produce, usually by the word
or a at rate per article” and “must work their own commercial success by generating content concepts that attract editors
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with the goal of securing work,” including journalistic modalities in the orbit of traditional reporting, such as brand journalism
(Templeman, 2016, p. 12).
In addition to working for all kinds of clients outside the news sector in work such as corporate communications or public
relations (Koch and Obermaier, 2014), Banning (2005) recalls that the terms ‘freelance journalist’ and ‘freelance writer’ are
used interchangeably and sometimes also encompass novelists, poets, screenwriters, television editors and even ghostwriters,
among other proles.
3.2. Sociodemographic challenges of freelance journalism
In addition to a broad and in-depth review of the working conditions that, in general, aect the job satisfaction of freelance
journalists, the analysis of this theoretical corpus reveals a broad interest in the inuence of sociodemographic factors on the
exercise of the profession.
In this sense, the literature review highlights that women have a prominent presence in freelance journalism (Templeman,
2016). Banning (2005) describes the most common freelancer in the United States as “a 49-year-old white woman who lives
in a large city, has an advanced education, is married and has at least one child”. e predominance of women is also evident
elsewhere, such as Sweden (Norbäck and Styhre, 2019) or New Zealand (Hannis, 2008), although it is also clear that this is a
very heterogeneous profession. In Germany, the proportion of men is higher than that of women (Koch and Obermaier, 2014),
and in some markets, such as the UK, men and women “are equally balanced” (Spilsbury, 2016, p. 4). Caucasian professionals
generally predominate (Spilsbury, 2016; Banning, 2005).
In this context, studies such as Antunovic et al. (2019) or Elmore (2009) are specically oriented to address the role of women
in the sector. e latter starts from a feminist point of view. It aims to delve into the specic problems of women in American
newsrooms, where they encountered barriers to the exercise of their profession as diverse as lack of respect for their work, the
abuse of overtime or the worsening of their situation when requesting a reduction in working hours. Among their ndings,
they described a certain marginalization of some female professionals who oered “resistance” to their expulsion from the job
market through freelance journalism after personal episodes such as the birth of a child.
Complementing these contributions, Massey and Elmore (2011) conducted a study on job satisfaction among U.S. female
professionals that served to prove that freelance journalism is a work alternative that allows women to reconcile their
professional career with parenting. In this research article, women show a greater concern for family issues, something that
also occurs in Gollmitzer’s (2014) contribution. However, Mathisen (2017) described, in a study bounded in Norway, that men
also value the exibility of freelance work as a positive aspect for work-life balance, a goal also pursued by freelance journalists
in Australia (Das, 2007).
Another variable to consider, according to Norbäck and Styhre (2019), is partner relationships. In an article focusing on
Sweden, “many of the freelancers interviewed said that a prerequisite for being able to work as a freelancer is to have a partner
with a permanent position.” Family support is, in short, a livelihood with key importance for the exercise of the profession
(Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban, 2021a).
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For his part, Norbäck (2019) echoes, in a theoretical section, the diculties faced by independent professionals in the
media industry in general (e.g., music sector), whose labor problems can be interpreted as a decit in individual skills as an
entrepreneur. To this end, it relies on the research of Gill (2011) and Schar (2016), who expose a lack of analysis and criticism
of the structural problems of the profession, including gender discrimination.
Regarding age, the results of Marín Sanchiz Carvajal and González Esteban (2021, p. 19) reveal that, in the Spanish market,
newcomers are “particularly vulnerable, because participants with less experience express lower levels of job satisfaction”
than those with a longer career. is is consistent with the argument of Banning (2005), who concludes that sociodemographic
variables such as age, gender or ethnic variables aect the attitudes, career trajectory and success of professionals.
3.3. Working conditions of freelance journalists around the world
ere is consensus around the idea that freelance journalists are part of the phenomenon known as ‘atypical work’, which
currently accounts for the majority of the workforce in the media industry (Deuze et al., 2020). According to Walters et al.
(2006), atypical workers are those who do not have a permanent and/or full-time employment position. Accordingly, it includes
temporary and internship contracts, short-term attachments or independent career development. According to Hayes and
Silke (2018), because of its relevance in today’s labor market, atypical employment should no longer be considered as such: it
is becoming the most common practice because it allows media to reduce their organizational budgets and gain in exibility.
Scientic literature developed around the globe also agrees that freelance journalism belongs to precarious jobs, dened by
Cohen, Hunter and O’Donnell (2019) as “work for pay that is characterized by uncertainty, low income and limited social
benets”. Experts explain, repeatedly and in dierent contexts, that freelance journalists often experience “uninspiring working
conditions” (Das, 2007, p. 143). Generally speaking, the most commonly used variables to study working conditions and job
satisfaction are the following: income level, exibility, autonomy (work and ethical), work-life balance, existence of external
pressures (e.g., media owners), opportunities for advancement and growth in the labor market, security (e.g., in the case
of war correspondents), socioeconomic and legal system (e.g., availability of social security), and existence of professional
associations and unions.
e diculties experienced due to low income, lack of stability and certainty in daily work or the drop in job satisfaction
compared to journalists working in traditional jobs are phenomena described in countries as disparate as the United States
(Hunter, 2015), Australia (Meehan, 2001; Das, 2007), Spain (Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban, 2021), Canada
(Cohen, 2017), Sweden (Norbäck and Styhre, 2019), Germany (Gollmitzer, 2014), United Kingdom (Brown, 2010) or Lithuania
(Rasciute, 2017). In this context, Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban (2021a) highlight the need for a cross-national
study that evidences the similarities and dierences between regions. In addition, the presence of non-Western countries in
the sample, with the exception of Australia, is very low or practically non-existent. For example, countries such as Egypt or
Colombia only appear represented in Solomon’s (2015) research on educational programs on the discipline analyzed in the
present study, while a recent study on South Asian climate change journalists describes a similar situation to the rest of the
countries (Wadud, 2021).
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Mathisen (2017) summarizes the global situation of freelance journalists as a constant tension between autonomy and
precariousness, also warning that there are professionals with high levels of job satisfaction. Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal
and González Esteban (2021) or Rasciute (2017) also obtained similar results: there are freelance journalists who express
complacency with their working conditions. In this sense, De Cock and de Smaele (2016) insist on the idea that there is no
xed list of advantages and disadvantages of freelance journalism, because all the variables that are usually analyzed (e.g.,
exibility, length of working hours) can be considered from a positive and negative point of view.
Precisely, Rasciute (2017) assures that his interviewees assume that some diculties inherent to entrepreneurship are
inherent to the profession and naturalize them. From a theoretical point of view, this is consistent with the theory of neoliberal
governmentality, which forces journalists to develop an entrepreneurial mindset that aligns the needs of the professional with
the demands of the market to operate successfully, thus transferring to the individual -who develops a series of individual and
collective practices to operate in the media ecosystem- the responsibility for success or failure (Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and
González Esteban, 2021).
3.4. Entrepreneurship and self-management of a professional career as a freelance journalist
e link between freelance journalism and the entrepreneurial phenomenon is evident after the literature review (Ladendorf,
2012; Mathisen, 2017; Marín Sanchiz and González Esteban, 2021). However, Deuze and Witschge (2018, p. 165) argue that
journalism “has enjoyed a rich and relatively stable history of professionalization” that has been deforming and that it needs
a compression of the specialty and its adjacent eld of study that goes beyond journalism (beyond journalism, in English) and
also entrepreneurship, in the most economistic sense of the concept. Following this theoretical starting point, the freelance
journalist is an entrepreneur who acts in a network of professional, social and economic relationships that go beyond the
traditional boundaries of the media.
In this context, previous studies show that professionals show a proactive attitude in order to improve their working conditions,
although it is observed that the interest of the academy in these self-management strategies is lower than in the case of job
satisfaction.
e most extensive compilation is that of Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban (2021a), who identify “a toolkit” to
empower freelance journalists that is made up of nine strategies: three content strategies (diversifying the ways of oering
it to clients, dierentiating the topics and approaches used and optimizing the work to sell it in dierent ways) and six self-
management strategies (negotiating with media and companies, rejecting jobs that oer poor conditions, establishing
networks of contacts, carrying out personal branding activities, training and associating). Like Norbäck and Styhre (2019), the
authors identify these practices as a form of resistance against the impositions of the system. Templeman (2016), for his part,
recalls that freelance journalists are unable to inuence certain aspects of this role within the media industry, but recognizes
that changes in the industry have created new job opportunities that need new skills to be taken advantage of.
erefore, when it comes to developing the skills necessary for freelance journalism, education plays a preeminent role. Elmore
and Massey (2012, p. 119) recognize the importance of including activities related to business and entrepreneurship, since
“journalism [education] programs run the risk of not opening the door to meaningful employment opportunity.” Following
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this same line of thought, Solomon (2015) advocates for a constant adaptation of curricula, in addition to the inclusion or
enhancement of specic skills such as storytelling, interpersonal relations (networking) or business, in addition to promoting
awareness of elements such as security, which can be useful for newcomers to the labor market or for vulnerable professionals in
conict zones (Wasim Raza et al., 2021). Canter and Wilkinson (2020) also bet on the sale of stories to editors and knowledge of
the law and rights, while Marín Sanchiz and González Esteban (2021b, p. 576) complement these ndings with the importance
of multimedia journalism, as well as “a greater deontological burden, emotional management of self-employment or business
knowledge would contribute to graduates facing their professional work from a stronger position”.
3.5. Future lines of research
e recommendations of the scientic literature to give continuity to the eld of study have been numerous and very diverse
over the years, although a series of common concerns are detected. e rst of these is to obtain a global perspective on the
freelance phenomenon, with the aim of understanding, in addition, how dierent media and socioeconomic systems impact
the working conditions of freelance journalists (De Cock and de Smaele, 2016; Templeman, 2016; Rasciute, 2017).
Specically, another common claim is to study the tensions between the development of freelance journalism and that of
other positions related to public relations and corporate communication, both from a business, ethical and professional
identity point of view (Koch and Obermaier, 2014; Holton, 2016; Mathisen, 2017).
e incidence of sociodemographic variables -in particular, gender and age-, on the practice of freelance journalism is another
common concern (Gollmitzer, 2014; Antunovic et al., 2019; Hayes and Silke, 2016; Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González
Esteban, 2021). As evidenced in previous sections, there are clear indications that women and younger professionals are more
vulnerable to the negative aspects of the profession, but the academy recommends a further deepening, including factors such
as the journalistic quality of the work produced in the equation (Hayes and Silke, 2016).
Rosenkranz (2019) puts forward an atypical point of view, proposing that future research should study “in what ways freelancers
experience failure” or “under what conditions professional anxiety becomes unsustainable.” He also advocates analyzing the
existence of intermediary companies that allow uncertainty to be reduced, an issue addressed in Hoag and Grzeslo’s (2019)
work on Online Outsourcing Markets (OOMs), platforms that connect buyers and sellers of digital jobs, such as journalistic
content. As these authors consider that their work ran the risk of having arrived at an eervescent moment in the use of this
type of solutions, they propose to follow up on the phenomenon for years to come.
Other research emphasizes the need to analyze the resistance of freelance journalists to seek greater job satisfaction (Norbäck,
2019): from union organization or the use of intellectual property over content (Salamon, 2018) to conducting a cross-national
study on the self-management strategies employed by professionals (Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban, 2021a).
e scientic literature also focuses on the need to study the skills required to work as a freelancer successfully. In this sense,
Marín Sanchiz and González Esteban (2021b) suggest investigating the demands of the media from the editors’ point of view,
as well as study programs that address training in journalistic entrepreneurship, while Gollmitzer (2014) and Templeman
(2016) express their interest in professional development from dierent points of view (e.g., importance of self-knowledge as
professionals, managing the balance between professional and personal life).
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4. Discussion
is literature review sheds light on dierent characteristics of freelance journalism, from a sociodemographic and working
conditions point of view. In reference to the rst research question (What is the denition of the freelance journalist?), there
is a broad consensus in the studies analyzed: the freelance journalist is an independent professional who oers journalistic
products (news, reports, etc.) and services to the media and other types of companies. Consequently, it is a position closely
linked to knowledge - both of the profession itself and of the dierent niche specializations - and which requires a high degree
of education and continuous training, as stated by Baitenizov et al. (2019).
Precisely, education is one of the practices that another of the research questions of this study aims to analyze (What self-
management and resilience strategies do professionals employ to improve their work situation?), but there is a wide
range closely linked to daily work: from the dierentiation of the content oered, in order to be unique in the market, to
associationism or the development of personal branding activities. e philosophy that the profession should adopt, attending
to the industrial context in which freelancers operate, is the constant recycling of skills (Solomon, 2015; Marín Sanchiz and
González Esteban, 2021).
e analysis of previous theory reveals that women have a predominance in freelance journalism, and that older professionals
are also more common, although there is a wide range of results in this regard (PI2: Are there sociodemographic traits that
dene this collective?). In any case, no distinctions are observed in the use of self-management practices in the dierent
genders and age ranges, but there is consensus that the strategies are a form of resistance to the working conditions prevailing
in the market, characterized mainly by low incomes, long working hours and diculties in reconciling personal and working
life, especially in the case of women and motherhood. Nevertheless, this study serves to compile and conrm scattered ndings
that dispute the classical view of the freelancer as a professional with low rates of job satisfaction (e.g., Mathisen, 2017).
With regard to working conditions (PI3), one of the contributions of this research is to compile the key variables with which
they are frequently analyzed: level of income, exibility, autonomy (work and ethical), work-life balance, existence of external
pressures, opportunities for progress and growth in the labor market, security (e.g., in the case of war correspondents),
socioeconomic and legal system, and the existence of professional associations and unions.
Finally, the future lines of research proposed by the studies analyzed (PI4) have been analyzed and several trends have been
detected which, in general terms, involve going deeper into aspects already analyzed, such as working conditions and their
derivatives (relationship with sociodemographic variables, job satisfaction, etc.). Although the present research article is
oriented to this same aspect, it has been observed that practically all the studies found in the sample conformation phase are
limited to this same eld of study. at is why the main recommendation of the literature review is to broaden the focus to less
fertile ground, such as the dynamics of content production (to know in which specializations they are more present, what are
the dynamics of relationship with sources, etc.) or to link the eld of study with the eervescence of the economy of creators,
which may represent a new turning point for the future of independent professionals by prioritizing personal trajectories over
work for third parties.
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In the section on limitations, the authors wish to emphasize that this is a literature review in which an attempt has been made
to maintain a high level of rigor and transparency at all times, but this does not prevent the synthesis of the ndings from
implying certain risks for the replicability of the results and conclusions.
5. Conclusion
e scientic literature makes it clear that freelance journalism is a heterogeneous profession that is subject to high levels of
work pressure, although this does not prevent some professionals from showing a high level of job satisfaction. is conclusion
is in line with the ndings of previous empirical research (Marín Sanchiz, Carvajal and González Esteban, 2021), which places
freelance journalism in a dilemma between the precariousness of a type of employment that guarantees neither a xed income
nor broad social security coverage, and the autonomy of freelance work.
Given this ambivalent context, it is important that the eld of research on this topic continues to take the pulse of the working
conditions of freelance reporters, but also moves into dierent areas, such as the relationship with editors or the training
of journalists. According to the research analyzed, the eld should advance in this direction in order to make practical
contributions with greater applicability for freelance journalists. In this way, since we are immersed in the logic of neoliberal
governmentality (Mitchell, 2006) in which more and more responsibility is transferred to the individual for his or her
professional performance, it could contribute to improving his or her capacity to maneuver in the labor market.
In this regard, it is striking that, despite the fact that numerous authors criticize this neoliberal drift of the labor market, the
eld of study focuses on eminently individualistic strategies to address the problems. Few of the studies in the sample make
reference to associationism, while none place labor policies and legislation in the sector as a line of future research, with the
result that the academy itself may be perpetuating a situation it reproves. In any case, this suggests a certain pragmatism, since
the strategies studied are more actionable in the short term.
6. Acknowledgements
e authors would like to thank Gareth Bouch of Vroom Media for proofreading the English text. e reviewer is a BA in
philosophy with experience in media.
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7. Specic contributions made by each author
Name and Surname
Conception and design of the workCristian-Ramón Marín-Sanchiz
Methodology
Cristian-Ramón Marín-Sanchiz
Data gathering and analysisCristian-Ramón Marín-Sanchiz and José M. Valero-Pastor
Discussion and conclusionsCristian-Ramón Marín-Sanchiz and José M. Valero-Pastor
Writing, formatting, review, and version approvalCristian-Ramón Marín-Sanchiz and José M. Valero-Pastor
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doxa.comunicación |
nº 36
|
January-June of 2023
Cristian Ramón Marín Sanchiz and José María Valero-Pastor
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