Ethics, diversity, influence and digital transformation: 10 trends to watch in UK journalism

Credit: Photo by abdullah ali on Unsplash

A new report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism provides a detailed breakdown of the state of the UK journalism industry, based on a representative survey of 1,130 UK journalists. Journalism.co.uk looks at the 10 key themes and revelations.

Women and ethnic minorities facing ageism

Big picture: Many of the diversity findings make for familiar reading. The average UK journalist is white (90 per cent), university educated (91 per cent), from a privileged socio-economic background (71 per cent), and left-leaning (77 per cent). That said, women represent half of the UK journalism industry (49 per cent male, one per cent gender non-conforming).

Key finding: The average age of the UK journalist is 45 (three years older than the working population).

So what? It suggests that the UK market is becoming less attractive to young professionals. But younger journalists are also much more likely to be women or ethnic minorities.

These groups may be "catching up" as new hiring policies are enforced, but the report has another take: age discrimination hits women and ethnic minorities harder, resulting in them quitting the profession earlier. There is a lack of supporting research behind this trend.

Women and men split on ethics

Big picture: The 2011 Leveson Inquiry was a significant moment in the history of British media, prompted by the News of the World phone hacking scandal and leading to a debate about the future of press regulation in the UK. In 2015, an overwhelming 94 per cent of journalists agreed that professional codes should always dictate ethics, but this industry opinion has fallen to 60 per cent in eight years. This suggests a move away from an absolute reliance on industry-wide standards. The question is, can we rely on our own judgement instead?

Key finding: Men and women tend to disagree on that point. More men (22 per cent) think that journalists should use their discretion on what is ethical than women (16 per cent). Women tend to support professional codes (72 per cent), more than men (64 per cent).

So what? This may not be a huge discrepancy, but it suggests that men and women make ethical decisions differently. This could have significant ripple effects when considering the diversity of positions held, as previously noted in how managerial positions are more likely to be held by men, and that freelancers are more likely to be women.

Women consistently demonstrate greater caution regarding privacy and information-gathering methods: they are more reluctant to publish personal materials of ordinary people (41 per cent) and powerful people (74 per cent), to publish confidential business or government documents (20 per cent), and refuse to pay for confidential information (60 per cent), all lower than their male colleagues.

Swings and roundabouts of precarious work

Big picture: Journalists with permanent work contracts are falling (65 per cent, down from 74 per cent in 2015), as freelancers grow in number (28 per cent, up from 17 per cent in 2015). Half of journalists are members of unions (up eight percentage points from 2015), which are particularly useful for freelance journalists who are without formal employment support.

Key finding: Men are more likely to hold top management roles (63 per cent) than women (37 per cent). But women are more likely to hold middle management roles (55 per cent) and non-management roles (45 per cent)

So what? Women face considerable barriers to advancing to the top leadership roles. It offers one explanation why men earn more money (£37,501 - £45,000) than women (£30,001 - £37,500) in journalism, though this could also be down to structural bias and lack of transparency on salary negotiations, as is the case in many industries. The increase in flexible and remote work is thought to help parents advance in their careers while supporting their families.

Hostility towards journalists warrants serious attention

Big picture: The majority of journalists face hostility and safety threats, with 70 per cent having experienced hate speech, public discrediting, or direct intimidation. More than half (54 per cent) of UK journalists report frequent work-related stress, with women (33 per cent) more at risk than men (26 per cent) of encountering frequent stress.

Key finding: Safety threats are highly gendered, with women journalists facing disproportionate risks. Women journalists report higher levels of sexual harassment over the past five years (22 per cent), though the report cautions that this is unlikely to tell the full story. Women have greater concerns about emotional and mental well-being (49 per cent) and job security (33 per cent) than their male colleagues.

So what? The increasingly hostile environment threatens both journalism quality and diversity. Targeted journalists often practice self-censorship, avoid certain topics, or leave the profession entirely, creating a significant "chilling effect" on press freedom. With lower-ranked journalists experiencing more harassment while feeling less job security, and underrepresented groups facing heightened threats, these safety concerns risk undermining recent progress in newsroom diversity.

The burden of digital transformation

Big picture: As a dedicated part of their role, the average UK journalist produces content for three platforms (print, radio, TV, websites, news apps, podcasts, social media, messaging apps, newsletters) and in two different formats (text, photograph, audio, video, graphics/cartoons/animations, or multimedia). Despite this digital transformation, more journalists work in legacy media — primarily magazines (30 per cent) and newspapers (26 per cent) — than internet-native outlets (16 per cent), and text dominates as the medium for news (87 per cent).

Key finding: There is some correlation between journalists who work across more formats and platforms, and those with greater concerns about emotional and mental well-being.

So what? The multi-tasking demands of modern digital journalism may come with costs and newsrooms should adapt accordingly. Not only from a mental health and burnout perspective, but journalists who regularly work across social media are more prone to online harassment (19 per cent) and having their work discredited (15 per cent) than those who do not (9 and 8 per cent respectively).

Legacy media behind the digital curve

Big picture: Social media has become integral to UK journalism, with 70 per cent of journalists regularly using it to discover stories and 57 per cent using it to promote their work. Journalists who work for internet-native media are more likely to be social media users for work. Despite this widespread adoption, many journalists believe social media has disrupted traditional practices and weakened public trust in journalism.

Key finding: Internet-native media are also becoming more savvy with editorial analytics tools, as more than half (53 per cent) are using platforms like Chartbeat, Parse.ly, and Google Analytics in their everyday workflows. This is considerably higher than the averages across print (38 per cent) and (26 per cent).

So what? Internet-native media tend to have business models that require the adoption of this technology. Legacy media is adapting more slowly because of fears of platform dependency and threats towards journalists.

Worries remain that AI is taking our jobs

Big picture: News automation and AI technologies are becoming more common in UK journalism, but their adoption remains limited. Only 7 per cent of UK journalists report working in newsrooms using automated text production, while 10 per cent report the use of personalised news distribution. Adoption patterns vary by ownership and media type, with private media and news agencies (33 per cent) leading in automated text production, while public media organisations (22 per cent) are more likely to implement personalised distribution.

Key finding: Journalists working in newsrooms where automation is used report significantly higher job insecurity. In newsrooms with automated news writing, around a third (37 per cent) worry about losing their jobs within a year, compared to around a quarter (27 per cent) in non-automated environments. The gap is even wider within newsrooms adopting personalised news distribution: 48 per cent versus 26 per cent.

So what? Newsrooms need to tread carefully as they adopt new technology, as it sparks unrest over job security as well as editorial independence.

Editors are paving the way

Big picture: Most UK journalists feel independent in their jobs and say they have the final say on their story choices (63 per cent) and the angle to take (67 per cent). Journalists perceive people and institutions as uninfluential, like religious groups (66 per cent), police (62 per cent), government officials (55 per cent), politicians (51 per cent) or business people (41 per cent). Internal or industry-wide factors are more decisive, like journalistic ethics (26 per cent), access (22 per cent), laws and regulations (22 per cent), editors (22 per cent) and time constraints (20 per cent).

Key finding: Bucking the trends around audience engagement, 29 per cent of journalists feel strongly influenced by audience feedback, dropping 15 percentage points from 2015 (44 per cent). Rival news organisations are also seen as less influential than they were 10 years ago (falling to 41 per cent from 47 per cent).

So what? Journalists feel the everyday pressures in the newsroom and industry-wide turbulence, and say these factors shape their work the most. As a result, they see editors as the dominant source of influence (67 per cent) and for good reason. They need editors to provide policies and guidance, suggesting that external factors (like economic or political pressure) might often be channelled through editorial supervisors.

Generational divides on objectivity

Big picture: Academics have spent decades debating whether journalists can truly be objective. Most UK journalists (82 per cent) agree that interpretation is essential to make sense of facts, highlighting a belief that news is not just about raw data. Despite this, 69 per cent still believe it is possible to represent objective reality in their reporting, showing a commitment to traditional journalistic ideals.

Journalists working for publicly owned media are more likely (63 per cent) to think reporters can separate beliefs from facts, significantly more than those working for commercial media (48 per cent). Gender seems to have no impact and neither does the specific medium the news organisation produces (i.e. radio, TV etc.).

Key finding: Whether objectivity is possible for reporters tends to increase with age and experience: 63 per cent of 18-34 year olds agree, rising to 71 per cent in the 55+ bracket. Similarly, 73 per cent of reporters with 0-4 years of experience believe this, increasing to 91 per cent among those with 35+ years of experience. All age groups agree that "the truth" is complex and sits somewhere between what appears to be true and false.

So what? There is a generational divide between journalists. Older journalists are more invested in the ideal of objective reporting, possibly due to experience and the historical emphasis on this principle. Younger journalists, on the other hand, appear to be somewhat more sceptical about the possibility of achieving pure objectivity and may be more open to a more interpretive or even activist role in journalism.

Down with "detached observation"

Big picture: UK journalists are re-evaluating their societal roles in a fractured information environment. While traditional roles like informing and holding power to account remain important, there is a notable shift towards more active engagement with societal issues. Journalists rated the importance of 24 roles, revealing changes since 2015. 

Key finding: The role of "educate the audience" is overwhelmingly seen as the most important (88 per cent, up 9 percentage points since 2015). There is also strong support for "counteract disinformation" (71 per cent) and "shine a light on society's problems" (65 per cent), both new roles in the survey. Interestingly, the importance of "be a detached observer" has decreased (69 per cent, down 8 percentage points). 

So what? UK journalists appear to be moving away from a detached, commercial approach towards more activist roles focused on addressing societal problems and informing the public in a meaningful way. In other words, many journalists feel that while traditional values and purposes still matter, some of them no longer cut the mustard in the current and "profound political, economic, and socio-cultural upheaval."

We used ClaudeAI to summarise parts of the research before it was edited by a human.

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