This article is from the public number:All Media (ID:quanmeipai), author: Tencent media, the title figure from: visual China, the original title: “talent Watch issues report Reuters industry: crevice Famous person is abandoning journalism?

The journalism of this era, almost everyone isTalking about “anxiety.” The occupational aura of practitioners has gradually disappeared, and news organizations have to deal with various internal problems, such as shrinking income and lost talents, while encountering external crises.

In this case, the revenue issue is important, but the talent issue should not be underestimated. How does the news industry view these changes? How to reflect on the problems? What actions have been taken to address the challenges? In response, Reuters Media Research Institute interviewed senior executives of news organizations and journalism schools in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and released “Is the journalist a contemporary coal miner?” The report of the Talent and Diversity Challenge of the Modern Newsroom, trying to clarify the following main issues:

  • How do industry leaders view talent challenges compared to other challenges? For example, is there enough talent to choose from? Compared with the predecessors, why are current job seekers entering?

  • Have you discussed diversity issues within the management and news editorial departments? If so, what is the most concerned topic?

  • Does diversity affect the production workflow and overall atmosphere of the newsroom?

  • What measures has the News Editorial and Journalism Institutes taken to promote talent diversity?

  • What other options might help media organizations increase their talent diversity?

In this issue, the whole media compiled the essence of the report, taking a sample of news organizations from three European countries as a sample to discuss the talent issues in the news industry.

The following are the main findings of our refinement:

  • When the leaders of news organizations were asked which three major challenges they face now, the overwhelming majority said: Digital transformation is the biggest challenge. Many respondents ranked talent issues as second or third.

  • Having worked in the journalism industry has been the ideal job for many people, but now this generation of practitioners are worried about job instability and low salary.

  • In the view of industry management and journalism school teachers, the new generation is more internal, more flexible, and more technical, but it will not be safe for a certain institution. Desire for personal freedom.

  • The narrative about journalism has almost always been negative. There are few examples of successful people today; it is difficult for news organizations to meet the demands of young people to better balance work and life.

  • The talent issues of well-known news organizations in big cities are not so obvious, but local institutions are facing a serious shortage of talent.

  • The lack of diversity in news organizations is a major challenge at present, and everyone is discussing it, but everyone has different priorities.

  • In journalism schools and industry, everyone feels that increasing the diversity of people is “very good,” but it is not “must”.

  • Unless the industry can face deep structural discrimination, such as gender discrimination and racial discrimination, all the increased diversity initiatives are useless.

  • Retaining talents must solve two major problems: First, we must use the system mechanism to detect employees’ job burnout period and take the initiative to solve this problem; second, we must carry out career development planning.

News industry faces challenges: The times have changed, where are the talents?

daily anxiety in the news industry

When the reporter used to be the ideal job for many people: Some are adventurous young people, and were investigated by the Watergate Incident Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, etc. People are encouraged; others are because they like their local radio talk show host; others think that it is most meaningful to write a film review or book.

Although everyone feels that they can’t make a living in the press, but they think that journalism can make life experience rich and colorful, make people feel mission-oriented, and have the opportunity to get to know people of all kinds, and batches of people still resolutely apply. News colleges and universities, committed to journalism.

One ​​of the Watergate Incident Reporters Bob Woodward

Because so many people are pouring into the press, journalism schools and institutions only need to select the elite of the elite. Candidates are usually similar to recruiters when they entered the business: mainly young men, They have at least a strong desire to explore the world, even if they are not holding the world.

But the times are different. Nowadays, journalists are still not fat. With the shrinking scale or bankruptcy of many local newspapers, and even online news organizations have also begun to lay off employees, the possibility of a stable future in the journalism industry is growing. Most news organizations now operate around the clock, and the requirements for employees’ length of work and standby are also increasing, as much as the professional skills required in today’s multimedia environment.

At the same time, the question of trust in the media is justified. Even in stable democracies, the reputation of journalists and journalism is declining. What is even more worrying is that in many parts of the world, the profession of journalists has become more and more dangerous. Especially investigative reporters, the EU countries are no exception. Well-known journalists such as Daphne Caruana Galicia of Malta and Jan Kuchak of Slovakia have been killed, veryIt may be because their news investigation violated the sensitive interests of some people.

Commemorate the activities of Daphne Caruana Galicia. Source: The New York Times

2018 is the year in which journalists around the world have been killed the most. The murderer is often at large. Journalists and commentators, especially women, also suffer from cyber violence. In many countries, journalists are risking imprisonment to ask sensitive questions or follow up on stories that are “not appropriate”. In short, the global journalism industry is not peaceful.

In many democracies, it is even more common for journalists to face challenges. Now the young people no longer admire the name as they used to. Many technical personnel urgently needed by news organizations have rejected job opportunities. They are more willing to work for technology giants such as Google and Facebook because of higher wages and occupations. Better prospects and easier work and life balance. Moreover, young people’s loyalty to journalism is far less than the previous generation. The Reuters Press Institute surveyed international media leaders and found that in December 2018, three-quarters of respondents said that attracting and retaining journalism talent was one of the main challenges they faced.

Despite this, there are still some people who regard journalism as an ideal career, but at the same time, it becomes more and more difficult to enter the industry, and one needs a lot of resources to achieve the ideal of the news. If there is no solid financial backing, many job seekers seem to have a hard time standing in the press. To get interesting job opportunities, you usually go through an internship with no salary. Even if the internship is paid, living in a big city with a high level of consumption is not enough. In addition, there are still some structural discriminations in the news industry.

News practitioners lack diversity

Media executives are not unaware of the signs of change in the times. Among them, some are still unsuccessful in their organization’s failure to predict Trump’s election and the outcome of the Brexit referendum. Some have disagreed with readers due to reports of refugee crisis, or because readers call them Upset, the “elite” of the superior. These editors saw that female employees condemned the gender gap in income and suddenly realized that the white people seen in the morning meeting did not reflect social reality. Some leaders eventually realized that: If you want to gain or regain the social credibility of the media, you need to increase the diversity of journalists.

It’s time to take action. Many media organizations have been unattractive for all sectors of society. For example, the number of female readers in many serious high-end news media is far less than half; and the financial media such as the Financial Times and The Economist are about 20% female readers. In countries like the UK, where there are many black, Asian and ethnic minorities, many news organizations are dominated by whites with little or no coverage of the communities concerned.

In addition, the media still has a gap between urban and rural areas. Different classes of people have different consumption habits of media products, and some media are obviously more attractive to wealthy and well-educated audiences. To a certain extent, only public broadcasters are driven by missions to face all members of society.

In short, increasing the diversity of journalists and expanding the coverage of the audience not only involves social justice, but also the issue of power – because the media is still an important information communication “gatekeeper”. Diversity is also becoming a business issue. In today’s era, audiences, not advertisers, are the main source of profit for news organizations, so getting more audiences has become a key issue.

To increase the diversity of journalists, it is necessary to change traditional attitudes and take action, but the editors do not seem to understand how to meet the challenge, because the high-level members of the press have long been accustomed to giving orders to employees.

Status of the news organization: hot and cold flow convergence

Talent issues are the second biggest challenge for news organizations

Many news organizations often encounter talent crises when they are dying. Today, many paper media continue to rely on the old profit model of brand advertising and classified advertising, but this kind of success achieved by sticking can be described as mixed. Because when paper media can still use advertising and subscription fees as the main profit, how can we convince traditional news organizations to take the digital road?

The hope that digital advertising will replace print advertising as a reliable source of income has been shattered. Because tech giants such as Google and Facebook have gained most of the benefits of digital advertising, almost every news organization has shifted its focus to promoting digital subscriptions. Especially for media in some Nordic countries, the digital subscription model is relatively effective.

According to the 2018 and 2019 Digital News Report released by the Reuters Press Institute, people there are highly willing to buy digital news products. In addition, large news organizations are more likely to succeed in this regard, such as The New York Times. It can be said that it is one of the most successful news organizations in the digital transformation of the world. However, even if it is a successful example of the New York Times, its paper subscription revenue still exceeds all other sources of income.

Source: The New York Times

Public news organizations are in a slightly better position, provided the public does not abandon them. But in many countries, traditional public broadcasters that charge a fixed audience fee are also challenged and there will be more challenges in the future. After all, it’s increasingly impossible for current audiences to pay for services that they don’t like. Since there are a lot of information resources and entertainment methods in the eyes of the audience, it is more difficult for public news organizations to achieve persuasion and attraction to users.

It is no exaggeration to say that the current competitive business environment is very unfavorable for journalists. Facing the upperThe challenge, human problems are not the main concern of the editors, keeping up with the technology trend and selling products is what they care about. If the product is slow-moving, the focus is on developing a product that can be sold. In fact, talent issues are often placed in a secondary position, although everyone knows that this should not be the case. After all, if you can’t attract and retain journalists, how can you develop better news products and improve your skills?

In the journalism of the UK, Germany, and Sweden, the challenges of the business environment are broadly similar: advertising revenue (especially classified ads) Sliding, relying on the transformation of digital platform companies. These challenges have affected journalism in three countries. However, there are some differences between them, especially in terms of media environment and strategy.

The number of digital subscriptions in Sweden is much better than in the other two countries. There is a well-known business strategy at work – consumers need high quality Swedish news products, but they don’t have many free options, so they have to pay for it. This has injected a lot of energy into the local journalism industry.

This year, the Swedish Gothenburg Post has recruited 12 new reporters based on the original 100 journalists. Christopher Alquist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said: “Because more people subscribe to our newspapers than in the same period of the previous year, more journalists are needed. This is the first time in about 40 years. This happened twice.” Sweden’s national newspaper, The Daily News, also attaches great importance to competing for talent.

In Germany, the willingness of ordinary people to buy news is quite low, but local news organizations are moving toward charges. Because many Germans still subscribe to paper newspapers, the challenge is to change the audience’s news reading vehicle. More importantly, it is worth paying for young audiences to believe in good news products. While the “Spotify and Netflix generations” are more inclined to buy digital products than their 40s and 50s, their spending power is limited and young users often prioritize streaming services. Therefore, it is not easy for serious media to sell news products within the range of consumption that young audiences can afford.

In terms of digital marketing of news products, the most difficult market problem in the three countries is the UK. This is not only because the UK has a strong public broadcaster like the BBC to provide quality news to everyone, and the British have never had a strong subscription culture in the age of paper media. They passAlways go to the local newspaper retail kiosk to buy a newspaper, or get a free newspaper at the train station. Now, in the Times, the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph, like some magazines, have implemented payment models and subscription strategies. Even the Guardian, which insisted on “news for free” for a long time, finally achieved balance of payments by relying on membership and donations.

Our interviews reflect the difficulties of the current journalism industry. When the leaders of news organizations were asked which three major challenges they face now, the overwhelming majority said: Digital transformation is the biggest challenge. Maintaining the original level of profitability during the transition is important. In addition, it is important to maintain the day-to-day operations and internal culture of the news organization. For a long time in the past, editing and operations were separate. The new challenge now is how to let journalists, marketers and technicians work together to produce news products that the audience is willing to pay.

The journalism of the three countries mentioned above is not much different. The news organizations there, even if the scale, business model and economic strength are different, the challenges encountered are not much different. For example, large public broadcasters that produce linear television and radio programs believe that attracting younger audiences is even harder, while paper-based news organizations can adjust more quickly and produce content based on distribution platform requirements.

Of course, all difficulties are inseparable from talent issues. Many respondents said that this is the second biggest challenge for current news organizations. For large news organizations, the difficulty is not to recruit new employees. In big cities, it seems that there are still a large number of young people who want to be journalists. But the hard part is how to attract talents to increasingly complex management positions, not only to be editors, but also to lead the business of commercial operations.

It is worth mentioning that news education does not seem to keep up with changes in industry demand. Although most of the journalists who have just entered the business can do their jobs independently, modern digital news organizations need more than just a few thousand words of special reports on training in schools. These organizations need to be familiar with multiple platforms.Work, data-oriented projects, and compound talents who are good at working with others. At present, it seems that it is difficult for journalism schools to fully train these skills.

News agencies are increasingly relying on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Apple to distribute content, which brings some challenges. Although journalists have been trained to quickly deal with rapidly changing news, they have long relied on a foolproof process to handle news events.

In the past, it was only necessary to have a news report first, and then a close-up or a review would be enough, but now a new distribution model and narrative approach has emerged, and news organizations have to produce videos, podcasts, and charts. And to spread on various social platforms. This new approach is quite interesting, but it also makes the working people physically and mentally. In this fast-paced change, more and more middle and senior journalists are eager to take a vacation or leave. Therefore, the journalism industry is facing a crisis of brain drain.

The journalist in the crack is the current coal miner?

Besides a few journalists or TV hostes, journalism has never been a big money career. But in the past, once there was a fixed position in the news organization, it would be able to live a life that was not considered to be restless but still stable. But now it’s different. There are fewer people recruited by news organizations, especially those regional news organizations that use paper media. In addition, The previous good days of the online media platform are gone. In 2018, online news media like BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post faced layoffs, which hit many people who had hopes for online media.

According to data released by Eurostat, from 2012 to 2017, the number of journalists actually increased by 10%. But the data does not necessarily refer to full-time journalists who rely on news to make a living. In addition, this data usually includes different job descriptions and therefore does not necessarily have comparability. The Eurostat data includes linguists and writers, and the British Journalists Training Board’s “Report on Working Journalists” published in October 2018 also includes media people working in public relations and communications. Because everyone can now be self-proclaimed as a journalist, it is difficult to count the number of reporters.

The well-known news organizations in big cities can still receive many resumes, but the newspapers in small places are not so good. Ian Carter, director of information for the Kent Media Group in the southeast of the UK, said: “The resumes we received from our company have been significantly reduced. Job seekers often have a lot of technical skills.But not necessarily have the interpersonal skills to talk to others and find news stories. “Carter is not surprised by the current loss of journalism. “If anyone wants to be a journalist, he will definitely understand the current situation in journalism.” If he understands the current industry situation, he will seriously consider the future of the journalism industry, and the conclusion is usually – not optimistic.

There is also such a problem in the German journalism industry. There are many people who want to enter the big newspapers such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the public television stations like the German TV 2. The background of the candidates is very rich, but it is not a matching candidate. Regional media outside the big cities are different, and local small-scale news organizations sometimes cannot recruit people. The editors of regional news organizations in three countries have observed this phenomenon: the average quality of candidates has declined.

But in regional news organizations, there are still outstanding ones. But they are usually quickly hacked away by competitors or jumped to a national news agency. This situation is particularly common in people with diverse characteristics, such as people with immigrant backgrounds, such people are very popular. Brant pointed out another challenge: “Second or third generation immigrants can often be good journalists with motivation, but they don’t necessarily have the down-to-earth style that journalism needs. In many cases, they don’t want to be in the place. Media work is more willing to be responsible for national or foreign policy reporting.”

In Germany, once a contract has been signed with a news organization, the salary is not a big problem because the journalism is closely linked to the union. However, in a prosperous economy with a high employment rate, journalists’ salaries must compete with neighboring industries. As the German industry magazine “Reporter” concluded in 2018: “The number of full-time journalists is declining, their wage growth rate is lower than the German economy average, the unemployment rate in the press is above average, and the work situation is unstable. “ One-third of journalists earn less than 1,800 euros a month, and usually need to have a sideline to maintain their lives.”

In Sweden, the economic situation is not stable