The journalist as entrepreneur (Blog Group 1)

A change in business focus towards journalism as craft: driven by freelance workers and graduating students with a revised educational foundation

While there may not be jobs, there are things a journalist can do to make a go of it: make more contacts, establish and maintain a social media presence, and engage in more self-promotion and marketing of one’s work (Cohen, 2015).

The dawning of the digital technology age brought with it not only an onslaught of new tools and platforms geared towards driving faster information access, development of social communities. and avenues for self created commentary and content, but also managed to present the journalism profession it's very own existential crisis. Declines in advertising revenue for print media, diminishing consumer willingness to pay for content, the spread of diffuse online production and consumption, and the proliferation of mobile devices (Cohen, 2015) are factors which have led professional organizations towards taking a good long look at their existing journalism business models and the educational training fast becoming a necessity to for new entrants into their communication field.

Entrepreneurial Journalism Defined

Digital technology has freed the journalist from the news desk: allowing speedier content production and dissemination and opened up avenues for the ongoing acquisition of much greater technical expertise. Faced with a communication industry rocked by financial hardship and widespread layoffs, the entrepreneurial journalist does not rely on traditional media organizations, works freelance so remains flexible and adaptable, readily embraces new technologies and innovative practices to reinvent journalism as socially relevant, but also as profitable (Cohen, 2015).

In turn, this kind of business model change within the industry, also creates ripples across the journalism educational sector. The assumed consistency of the inner workings of news organizations have become problematic starting points for journalism studies which now demand a reconfigured perspective of an evolving entrepreneurial way of working and of being at work (Deuze & Witschge, 2018). For both prospective entrants and current journalism participants, their roles are no longer defined by the rigidly defined guidelines of newsroom hierarchies. Contractual/freelance working arrangements of newsroom roles are redefining journalistic organizational structure and production capabilities by encouraging greater self guided career paths, augmented by profound digital technology usage.

For additional insights into the emerging role of the entrepreneurial journalist and the proposed changes in journalism education - please click the links to obtain access to the following scholarly articles:

Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism ( Deuze, Mark & Witschge, Tamara)

Entrepreneurial Journalism and the Precarious State of Media Work (Cohen, Nicole)

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References

Cohen, N. S. (2015). Entrepreneurial journalism and the precarious state of media work. South Atlantic Quarterly, 114(3), 513-533. doi:10.1215/00382876-3130723

Deuze, M., & Witschge, T. (2018). Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism. Journalism, 19(2), 165-181. doi:10.1177/1464884916688550