A new study by the Freelance Group of the Danish Union of Journalists (DJ) has revealed the extent to which freelance journalists and photographers are at the backbone of the country’s leading media outlets, while at the same time facing a stark imbalance in pay, protections, and working conditions compared to their permanently employed counterparts.
The survey, based on responses from 310 freelancers in seven leading media outlets, conducted by media researchers Lise Møller Schilder, Nina Trige Andersen, and Freja Dam, presents compelling evidence: Denmark’s media sector is structurally reliant on freelance labour.
In several major news organisations, freelancers contribute to nearly half – or more – of the published content. At Ekstra Bladet, there are no permanent photographers on payroll, meaning that all photography is outsourced to freelancers. Freelancers contribute to 56% of the content at Weekendavisen; non-employees (including sub-contractors) contribute to 43% of the content at Jyllands-Posten; while entire sections of the newspaper Politiken depend on freelancers.
Being a freelancer means no guarantee of sick pay, pensions, training, or evening/weekend supplements – most of the time, no pay rise.
“It’s take it or leave it, and if you leave it, someone else is just standing in line to take it,” said a freelancer at Ekstra Bladet.
The Danish union now intends to use this data to negotiate better benefits for freelancers: “Mapping the conditions of freelancers and their use provides us with data and knowledge that we didn’t have before. We can now more easily determine where to start the work on collective agreements and what arguments to use. An important part of the project is also to identify the freelancers working for the individual titles, with the goal of organising even more. This will give us a much better position at the negotiating table,” says DJ vice-president and member of the EFJ Steering Committee Allan Boye Thulstrup.
Source: EFJ
