MP: Journalists should be more representative of society

Posted by Christie Silk on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM

The Cabinet Office Minister, Angela Smith has urged for action to be taken to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to become involved in journalism. The call was made during the Commons debate yesterday on social mobility and free access to professions.

Smith, who was appointed to her position only last week in a ministerial reshuffle, said: "We believe that everyone, if they have ability, from across the whole of society, should have the opportunity to get the most senior jobs in society. What has happened is that some professions have perversely become less not more socially representative over time, especially in accountancy and journalism."

The isolation of journalism as a particularly socially exclusive profession comes seven years after the publication of a comprehensive report into the demographics of reporters' backgrounds, conducted by the Journalism Training Forum (JTF). The study looked at the social backgrounds of students entering into journalism training in 2002. The report concluded that the overwhelming majority came from middle class families and that less than 10 per cent came from working class backgrounds. Moreover, 98 per cent of entrants already had a degree or post-graduate qualification.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said that the obstacles blocking the less privileged entry into the profession are as high in 2009 as they ever have been.

NUJ deputy general secretary Michelle Stanistreet, talking to Press Gazette, explained: "Since that report was published the cost of getting in to the profession has, if anything, made it even harder for people to break in to the industry unless they have a financial cushion to fall back on.

"When you add up the costs of funding your own way through college plus covering living costs through lengthy periods of unpaid work experience, journalism becomes a career path that is at best a daunting prospect, while for many it is simply unachievable."

The condition of news reporting in the UK is a topical issue of governmental debate and investigation, as a select committee is currently analysing the state of regional newspapers and the NUJ appears to be augmenting the vocals of its parliamentary lobby. Social mobility is arguably a separate and extremely broad problem, for which the explanations and solutions range far beyond any discussion of profession. However, economic and technological circumstances have necessitated the news industry to commit itself to a period of deep introspection, and there have been many developments which suggest that the required adaptation has given bodies a fresh breath of life. News providers are re-emerging, albeit often quite differently to their original formats, reinvigorated and useful as public services. The industry is proving itself capable of adapting to evolving circumstances, thus this period of supposed 'crisis', could be the perfect opportunity to start work on openening it up to a more heterogeneous generation of journalists.

Source: Press Gazette