The Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) controls the basic working conditions for professional journalists in the Netherlands. They are into negotiating collective employment agreements and copyright contributions, providing legal advice to its members, discussing insurance issues, and so forth. A notable trend, however, is that permanent contracts have become very scarce in journalism. Freelancers are more and more the norm in the Netherlands. Jo Bardoel, Piet Bakker, and Huub Evers confirmed this trend. Younger journalists with “flexible” (read “uberised”) contracts were replacing their retired predecessors, said Bardoel. Piet Bakker also indicated that the increased number of freelancers was a direct consequence of the media concentration, characterised by ever fewer media companies. This has resulted in a fierce battle in the rates paid to freelancers, as confirmed by the journalists we interviewed. The NVJ is doing a good job, also in the case of conflicts with freelance contractors, thinks Piet Bakker. He has no knowledge of cases in which freelancers or journalists were dismissed due to personal convictions. The increase in the number of freelancers reduces job security, especially in times of crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Even now, some news media organisations are refraining from hiring, fearing that the crisis will only make things worse in the future.
