Regional Report on Employment Conditions of Journalists in SEE

A crowded and rather poor media market, unable to secure the sustainability of media operations, a high level of job insecurity making the journalists vulnerable to political and economic pressures and – more often than not – leading to self-censorship – are some of the conclusions of the Regional report on the Employment Conditions of Journalists in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia launched by the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest, to mark May 3 – World Press Freedom Day. The report reveals that, all that across the region, journalists are making less than the national average salary, which indicates an erosion of the social respect for the profession. Paradoxically, the public media – still unreformed and subject to state influence – offer more stable and better paid jobs. This creates an opportunity for these media, as more and more journalists are seeking these jobs. It also reveals the need for a stronger associative effort on the part of journalists, to protect their rights.

“The labour situation appears to be one  of the most sensitive and difficult problems, as the media environment is evolving and the business models are changing as well. While monitoring the systemic changes and the way they affect the basic principles of media freedom and the practice of journalism, we risk to lose focus on the people. This is wrong. There is no journalism without journalists”, said Ioana Avădani, Executive Director of The Center for Independent Journalism (Romania) and project coordinator of the SEE Partnership for Media Development.