Freelancing in Flemish News Media and Entrepreneurial Skills as Pivotal Elements in Job Satisfaction
This article is concerned with a segment of journalists often neglected or marginalized in journalism research: freelance journalists. The most recent large scale survey among professional journalists in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, shows that one in five journalists is a freelancer. Only half of this group is satisfied with their job against 93 per cent of contractually employed journalists. Seen from this perspective, Flanders does not appear to be a very fertile ground for entrepreneurial journalism. Drawing on the database of the Flemish Union for Journalists (VVJ) we conducted qualitative in depth interviews with a group of freelancers built around three main research questions: (1) What are considered the advantages and disadvantages of working as a freelancer in Flanders? (2) How satisfied are freelancers in Flanders with their work and lives, and what are the reasons for their satisfaction/dissatisfaction? (3) What are the preconditions to make entrepreneurial journalism a succes.