The Impact of Media Concentration on Professional ... - OSCE

How would you describe the situation among the writing staff<strong>of</strong> your paper? (%) Fig. 15RelaxedCompetitiveIncreasingly competitiveHighly competitive25,031,243,7Extremely competitive0 10 20 30 40 50Journalists <strong>of</strong> German quality papers have always consideredthemselves as an elite group, even though on the public’s socialscale they never figured very prominently. Mass firings <strong>of</strong> qualitypaper journalists did not exist, but “management and editorsare setting examples by firing colleagues.”<strong>The</strong> structural crisis German daily newspapers are experiencingtoday has, however, eliminated most <strong>of</strong> the traditionalcertainties overnight. Even highly respected dailies like SueddeutscheZeitung or Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung had to go formassive staff reductions.Scores <strong>of</strong> formerly fully employed journalists are joining thearmy <strong>of</strong> underpaid and easily manageable freelancers. Publishersand editors alike are well aware <strong>of</strong> the advantages <strong>of</strong> such adevelopment. As one journalist put it: “<strong>The</strong> already sky highcompetition among freelancers is on the rise because <strong>of</strong> theincrease in numbers <strong>of</strong> freelancing journalists, putting additionaleconomic pressure on them to sell their articles even cheaper”.<strong>The</strong> increased use <strong>of</strong> freelancing journalists adds to thegrowing feeling <strong>of</strong> insecurity amongst fully employed pr<strong>of</strong>essions.By now, 41 per cent <strong>of</strong> the survey’s participants do feelthreatened by this development. (Fig. 16)110 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM