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Two out of three journalists say that their work has been impacted by the uncertain state of the economy, according to Muck Rack’s study “The State of Journalism 2023.”
While some of those changes are simply a matter of an increase in the number of stories about the economy (cited by 21 percent of those surveyed for the study), others hit a little closer to home. Almost a quarter (22 percent) said that they’ve switched jobs or made a career change, and about the same number (21 percent) say that layoffs or furloughs have increased their workloads.
Survey respondents also noted a wide range of concerns facing those in the journalism profession. “Disinformation” and “lack of funding” topped the list of those concerns—both cited by 50 percent. Other hurdles include a lowering of trust in the media (cited by 40 percent), the politicization and polarization of the media (32 percent), decreasing readership (31 percent) and safety threats to journalists (30 percent).
However, a wide majority of survey respondents do not think that the general concerns about trust apply to their own work. Eight out of ten (80 percent) say that trust in their area of coverage has either stayed the same or increased. In addition, 58 percent say that they remain positive about the profession’s future.
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Although the power of social media isn’t going away, standard media sources still retain their status as the first place that journalists go to get their news. Almost six out of ten (59 percent) cite “online newspapers or magazines” as their primary news source. However, print magazines and newspapers are a very small part of the picture, with only 5 percent of respondents relying on them.
Twitter, the second most popular source, lagged behind at 14 percent—down 4 percent from last year’s survey.
But most respondents (78 percent) ranked Twitter as a valuable social network, and 90 percent say that they use the platform. Second-place Facebook only managed 34 percent (down 5 percent), with LinkedIn close behind at 32 percent (up 8 percent).
The trend toward digital events also seems to be cooling. More than a quarter of respondents (28 percent) said they would be less likely to cover a virtual event, a rise of 7 percent from last year. And while almost as many (26 percent) said they would be more likely to cover a virtual event, that number represents a drop of 8 percent from the previous survey.
Two-thirds (66 percent) also said that they plan to attend an in-person event in 2023, up by 13 percent. Only 7 percent said that they plan to attend fewer in-person events.
Respondents also indicated a greater willingness to respond to pitches. Almost three out of 10 (29 percent) said they were more likely to respond to pitches this year, with only 19 percent saying they would be less likely to respond to pitches.
The Muck Rack survey, which was conducted by SurveyMonkey, collected 2,226 responses between January 1 and February 6.
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