Writers' Rights: Freelance Journalism in a Digital Age

by Nicole S. Cohen

As media industries undergo rapid change, the conditions of media work are shifting just as quickly, with an explosion in the number of journalists working as freelancers. Although commentary frequently lauds freelancers as ideal workers for the information age – adaptable, multi-skilled, and entrepreneurial – Nicole Cohen argues that freelance media work is increasingly precarious, marked by declining incomes, loss of control over one’s work, intense workloads, long hours, and limited access to labour and social protections. Writers’ Rights provides context for freelancers’ struggles and identifies the points of contention between journalists and big business. Through interviews and a survey of freelancers, Cohen highlights the paradoxes of freelancing, which can be simultaneously precarious and satisfying, risky and rewarding. She documents the transformation of freelancing from a way for journalists to resist salaried labour in pursuit of autonomy into a strategy for media firms to intensify exploitation of freelance writers’ labour power, and presents case studies of freelancers’ efforts to collectively transform their conditions. A groundbreaking and timely intervention into debates about the future of journalism, organizing precariously employed workers, and the transformation of media work in a digital age, Writers’ Rights makes clear what is at stake for journalism’s democratic role when the costs and risks of its production are offloaded onto individuals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2016

Reviews

[Ann Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough and thought-provoking analysis of the market conditions that make it difficult for freelancer writers to negotiate effectively with editors and publishers. Cohen maps a path forward (rewriting labor rules to take into account the rise of precarious employment) and highlights promising approaches to collective action, including efforts by media unions such as the Canadian Media Guild to help freelance writers find common cause. Cohen provides exhaustive background on efforts to organize Canadian freelancer writers while simultaneously connecting the dots to parallel international efforts. Highly recommended.

[Citra Maudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is not much discussion about journalists from the perspective of the labor process. Through this book, Cohen tries to fill the gap. I think this book deserves to be one of the references that must be read by journalists, especially young people.

[Mills College Library]

070 C6786 2016