From One Division of Labor to the Other: The Relation between Beat Reporting, Freelancing, and Journalistic Autonomy

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we focus on the consequences of cost-cutting strategies for the division of labor in newsrooms both in terms of differences between generalist profiles and beat reporters, and in terms of differences between permanent staff and freelancers. A large-scale representative survey of Belgian journalists in 2013 and 2018 shows that the number of beat reporters has remained stable although these journalists are expected to cover a higher number of beats. We also noticed a sharp increase of self-employed journalists. The prestigious political beat seems to benefit from a protected position in the newsroom and is mostly staffed by payroll journalists. Other beats are under pressure, most importantly the regional beat (that has decreased over the course of 5 years) and the lifestyle beat. The latter group of journalists are predominantly freelancers and report low levels of perceived autonomy from commercial and non-commercial pressure. The findings raise concerns about negative side-effects of cost-cutting strategies including a tendency towards more homogeneous news production and increasing influence of PR on journalism.

KEYWORDS:

• Beat reporters
• freelancers
• survey
• autonomy
• cost-cutting strategies
• newsroom organization
• time comparison
• division of labor

Disclosure Statement

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

Correction Statement

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