Transition to New Media
The Austrian experience
Who, what and where
Nadja Igler
• Online journalist since
2000, started with layoutand photo-editing, writing
since 2002
• ORF (Austrian
Broadcasting Company)
national broadcaster and
biggest news-website in
Austria
• TV, radio and online, split
on three locations all over
Vienna
What are we talking about
Online Journalism:
•
•
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•
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Different way of publishing and distribution
Different way of storytelling (links)
More reader-interaction possible/necessary
Always on, no deadlines (permanently evolving stories)
„Quick and dirty“? (copy & paste)
Situation in Austria
Survey 2009:
• Half of the online journalists were freelancers, mainly „false“
freelancers, working in shifts with plans
• The other half did not work under the collective agreement
for newspaper journalists, but agreements like PR and
marketing or IT-workers (only three out of about 130 people
had contracts as Journalists)
Situation in Austria
• Just a few were allowed to write own articles,
mainly used content from news agencys (still
main source, as in newspapers)
• Wanted to do more, often not allowed („not
worth it“)
• Not journalists by contract (only few were/are
granted journalist‘s rights by law like more
holiday and longer cancelation period)
How could that happen?
• In 1999 the collective agreement for
newspaper journalists was renewed to include
online journalists.
• Publishers found a way to circumvent it,
founded subsidaries with cheaper collective
agreements.
• Kollektivvertragsflucht („Escape of the
collective agreement“)
Whats happening now?
• For a long time nobody cared enough to react,
2006 the online journalists started to act
• Since 2009 a new collective agreement is
being negotiated to get more journalists
covered by it (driven by the Onliners),
publishers tried to put pressure on the
journalists, withdraw from the agreement
• big protests
• Biggest protest since years, whole editorial
departments joined, print and online showed
solidarity (in july already protests for the
collective agreement PR and marketing
• Negotiations restarted (withdraw from
withdraw of the collective agreement)
• Paradigm-Shift: Online first.
The publishers are the enemy
• Publishers tried to blame the „old“ journalists (with good
contracts) and the union, that they were not quick enough
with the collective agreement and want to defend they
rights (like more holiday, although this is covered by law) so
the young journalists still have to wait for more money
(discussion an the websites of the newspapers, publishers
got blamed, eg derstandard.)
• Union replied that it‘s the publishers fault, that the online
journalists don‘t have contracts as journalists. Online
journalists wrote open letter, that they don‘t wanna be
used, debate got public and publicity.
• The publishers can change the situation anytime (!), but
they don‘t want to pay more money ….
Big Media Companies
• ORF: TV, radio, online – all seperated. TV is big within the
Company, then comes Radio, then Online – the same in
other Media Outlet, where Online comes second (Slowly
changing. Integrated Newsroom debated).
(Big) Fights about who gets to say whats happening now.
Online journalists (me, work council) trying to negotiate a
collective agreement for them too (like in print).
• Standard: Second big News Website, now moving into a
new office -> print and online still seperated, to avoid
people, earning differently but doing the same, sitting
next to each other
Big Media Companies
• Kurier: They want to make a
integrated newsroom (and lay of
people!), first success of
crosspublishing (futurezone), but
more like using the same content on
two different media plattforms ->
who would do that with Radio and
TV? (editor-to-go)
• Heute: planing big investements in
Online, but not (always) real
journalism („Mind the advertisers
need“ in their contracts) / Krone
• In recent years some Journalists formed new outlets
like Zib21, Neuwal, Paroli, Dossier.
• Paroli and Dossier formed as a new way of publishing
news -> not making money, trying to gain interest
and to get known (the editors and journalists).
• Strong competition from free newspapers („heute“),
which make their „ journalists“ to mind the needs of
the advertisers
Future
• Each year in Austria more journalists than needed finish
school and universities -> young and hungry, they know how
to make text, picture, audio and video (but maybe not always
with journalistic ethics) – more versatile and cheaper
• One-man-shows can work, but only if you (want to) do a lot of
Marketing-Cooperations
Wanna get old? Leave!
• After about 15 years of editing and publishing
news online people in my company are tired.
They have kids, a house, a social life
• -> Journalism has never been an easy or quiet
job, but working for an online newssite is like
working for a news agency, even quicker.
• Many of my collegues had a burnout
Conclusion
• Getting online is easy, staying there tough
• Lot of work, for many hours, not well paid
• Fun, quick, interactive work – but for how long
do you wanna take it? Work on sunday night
shifts when you have kids?
• Your work/“content“/story is not appreciated
– by the publisher -> has to change.
Antagonism
The Ideal
The Reality
(Source: When online-journalist-meets cyber-salesman)
http://www.watatawa.asia/consider-this/when-online-journalist-meets-cyber-salesman/
The Future?
There is no shortcut,
…there is no free lunch.
For publishers and journalists.