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Journalism and Communication Studies, esp. Digital Journalism

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Digital Journalism

Facets of Journalistic Skills

 

Facets of Journalistic Skills 2024

This report analyzes 531 journalism job advertisements published between July and October 2023 in seven countries: the U.S., UK, Australia, France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The study offers a current overview of the skill requirements for journalists worldwide, with a focus on digital expertise, work experience, academic degrees, salary transparency, and diversity.

Download the full report here: Niemann, C., Estorff, C. von, Scheidt, L., Pulm, J., Oestmann, A.-K., Band, L., Urbanczyk, L., Hintze, J., Hermes, K., Goldhorn, M., Böing, A., Vogel, J., Bellstedt, K. S., Horstmann, E., Sieber, M., Zimmermann, S., Schwerma, D., Köhler, L., & Lischka, J. A. (2024). Facets of Journalistic Skills 2024: Exploring the demand for digital expertise in news professionals. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/85cfy

Key Findings:

  1. Digital skills in high demand:
    Five key digital skills dominate international job ads: multimedia production, audiovisual expertise (e.g., video/audio editing), social media management, data analytics & automation, and search engine optimization (SEO). Notably, SEO and data analytics are especially emphasized in job ads from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
  2. AI expertise: Still emerging:
    Only eight out of 531 ads explicitly mention AI-related skills, including generative AI, news recommendation systems, and human-in-the-loop concepts. While AI expertise is not yet standard, its relevance is growing as journalism organizations begin to experiment and invest in AI-driven innovation.
  3. Work experience matters – but varies by region:
    In the U.S., over half of the job ads require advanced professional experience, while German-speaking countries often leave room for early-career applicants. Experience correlates strongly with salary: candidates with more than five years of experience tend to earn significantly more.
  4. Academic degrees: Frequently expected – and financially rewarding:
    In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, job ads often do not explicitly require a university degree. However, the majority of journalists in these countries (over 60%) hold one. In contrast, U.S. and French job ads more frequently list a university degree as a formal requirement.
    A university degree pays off: Holding a degree increases annual salary by an average of around $30,000. By comparison, advanced professional experience is associated with a salary boost of approximately $64,000.
  5. Salary transparency: not transparent:
    Only one-third of the ads included salary information. Salaries range from around $16,000 for entry-level positions to more than $300,000 for senior roles at major outlets like CNN and Yahoo. Digital and data-related skills are often associated with higher pay.
  6. Diversity: More visible in Australia and the U.S.:
    Job ads in the U.S. and Australia frequently include diversity and inclusion statements related to gender, ethnicity, religion, and disability. Such commitments are largely absent in ads from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Conclusion:
Digital expertise is a baseline requirement for modern journalists. Data literacy and emerging AI skills are gaining traction. The study reveals how global journalism job profiles are diversifying – and which qualifications are key for entering and advancing in the field.

 

2021: JKW-students publish the first "Facets of Journalism" report

Throughout 2021, 16 JKW master students worked with Prof. Juliane Lischka to produce the first "Facets of Journalism" report. It presents an overview of skill demands, skill profiles, and working conditions of major news organizations in large media markets to understand the facets of journalistic skills in the digital age. For this study, we collected and analyzed 527 job ads of 17 established broadcast, print, online-only outlets from the USA, the United Kingdom and Germany over three months in the summer and fall of 2021. The results provide insights into employability for people who want to work in journalism and offer implications for journalism educators that train those who will shape the future of journalism. To download the full report, click here.

Some of the key findings are:

  • News professionals need news-making and digital skills, even in strategy and tech-intense positions.
  • Only one in four news professionals need audience orientation.
  • Content production, content dissemination, and building data infrastructures are three distinct skill areas.
  • The Editor job profile is most advertised, followed by Data Specialists.
  • Salary is not transparent, potentially sustaining wage gaps.
  • Workplace ethics are more often a topic in job ads of online-only than legacy news outlets.

Within the US, UK, and Germany, we selected two news outlets with the highest reach in the categories of broadcast legacy, print legacy, and online-only.

Work experience, communication skills, and news-making expertise are crucial for news professionals (Fig. 1.1). News outlets might not hire someone lacking digital skills, yet cross-media and social media skills are more special skills.

Job ads hardly ever provide explicit salary information (Fig. 3.3). Non-transparent salary and vague jargon both, enlarge the gender and ethnicity pay and impede access to journalism.

The authors of the first "Facets of Journalism" report are Anna Kustermann, Vivien Ulm, Jelka Weyland, Duc Hai Le, Philine Klinger, Greta Kaiser, Leopold Pelizaeus, Jonas Freudenhammer, Lara Betz, Angela Nguyen, Mara Haber, Tabea Kirchner, Friederike Deichsler, Jonathan Deupmann, Annika Schultz, Hristo Lolovski, Nadja Schaetz, Laura Laugwitz & Juliane A. Lischka.