ABSTRACT

Freelance journalism has become a key employment alternative in the current media landscape, with news organizations often relying on these independent professionals to reduce organizational budgets. Although extant research reveals a high degree of job satisfaction among professionals in different markets, such as the United States or Norway, freelancing is a position shaped by the tension between precarity and autonomy and is often related to economic insecurity. To deepen our understanding of this complex reality in Spain, this study explores freelance journalists’ perceptions of the craft through 30 semi-structured interviews. Based on these results, this study proposes the existence of a “freelancers’ shelter architecture”—a group of variables that define personal working conditions and levels of job satisfaction. This study makes a practical contribution to the field insofar as it provides a freelancing empowering toolkit for enhancing the professional situation of freelance journalists.

摘要

自由新闻业已成为当前媒体领域的一个重要就业选择，新闻机构通常依靠这些独立的专业人员来减少组织预算。尽管现有研究表明，不同市场（例如美国或挪威）的专业人士对工作的满意度很高，但自由职业是一种由不稳定和自主之间的紧张关系塑造的职位，通常与经济不安全有关。为了加深我们对西班牙这一复杂现实的理解，本研究通过 30 次半结构化采访探讨了自由撰稿人对这门手艺的看法。基于这些结果，本研究提出了“自由职业者庇护所架构”的存在——一组定义个人工作条件和工作满意度水平的变量。