“If you don’t agree to be available 24/7, then you have nothing to do in journalism”: the boundary work tactics of precarious journalists

ABSTRACT

A satisfactory work–home balance in journalism is valuable for employees and organisations but for citizens as well because the work of journalists in a democracy is vital in terms of keeping the public informed and shaping public debate. Drawing on boundary theory, this study aims to examine how precariously employed journalists manage their role boundaries as they negotiate their work and home life demands. In-depth interviews conducted in 2017 and 2021 allowed us to obtain a longitudinal perspective on boundary work and to detect the tactics to create and maintain the preferred work-home role boundaries. The results show that work comes first with respect to the work–home balance in journalism. In the early years of their career, immersed in a labour-of-love ethic, journalists preferred to integrate work–home boundaries by being journalists 24 hours a day. Over time, a preference for the segmentation of work–home roles emerged along with different boundary work tactics. However, it is often impossible to segment boundaries due to the nature of the profession, and thus many of them leave the profession for public relations. The study makes an original contribution by adding a new boundary work tactic to the previously established typology.

KEYWORDS:

• Precarious journalists
• millennials
• boundary theory
• boundary work tactics
• work–home balance
• labour-of-love ethic

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the respondents for sharing their experiences and confidential information. Just as importantly, the authors would like to thank prof. dr. Melita Poler Kovačič for initiating the research in 2017 and blind reviewers for relevant and constructive comments that significantly improved the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Transcripts of in-depth interviews are available by authors upon request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Slovenian Research Agency by enabling employment of authors in its research programme ‘Work, Education and Employment Analyses’ (P5-0193). No additional funding has been received for this research.

Notes on contributors

Tinca Lukan

Tinca Lukan is a junior researcher at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Her research interest includes sociology of work, economic sociology and work-life balance, and career paths, creative industry, journalism.

Jožica Čehovin Zajc

dr. Jožica Čehovin Zajc is an assistant professor and postdoctoral researcher, who researches at the Centre for Organisational and Human Resources Research, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana and teaches methodological courses at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Her research interest include sociology of work, working conditions, health of employees and communication studies.