In 2012 more than 10% of Australian journalists became redundant. What are they doing now? And what impact will this enormous contraction of the journalism workforce have on the future of journalism?
We’re at the very beginning of what we hope will be a five-year project to study what happens next to members of this group.
Our first priority is to create a network of journalists who became redundant last year to share information and gather data on jobs, demand for journalistic expertise, new career directions, re-training, and the impact of redundancy on professional identity, family life and well-being. You can find out a bit more about the project and our team by viewing our about page, and by checking out the media coverage of New Beats. We’re also on Twitter @newbeatsproject.
In August 2013 we will launch a confidential survey that will help shape the longitudinal study. To this end we’re keen to make contact with as many of the 2012 cohort as possible. So if you’re an Australian journalist who became redundant during 2012 from any area of the media, and you’d like to included in this project, please get in touch with us via this contact form.
All interactions will be treated confidentially.
Lawrie Zion, La Trobe University, July 2013