Journalism in Germany

There is a lot of them. They fill the pages of newspapers, magazines, technical journals. They provide articles for the radio, programmes for television, files or blogs for the Internet. Freelance journalists are everywhere but often go about their business completely unnoticed.

Researchers reckon there are around 30,000 of them. There's probably even more – no one really knows, as freelance journalists don't have to register anywhere, and in Germany anyone can claim to be a "Journalist" by profession. Freelance journalists, often referred to simply as "freelancers", are the profession's equivalent of deep-sea fish: an essential part of the media ecosystem, barely researched, extremely varied. Occasionally, one of them might emerge into the public gaze, stars like the investigative journalist Günter Wallraff, or Bildblog proprietor Stefan Niggemeier. Most, however, just quietly get on with their jobs: they write reports on municipal budgets, student protests at the university or the latest research into depression, provide advice on how to be more successful when it comes to negotiating your salary, or dispense travel tips from Cuba.

Indispensable – and increasingly important

"We couldn't fill our pages without the input of freelancers", says Lars Nielsen, editor-in-chief of Geo Saison. Small magazines in particular, offsprings of Stern, Zeit or Brigitte or independent outfits like brand eins, are produced by a small number of in-house staff and a large number of freelancers. Editorial departments are moving increasingly in this direction, according to a recent study as part of "The changing face of today's mass media" project at the Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft (Institute for Communications Science) of the University of Münster: Two thirds of the surveyed journalists reported that their editorial departments have outsourced more and more work over the past 20 years.

Around two thirds of freelancers are benefiting from this trend. They're quite happy to work on a non-permanent basis, cope with the fact that they won't earn anything when they're on holiday or laid up sick for a couple of days, and spread their risk by working for more than one client – most have between three and six. According to a study carried out in 2008 by journalism researchers at the University of Munich, only 20 percent of freelancers actually hanker after a permanent position. And almost two thirds are very satisfied or satisfied with their professional existence. "The principle behind being a freelancer really can't be bettered: you decide for yourself who you're going to work for, what subjects you're going to cover or what type of media to use", says Kai Schächtele, chair of "Freischreiber", the professional body for freelance journalists that was founded in November 2008. There's just one problem: the fees.

Working at dumping prices

For most freelancers, the rate of pay for the work they do is anything but satisfactory. On average, their gross earnings amount to just over 2,000 euros per month – considerably less than a permanent employee. Fees have not increased over the last ten years and now, in the middle of a media crisis, they are falling by up to 30 percent. Working as a freelancer for a daily or weekly newspaper nowadays means you have to be able to afford to do so: even well-known authors, such as former Spiegel editor and taz co-founder Tom Schimmeck, won't receive more than 200 euros for a lengthy article that in many cases they would have spent a week or more on. The national newspapers are equally Scrooge-like.

In addition, clients are awarding themselves more and more rights, with the result that they use texts or programmes produced by authors a number of times, but only pay the once. Publishers even often sell on freelancers' articles to other companies without the authors receiving a single penny in return. Repeat usage by the authors themselves, which once used to be the only way of bolstering the miserly fees paid for newspaper articles, is hardly possible any more. According to a survey carried out by the Deutscher Journalistenverband (German Association of Journalists), one third of freelancers earn less than 1,000 euros a month – gross.

As self-exploitation is not a viable business proposition in the long run, anyone who considers their options carefully will soon realise that there are precisely two exit strategies in this situation: work faster, in other words don't spend so much time on research, or do some PR work as well, i.e. press releases, brochures, films or articles for companies, most of which are much better paid. However, both risk sacrificing journalistic quality – and hence the credibility of media companies who like to boast in public of their allegedly high standards. But that's just how it is in an ecosystem: if the bottom of the food chain is put under pressure, everyone else higher up the chain suffers the consequences as well.

The future? Free!

Nevertheless, more and more freelancers are looking for new niches in the system: they've seen that they have more clout as a group than as individuals, they can find clients more easily and handle larger projects. As a result more and more of them are getting together to form networks, journalist offices or associations. Maxie Thielemann, who wrote about journalist offices for her Master's thesis at the University of Leipzig, noted during her research that cooperation among freelance journalists is increasing – and that groups like those mentioned above are optimistic about the future, despite all the injustices. Last but not least the Internet, reviled by many as the reason behind the current media crisis, offers freelancers completely new opportunities: they can now reach their readers or viewers directly without having to go through a publisher – and become media companies themselves without having huge upfront investment costs. Perhaps in the end their journalistic deep-sea existence will turn out to be an advantage for the freelancers: after all, biological evolution began in the depths of the oceans.

Links on the subject

Studies about freelance journalists
	Study by the deutscher Fachjournalistenverband (German Association of Journalists), 2008 (PDF, approx. 0.4 MB)
	Study of freelancers by the deutscher Fachjournalistenverband (German Association of Journalists), 2008 (PDF, approx. 0.9 MB) Update to above: "Konjunkturumfrage" (Business Survey) 2009 (PDF, approx. 0.7 MB)
	Study "Limited Journalism" by the "Media Research Group" of Darmstadt University (PDF, approx. 1.2 MB)
Associations
	Deutscher Journalistenverband (German Association of Journalists)
	Union of German journalists in the Verdi trade union
	Freischreiber e.V., Professional Association of Freelance Journalists
	Freelens, Association of Freelance Photojournalists
Networks and journalist offices
	Weltreporter.Net
	Schön & Gut Büro für Texte
	Plan 17 – Journalist Association
	Zeitenspiegel Reportagen