Saturday, 17 November: it was raining outside the London Welsh Centre when I arrived for New Ways to Make Journalism Pay II, a one day conference organised by the London Freelance branch of the NUJ. Quite apt, really; after all, the event’s subtitle was: “A freelance lifeboat in the perfect storm”.
It was certainly a busy lifeboat; attendees at the event numbered around 400. A quick show of hands towards the end of the day also confirmed that the vast majority of people there had travelled — like myself — from beyond the M25.
So, clearly, many freelances are looking for help when it comes to earning a living from what they do, whether it’s as print and/or broadcast journalists, photographers or those offering editorial services. Not that it’s only about cash. As broadcast journalist and media ethics trainer Arjum Wajid said early on: if she just wanted to earn money, she’d open a shop.
A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
The conference’s speakers — ranging from print and broadcast journalists to those working solely in new media — were realistic about the challenges we all face. “Thinking outside the box” was a common refrain throughout the day, alongside our individual responsibility for finding buyers for our services. Certainly sobering, but thankfully it wasn’t the downbeat “glass half-empty” message I had feared. As Alex Klaushofer, co-editor of Newmodeljournalism.com, suggested towards the end of the day, it’s not the End of the World; it’s just not the beginning of some great new era either!
In any case, we’ve got “previous”; journalists have survived previous “seismic” changes to our industry, not least the rise of radio, television and new printing technologies. But we do need to get up to speed; Christian Payne felt it necessary to point out that new media was “new” in 2005. In 2012, we now live in a world where it’s not that technologically bizarre for a freelance photojournalist to pick up a new client simply because they read a tweet about him editing and then uploading some “packages” of exclusively gathered images and text while flying across Afghanistan in an RAF Hercules carrier.
Now, I’d be lying if I didn’t find that kind of multi-media, multi-skilled approach a tad daunting, not least because (a) I’m inherently lazy, and (b) it underlines how freelance journalists increasingly must think and act like one-person newsrooms. But it’s surely foolhardy to ignore reality. There’s no longer a single standard way of finding work, according to freelance digital journalist Fiona Cullinan. There’s no “silver bullet” to solve the challenge of getting paid for what we do.
SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING OLD
So, it looks as if we’ll increasingly have to build up “portfolios” of different kinds of work; to look beyond the obvious media markets towards thinktanks, NGOs and commercial companies; to explore alternative forms of funding, from self-publishing to cooperatives and crowd-sourcing; to invest our time in developing English-language markets such as India. It’s all rather daunting, but am I alone in thinking it’s rather exciting too?
Of course, it likely means learning new skills, of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. For example, it might mean learning to produce, edit and file “packages” of words, pictures and video through an increasingly diverse range of digital “platforms”, each package shaped for consumption by specific audiences. I felt it significant how important freelance writer Hina Pandya believed it was to continually “invest” in herself, seeking out appropriate courses and training in order to further develop her skills as a writer. But then, she was one of the youngest people in the room…
That said, the “old tricks” still have a vital place in 21st century journalism; even a “social media content creator” acknowledges that he nurtures and exploit those oldest of journalistic skills — the knack of “being in the right place at the right time”, and networking. When it comes to the latter, numerous speakers spoke of social media platforms simply being useful tools for networking more speedily and without a dependance upon geography.
VALUE
There’s something else that’s rather old school, yet possibly even more important now; several speakers spoke about the importance of building your reputation in particular fields — that if you’re seen by other people (be they commissioning editors or a wider audience) as an “authoritative” source on a particular subject or story, then work can often find you. Or, to put it another way; ignore the doomsayers. Freelance journalists can survive, even prosper, in this brave new world — as long as they can adapt to the new journalistic paradigms.
That, of course, is the $60 million question. Quite a few of the people I talked to during the event’s regular tea/coffee breaks were new to the freelance life, but it’s fair to point out that neither they nor the majority of those attending would see 30 again. This conference was a snapshot of an increasingly greying profession; now, whether that’s a representative reflection of the profession as a whole, or merely the NUJ’s membership, I’m not sure. But what is it they say about old dogs and new tricks? Also, while conference speakers were almost evenly split in terms of gender, and the audience was decidedly more female than male, several speakers worryingly referenced how women seemed to lack the same entrepreneurial spirit when it came to journalism.
So, clearly, challenges remain, especially for a trade union like the NUJ whose membership is becoming increasingly freelance. Yet, if there was just one positive note I took from this conference, it was the overall consensus of numerous speakers that there is, more than ever, a genuine demand for the kind of authoritative, “verified” information that professional, experienced freelance journalists can provide. Obviously, the challenge we all face is how to successfully “monetize” that demand. New Ways To Make Journalism Pay II suggested that it’s certainly possible, but also reminded us that nothing is going to be handed to us on a plate.
© paul f cockburn
