We work in a world where the value of journalistic standards becomes clearer every day. As social media rumours swirl – coverage of Coronavirus is a great example – we need responsible reporting, accurately researched.Kim Fletcher, NCTJ chairman
Future of journalism
Journalism is more important than ever, and while the industry is going through great change, we remain positive about the future and persistent advocates of trusted journalism.
One of the clearest trends shown in our research is the increasing number of people who are working as journalists. Data from our 2022 Diversity in Journalism research suggests that in 2021 there were 108,000 people working as journalists in the UK, the highest level of journalism employment ever recorded in the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Journalists who took part in our most recent Journalists at Work research reacted positively to statements that ‘journalism is a job that they enjoy doing’, that ‘it has lived up to their aspirations as a job’ and that ‘they intend to stay working in journalism’.
It is clear that journalists think that there has been substantial impact on their jobs from changes to the industry – leading to a need for them to become multi-skilled and produce output for a more diverse range of platforms.
Confidence amongst journalists seems to be increasing: 45 per cent are confident about the future of journalism as a profession, outweighing those who are not confident (34 per cent) – a change since 2012 when those feeling negative outweighed those who felt positive.
The report also found that 62 per cent would advise a young person to become a journalist, an increase from 51 per cent in 2012.
"It's good to know that journalists are still feeling positive about their jobs and can recommend journalism as a career to young people."
— Joanne Butcher, chief executive, NCTJ
Industry research
The NCTJ is committed to an ongoing programme of research to provide up-to-date labour market information about journalism.
