Print Industry Profile of Australia
INDUSTRY PROFILE This report examines the industrial and professional setting of my internship placement at the Herald Sun. Key areas of Australia’s newspaper printing and publishing industry are discussed with reference to media theorists and supporting evidences. The report first looks at numbers and kinds of relevant jobs available in Australia, and discusses recent changes and trends in this field of employment. ... Pearson and Johnston (1998: 60) point out that journalists not only work in the traditional fields of print, radio and television media as reporters, editors and sub-editors, but also have moved into public relations, corporate affairs, public affairs, management and education and training (Pearson and Johnston, 1998: 64). While it has always been apparent that journalists do not always stay in the one field – either TV, radio or print – there has been a recent movement of journalists switching fields. It is now common for a print or radio journalist to move into TV, as well as established journalists moving into corporate affairs, partly due to the lure of higher salaries (Pearson and Johnston, 1998: 84-5). ... According to 2001 Census data collated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are 25,737 people working in the newspaper printing and publishing industry. This is only slightly less than the 26,422 people working in this industry at the time of the 1996 Census. ... However, over half the people working in the newspaper printing and publishing industry in Australia today do not work in a media related occupation. ... In order to interpret and analyse data collected in the 2001 Census, it is necessary to point out that journalists covered under newspaper printing and publishing include: • Print journalists • Editors • Journalists and related professionals n. ... The table in Appendix 2 reveals the breadth of journalism positions in Australia. From the data it emerges that of the 5526 print journalists working in Australia in 2001, 4080 were employed in the newspaper printing and publishing industry. Some other fields that employed a large number of print journalists were as follows: Other periodical publishing (659), book and other publishing (92), creative arts (276), and other cultural industries which are not further defined (64). Thus, the skills of the modern print journalist can be applied to varying fields of today’s media and communications. ... Interestingly, even though the numbers working in the industry in 2001 are relatively similar to the figures from 1996, there is a vast difference in location of these jobs. ... It is clear from these findings that there indeed have been shifts in employment in the current newspaper printing and publishing industry, and that we can perhaps expect increased tightening on traditional print media’s employment opportunities while online journalism and public relations enjoy a booming job market. This next section of the report examines the key skills expected of journalists working in the Australian newspaper printing and publishing industry. ... A study into what editors looked for in print journalists revealed the following data: 96% looked for writing ability above all else; 92% rated education next; 90% looked for determination; while 86% looked for current affairs knowledge; 84% rated personality as important and 67% rated published work as important for gaining a position as a cadet (Wyrill, 1991: 1). ... Other positions within the industry include the sub-editor – a position that is often entered into after a few years as reporter. ... A position in corporate affairs requires a variety of skills, including: writing skills in speech writing, news releases, reports and proposals; knowledge of budgeting, research skills and a familiarity with industry of employment (Pearson and Johnston, 1998: 83).