freelance journalists — journalism has changed in many ways in the course of a few years. Armed with honed research and writing skills and digital technology, freelance journalists and bloggers are fast engulfing traditional media in the global enterprise of news reporting, dissemination, and consumption. This article examines the vital role of freelancers and bloggers, their influence and the gap they’ve filled in the news media industry, as well as the benefits they continue to offer to news entities still seeking newsy breath.
The Changing Landscape of Journalism
The days of the media model where there were only a handful of media organisations (such as the New York Times) with their web of print newspapers and news agencies seem like a thing of the past. The democratisation of content with the digital age has meant that anyone with a computer and an internet connection can create and disseminate news.
In this newly democratised ecosystem, freelance journalists and bloggers are now central players. Independently operated and often multi-taskers – writing for several platforms and publications, simultaneously – they are able to cover depth in detail and width in scope, to address subjects often deemed ‘too expensive’. With their relatively low overheads, they can be first to react to a developing trend – and, unlike their full‑time, more fixed-costed counterparts, can also swiftly move on.
The Rise of Freelance Journalism
One of the joys of freelance journalism is that idle story ideas, side interests and dead ends can blossom into a beautiful mess of unexpected narratives If newsrooms could have their way, they would convert their freelancers into staff members – not for financial reasons, but because freelancers, freed from the editorial watchdogs of a newsroom, bounce around from story to story and publication to publication. Spreading their pitching nets across more ponds, freelancers are less likely than staff stringers to be able to control their interests, cling to pet problems or burn through sources trying to stupidly provide a lead.
Those are the virtues of freelancing that people oftentimes forget. Spreading their pitching nets across more ponds, freelancers are more likely to chase stories that staff writers, beholden to the section editors of a mainstream newspaper, would instinctively find too inside, nichey, boring, or eccentric to bother with. Today, as much as ever, in-depth reporting and specialisation are hard to come by.
Freelancers, with their backgrounds in more specialised areas, could add to such benefits: a freelance journalist with an expertise in technology could offer silicon-valley news in a way that no one working in a more generalist newsroom could. A freelancer with an expertise in the environment could offer investigative reports on the impacts of climate change that, once again, have a niche perspective, and could fill a gap in mainstream reporting.
The Role of Bloggers
Blogging has become a big part of the media industry, and not just as a hobby, with many bloggers now considered experts in their field, and for good reason. From reasoned commentary and analysis, to first-person accounts of events that traditional media might avoid, there is plenty to learn from the blogosphere.
Blogs provide marginalised voices with an alternative outlet to talk about issues less filtered through the lens of mainstream media. Many of the independent bloggers whom people have come to know aren’t conventionally attractive, or exactly wealthy (or, for that matter, thin): they look like the readers of their blogs, if they had the time and energy to write something themselves. This is especially helpful with subjects such as social justice, personal finance and lifestyle, where mainstream media might be less likely to scan across a broad segment of the population.
Benefits for News Outlets
As audiences seek out diverse outlets and mainstream media outlets look to expand their reach to new audiences, there’s a reason why more and more of the work being published in the news is written by freelance journalists and bloggers.
New voices: Freelancers and bloggers can offer a distinct perspective or knowledge that broadens the array of content available to news outlets. This can help draw a reader and set an outlet apart from others.
Cheap Labour: For many small news organisations, the transactional nature of paying freelancers and bloggers means it doesn’t make economic sense to hire a large staff. Pay per project is better for business – news organisations can hire writers when they need them, to produce mass amounts of content when readers are ready.
Nimbleness and fast response: freelancers offer flexibility, both on topic and timing. They can be called upon to quickly pivot to breaking news, emerging trends and specialised topics that might not be budgeted in a news room, even in a digital context amid short editorial cycles, where things move quickly and unexpectedly.
Broader reach: Freelancers and bloggers can extend coverage to what otherwise would be less reported on or ignored, simultaneously helping to promote freelancers, bloggers and news outlets to a broader audience.
Challenges and Considerations
The advantages are undoubtedly significant – but so are the challenges. Freelancers and bloggers are a bit of a wildcard. Their work must be vetted, their contributions clear. If freelancers are providing news, they must work the same way as regular staff. And news outlets must pick the right ones and support them well to maintain uniformity.
Furthermore, the ephemeral nature of freelance employment creates difficulty for issues of content ownership and payment. News agencies must carefully delineate information on those fronts to create a beneficial working relationship that is mutually beneficial.
The Future of Freelance Journalism and Blogging
Meanwhile, with new technologies and deliberate market shifts in audience consumption changes – not least the ever-expanding world of bloggers – the freelancer and the dabbler will play a growing role. Don’t be surprised if they come to the fore of content creation in the years ahead.
So news organisations that go down this route will benefit from a better, more varied content offering, and a more engaged audience, while their competitors struggle to scale up – and a better response to the constant shift of the tectonic plates in modern media.
To sum up, freelance journalists and bloggers are not just a sideshow to journalism. They help shape its future. Their work contributes greatly to the news landscape by bringing fresh perspectives and specialised knowledges into public view. As the industry transforms, such independents will doubtless remain vital players in creating tomorrow’s news.
