As already described, there is growing concern that economic pressures, such as the drive for productivity, and the laying off of editorial staff, are having an adverse affect on news journalism. Studies have indicated a marked increase in workload pressures (C5) and a decline in job security – even at the BBC. Since the 1980s, there has occurred a rise in the numbers of workers on freelance and short-term contracts. This ‘casualization’ trend, it is reasonably argued, has diminished journalistic autonomy and militated against professionalism. The voices of concern range from critical journalists like Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News (2009), to academics like Bob Franklin, author of Newszak and News Media (1997), to the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications (2008a and 2000b). The employment situation has certainly worsened since 2006 because of the impact of an advertising recession, competition from the Internet, rapidly declining newspaper circulations, and most lately, the financial crisis – the impact of these pressures can only be assumed to be becoming even more negative. As noted, even the BBC has cut staff and increased its reliance on contract staff, though‘[f]rom the perspective of any UK commercially funded organisation the BBC is still extremely well resourced…BBC journalists are in practice more secure than most commercial colleagues in the UK. There are short term contracts, but generally the contracts and terms and conditions are better than elsewhere’ (survey questionnaire response from former BBC executive, July 2010).
Nonetheless, it would be false to conclude that the UK news media no longer fulfil their watchdog function. The above account shows that there still exists a reasonably diverse range of high quality news organizations in the UK, staffed by journalists who do not display deference to the political class. In the UK political scandals have always made for good press; admittedly much reporting has been trivial tabloid style material, but there have been a number of recent examples of public interest exposure of serious malpractice as well, which has resulted from leaked information (by ‘whistleblowers’) and also a much improved freedom of information climate. The report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information (2008) cited in C6 (above) lists an extensive catalogue of how freedom of information legislation has supported the news media’s continued fulfilment of their watchdog function in the UK.
