efj helsinki 28 april 2011 where the jobs are efj: helsinki, 28 april 2011 gary herman nuj new media...

EFJ Helsinki 28 April 2011

Where the Jobs Are

EFJ: Helsinki, 28 April 2011

Gary Herman NUJ New Media Industrial Council


The Problem

Number of mainstream journalism jobs in UK has shrunk by around 30% in ten years

François Nel, UCLAN, 2010

Yet new media is burgeoning, digital and community radio is exploding, the news is being reported (if not made) on Twitter and Facebook, and universities continue to turn out ever-increasing numbers of journalism graduates

What exactly is going on?


The NUJ Mapping Exercise

Launched in 2009 following an earlier investigation into 'multimedia working' in our industry

Attempted to find out where the new jobs are, because this is critical to our work and our survival as a union

Ended up a year later knowing very little except what we did not know


Going International: the Big Questions

What is a journalist - now and in the future? How do we find them all? How do we keep up with the fast-moving

changes we confront? How do we research something that is so

difficult to grasp? What are we doing it for?


Defining the Job

State our purpose Represent interests of all affiliated unions Aim at issues of common concern – recruitment,

bargaining, longer-term future of the industry Useful rather than purely interesting results

Determine scope and granularity Global or regional? Sample or overview? Past or future?


Perspectives

Time perspective How long into the future – if at all - should the

project think about, and to what extent should the futurology involve econometric and social modelling

Geographical perspective Where on the planet should the project look

Occupational perspective What activities should be included under the

category of ‘journalism’


Time

Ten years is probably as far as one can see with any degree of reliability

After two or three years, there’s a lot of guesswork involved; after ten years, it’s pretty much all guesswork

Modelling can give us useful pointers to development, but is probably no better, predictively, than intelligent analysis based on historical precedent


Place

Engage all affiliates equally Distinguish countries according to significant

criteria eg. political system, inequality, number of

publications/media organisations... Focus on small number of interesting or

important countries Get a view from the ground


Occupation

Clear idea of the nature of journalism Industrial classifications useless Self-definition begs the question Union membership may miss key developments

Operational definitions “...disseminate info about what is happening” Too narrow – particularly given union point-of-view Journalism is changing and with it journalists


Conclusion

Survey affiliates to find out what they want Get funding to scope research – in particular,

time-scale, geographical focus & definition Use affiliates and small international team of

researchers Produce a distillation of research for

widespread dissemination


And Finally...

Our members are our best resource – use them But remember, the world changes ... and we

need to change our ideas with it Dictators can be toppled by the strength of the

people united


And Finally...

Our members are our best resource – use them But remember, the world changes ... and we

need to change our ideas with it Dictators can be toppled by the strength of the

people united An ordinary young woman can marry a prince...

efj helsinki 28 april 2011 where the jobs are efj: helsinki, 28 april 2011 gary herman nuj new media...

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