FREELANCE JOURNALISTS AS A FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE IN MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Economic cutbacks in the media sector diminish the chances of employment for journalists, and consequently the number of atypical workers in the media industry, such as freelancers, is growing worldwide. This study of Swedish freelancers is grounded in both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data are taken from ongoing surveys conducted by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, based on representative samples of practising journalists made in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005. Around 2000 journalists were included in each survey. The qualitative material consists of 13 biographical interviews with freelancers in northern Sweden. The results will be compared with international studies. The choice to work as a freelance journalist is connected to lifestyle, and the idea of "life as a project'', as well as entrepreneurialism, in ways that are connected to the societal processes of individualization and "flexibilization''.