Writers' Rights

Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age

Bibliographic Data

ID19974555
AuthorsNicole S Cohen (corresponding author)
Year2016
Publication date2016-10-06
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueWriters' Rights (SOURCE_BOOK)
Publisherde Gruyter GmbH, Walter (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1515/9780773599765
OpenAlexW2971280352
ISBN9780773599765
Open LibraryOL50684626M
LanguageEN
Citations received72

"As media industries undergo rapid change, conditions of media work are shifting. The number of journalists working as freelancers globally has exploded. While popular commentary positions freelancers as ideal workers for an information age--adaptable, multiskilled, and entrepreneurial--Nicole S. Cohen argues that freelance media work is becoming increasingly precarious, marked by declining incomes, loss of control over one's work, intense workloads, long hours, and limited access to labour and social protections. Like growing numbers of workers in the media, cultural, and entertainment sectors, freelance journalists are experiencing deepening precarity. The book provides context to the freelance struggles bubbling up as we barrel toward journalism's digital future, and identifies points of contention and movements toward change. Through interviews and a survey of freelancers, Cohen highlights the paradoxes of freelancing, which can be simultaneously precarious and satisfying, risky and rewarding. The book documents the transformation of freelancing from a way for journalists to resist salaried labour in pursuit of autonomy into a strategy for media firms to intensify exploitation of freelance writers' labour power. Cohen examines pressing issues of low pay, restrictive contracts, and unpaid work, and presents four new case studies of freelancers' efforts to collectively transform their conditions. his groundbreaking work offers a timely intervention into current debates about the future of journalism, organizing workers in precarious employment, and the transformation of media work in a digital age, making clear what's at stake for journalism's democratic role when the costs and risks of its production are offloaded onto individuals."

authors' rights · Authorship · Copyright · Intellectual property · Journalism · Law and economics · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Conflict of Laws and Jurisdiction · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Digital Games and Media · Freedom of Expression and Defamation · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Libraries, Manuscripts, and Books · Digital media · Economic aspects · Freelance journalism · Journalisme à la pige · Journalisme en ligne · Journalistes · Journalists · Journalists, legal status, laws, etc · Language Arts & Disciplines · Law · Legal status, laws · Médias numériques · Online journalism · Self-employed · Travailleurs indépendants