The transition to digital, multiplatform news has had a significant impact on journalists’  ethical commitments, working conditions, and audience interactions. The pace of the digital news media landscape often results in heavy workloads, high stress levels, and an increased risk of burnout (Hayes 2023). When journalists have to produce many articles every day, they also risk their own reputations, as well as journalistic ethics and trust in news media in general, since it becomes harder to fact-check sources and expose misinformation (Cohen, 2018).

Hayes (2023) points to several key factors affecting Journalists’ working conditions including contractual status, job insecurity, and work intensity. A career in journalism now requires candidates to adapt to a high-pressure work environment while managing complex practical and emotional challenges (Eurofound 2021). Financial pressures have forced traditional news outlets to reorganise, changing journalists’ working conditions and employment relationships, but usually without the additional paid hours or the skills and training required by evolving digital tools and formats (Hayes, 2023). For example, multimedia skills and online audience interaction are increasingly important for journalists today. Platforms like Al Jazeera+ produce slick, visually appealing content specifically for social media, as well as their traditional broadcast formats. AJ+ journalists must be proficient in video editing, data visualisation, and a range of digital content formats, as well as audience analytics. Producing for digital platforms requires a more participatory approach, where journalists actively engage with consumers and are guided by whatever generates the most ‘clicks’. This environment not only requires additional journalistic skills, but can also blur the distinction between audience engagement and content generation, underscoring the growing need for multimedia and digital storytelling skills, as well as enhanced training in editorial and ethical guidelines (Zayani, 2021). As Patching & Hirst (2021) point out, this environment can threaten journalistic ethics and reliability. The pace and complexity of digital news media makes it harder to follow traditional ethical guidelines and procedures for verifying sources and ensuring the reliability of reporting (BBC 2025). Without specialised skills, training, and the time to use them, it can be harder to build trust with audiences, to remain open and accountable, and to uphold the vital democratic role of journalism in preventing the spread of misinformation and disinformation.

For some newsrooms, this situation has led to the development of ‘data journalism’ teams which specialise in managing vast amounts of information and providing analysis at pace. As Isla Glaister (2025), Data and Elections editor at Sky News argues, while journalists in today’s fragmented media landscape cannot stop misinformation and disinformation entirely, they can be transparent about their methods. She recommends “showing your working, publishing data sets transparently online”, and says that at Sky, “we write [out] our methodologies at the bottom of our articles to explain how we’ve come to [our] conclusions… We also tell people what we don’t know, as well as what we do.”

The evolution of journalism in the multi-platform, digital age is reshaping working conditions, audience involvement, and ethical standards. Although this shift may have enabled greater public access to- and participation in news media, it has also led to unstable employment and heavier workloads, which risks undermining journalistic standards and ethics. Processes of verification and fact-checking are increasingly complex, and journalists must adapt to new technologies and platforms. To maintain trust in journalism while embracing breakthroughs in media technology, we need corresponding breakthroughs in how we educate, support, and fund our news media, striking a new balance between innovative change and ethical integrity.

References

BBC. (2025). Section 1: The BBC’s Editorial Standards. https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/editorial-standards/

Cohen, N. S. (2018). At Work in the Digital Newsroom. Digital Journalism, 7(5), 571–591. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1419821

Glaister, I, (2025, March). News. Talk at Loughborough University, 27^th March 2025 

Hayes, K. (2023). Labouring the news: an exploration of working conditions in journalism (Doctoral dissertation, University of Limerick).

Patching, R., & Hirst, M. (2021). Journalism ethics at the crossroads: democracy, fake news, and the news crisis. Routledge.

Zayani, M. (2021). Digital journalism, social media platforms, and audience engagement: The case of AJ+. Digital journalism, 9(1), 24-41.

The strikes by the US actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA in 2023, led to a slowdown in TV and movie productions that greatly impacted UK film workers. A survey carried out by the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU, 2024) showed that 52% of the UK’s film and TV workforce is still unemployed and facing financial challenges, especially independent filmmakers. Often motivated by passion and the creative freedoms of working outside the studio system (Brooker, 2025), independent filmmakers struggle to find the necessary funds, to attract an audience, and to overcome growing inequality in the creative industries.  

New releases need to attract audiences to turn a profit. However, this is especially difficult for independent productions without a large budget for promotional campaigns. As Sørensen explains, broadcasters and production studios also serve as a “mark of cultural distinction” (2012, p. 730) that can legitimate and enhance the value of cultural goods (Bourdieu, 1984). Without the financial and reputational support of these cultural gatekeepers, independent filmmakers are at a significant disadvantage. Of the 833 films released in the UK and Ireland in 2022, 26 were UK studio-backed movies and 150 were UK independent movies. However, studio-backed films accounted for 21.6% of the box office and independent films only 7.9% (British Film Institute, 2023). 

Similarly, niche films can struggle to attract advertisers, so independent filmmakers have trouble funding their productions (Sørensen, 2012). This is especially true for independent documentaries as there are fewer broadcast opportunities and a boom in first-person documentaries where celebrity names are needed to attract audiences (Deller, 2016). The resulting income insecurity for independent filmmakers means that they have to find new and unpredictable ways of funding their productions such as crowdsourcing. But even with the help of crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo, Kickstarter, or GoFundMe, filmmakers using these systems have more responsibilities and need to learn to build online communities before and during the production process (Sørensen, 2012). 

Another challenge is the growing intersectional inequalities oamongst film workers. The Sundance Institute interviewed female directors who identified five significant obstacles such as gendered funding or stereotypes on set (Smith et al., 2013). Black, Asian and minority ethnic participants are more likely to report that they are currently unemployed than their white counterparts (BECTU, 2024). Finally, filmmakers born into the industry or with strong family financial support find it far easier to stay in the profession (Brooker, 2025), adding to the growing class divide across the UK creative industries (Bakare et al. 2025). Given these challenges, it is hardly surprising that many independent filmmakers report experiencing mental health problems (Documentality, 2024), and some are thinking of leaving the industry. (BECTU, 2024).  

Independent filmmakers face multifarious challenges in obtaining funding, attracting audiences, and dealing with intersectional inequalities in the creative industries. This situation is not just an existential crisis for the independent film industry, it is often experienced as an existential crisis for the individuals involved. As one of the independent filmmakers interviewed for DocuMentality’s (2024, p. 14) Price of Passion report puts it: “It feels like we’re crabs in a bucket, just trying to make it out alive.”  

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Bibliography: 

Bakare, L., Boyd, R., Khomami, N., & Vinter, R. (2025, February 21). Working-class creatives don’t stand a chance in UK today, leading artists warn. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/feb/21/working-class-creatives-dont-stand-a-chance-in-uk-today-leading-artists-warn 

BECTU. (2024). UK film and TV industry slowdown: A sector in crisis. https://members.bectu.org.uk/advice-resources/library/3182 

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Harvard University Press. 

British Film Insititute. (2023). 2023 BFI statistical yearbook. http://www.bfi.org.uk/industry-data-insights 

Brooker, T. (2025, March). Film. Talk at Loughborough University, 6^th March 2025 

Deller, R. A. (2016). Star image, celebrity reality television and the fame cycle. Celebrity Studies, 7(3), 373–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2015.1133313 

DocuMentality. (2024). The Price of Passion: How Our Love of Documentary Filmmaking Impacts Our Mental Health. https://documentality.org/passion-report 

Smith, L. S., Pieper, K., & Choueiti, M. (2013). Exploring the barriers and opportunities for independent women filmmakers. Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative. https://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/MDSCI_2013_Exploring-The-Barriers.pdf 

Sørensen, I. E. (2012). Crowdsourcing and outsourcing: The impact of online funding and distribution on the documentary film industry in the UK. Media, Culture & Society, 34(6), 726–743. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443712449499 

“Journalism can be really tough, but we try to make things as positive as we can” (Watson, 2025)

Digital media work is often portrayed as exciting, creative, and even glamorous. But behind the polished content and engaging broadcasts lies an invisible yet exhausting aspect of the job: emotional labour. Whether it’s journalists covering tragic stories, radio hosts balancing serious news with entertainment, or content creators maintaining online personae, media workers are expected to regulate and perform complex shifts of emotion as part of their job.

Rob Watson (2025), editor at BBC Leicester, illustrates the specific emotional labour required of local radio journalists. As the producer and occasional voice of the morning radio show, he chooses which stories to air and how they are told. Unlike global or national stations driven by broader agendas and mass public appeal, local broadcasters foster deep connections with their communities. Their storytelling navigates the nuanced emotional landscape of their listeners, engaging intimately with the concerns of local audiences in ways that global media platforms cannot. But at what cost?

For example, Watson recalled some of the most challenging moments he’s covered;  heartbreaking voice notes from COVID-19 workers, a tragic child drowning, and a devastating helicopter crash in Leicester. In such moments, the role of a journalist is not just to inform but to navigate grief, sensitivity, and public sentiment. As Watson puts it, “Journalism can be really tough, but we try to make things as positive as we can” (Watson, 2025).

Emotional labour is also deeply embedded in digital media work, where passion and personal identity become inseparable from professional success. Gill (2011) highlights the ways in which workers face precarious job conditions and insecurity in the new media sector, yet they are expected to love what they do. For Gill (2011), contemporary culture valorises enthusiasm and dedication, often to the detriment of personal well-being, where individuals tie their personal identity too closely to their professional role, creating an “ideal worker-subject” who must be endlessly flexible, always available, and emotionally invested in their work. For digital media workers, it isn’t just a job – it’s a personal brand, requiring constant self-promotion and adaptability to stay relevant.

Similarly, McRobbie (2016) describes how a culture of expected ‘self-entrepreneurship’ leads to workers internalizing the pressures of constant self-management and self-promotion. In this environment, workers brand themselves as individual businesses, taking full responsibility for their success in an unpredictable market, leaving media professionals more vulnerable to exploitation (McRobbie, 2016).

With the rise of AI, media algorithms, and automated content generation, one might assume that the role of emotional labour in media work will decrease. However, at least for lower-skilled information workers, the opposite is true (Oder and Béland, 2024). As technology increasingly personalises news feeds to reflect media consumers’ existing biases, conscientious media workers may feel even more responsibility to humanize stories, challenge misinformation, and foster cultural understanding.

Despite its crucial role in shaping public perception, emotional labour in the digital media industry remains largely invisible. Digital media isn’t just about content, it’s about the people who create it and the emotional toll they pay to keep us informed, entertained, and connected. Media professionals must be mentally resilient, emotionally intelligent, and socially conscious, all while maintaining a competitive personal brand. Recognizing the emotional labour of creators, journalists, and digital media workers isn’t just about empathy – it’s about advocating for better conditions, support, and a more sustainable digital media landscape.

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Bibliography

BBC Radio Leicester – Breakfast on BBC Radio Leicester, With Ady Dayman (25/11/2020), “Knowing that we’re having to do it all again is frightening.” (2020, November 25). BBC. (Accessible at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08zlcbw)

BBC Radio Leicester – Leicester, Leicester City helicopter crash ruled an accident. (2025, January 29). BBC. (Accessible at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0kms0b6)

BBC Radio Leicester – Leicester, Mum of boy who drowned pushes for more swim lessons. (2024, May 16). BBC. (Accessible at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hybr4y)

Breakfast on BBC Radio Leicester – Kirstie Hill – Saving lives in lockdown – BBC Sounds. (2020). BBC. (Accessible at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08jb89t)

Gill, R. (2011). Life is a pitch: Managing the self in new media work. In M. Deuze (Ed.), Managing media work (pp. 249–262). Sage.

McRobbie, A (2016) Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries. Cambridge: Polity.

Oder, N., & Béland, D. (2024). Artificial intelligence, emotional labor, and the quest for sociological and political imagination among low-skilled workers. Policy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae034

Relive the highlights of this year’s awards with BBC Radio Leicester! – Leicestershire Curry Awards. (2024, October 2). Leicestershire Curry Awards – a Taste-Tastic Event Celebrating the City & County’s Culinary Delights. https://leicestercurryawards.com/2024/10/02/relive-the-highlights-of-this-years-awards-with-bbc-radio-leicester/

Watson, R. (2025). Media Landscapes: Radio. Talk, Loughborough University, 20th February 2025. 

fig. 1- Ray, R. (n.d).

“Women not only bear the brunt of the equation of beauty with youth, we perpetuate it – every time we dye our hair to cover the grey or lie about our age, not to mention have plastic surgery to cover the signs of aging” (Applewhite, 2019, p.89).

Films, as cultural works, reflect contemporary values, norms and beliefs held by society at large (Kamei, 2019). So when film industries exclude the representation of older women, their cultural products exemplify the intersectional inequalities that shape the film industry today.

Lauzen & Dozier (2005) argue that the percentage of older men portrayed in films from ages 40-60 (26% – 8%) were significantly higher than the percentage of older women portrayed in films (18-8%). This inequality, at least amongst Hollywood films, appears even worse when one considers the number of older male characters (27-44%) versus older female characters (9-18%) who play leadership-or other empowering roles-within the story.

In their analysis of over 25,000 scripts from 3384 movies in 88 different countries, Ng et al., (2023) show that across the Middle East and North Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and in East and South Asia, positive representations of older women in film are rare. Older women are often portrayed as victims of death, sickness, religion, witchcraft and other regionally specific stereotypes.

For the general movie-going audience, then, older women are less visible in film, and in the few instances that older women do appear, they are mostly presented in a negative light. For example, the over-bearing mother in films like Carrie, Turning Red, Mommy Dearest, and Precious, all provide a scapegoat for the problems portrayed in the film. Similarly, the uneducated but well-intentioned housewife or grandmother in films such as the Notebook, Happy Gilmore, the Nan movie, and Mrs. Doubtfire are only there to support the more prominent male characters. Mean older women portrayed in films like the Devil Wears Prada, 101 Dalmatians, Snow White, and Cinderella provide an envious, villainous foil for young, beautiful girls. (Lemish & Muhlbauer, 2012).

The tragic reality of this form of unequal representation is that it reinforces the idea that women must fear the consequences of ageing (Whelehan, 2009). The media we consume reflects a reality in which older female figures of authority such as Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel have been subject to criticism due to their appearance, or when female stars are put under pressure to maintain a youthful appearance through cosmetic surgery. The world of film and the wider media landscape, in this way, constantly reminds us that for a woman to look her age is a form of social failure (Dolan &. Tincknell, 2015)

While we are slowly seeing an increase in the number of mature female actresses represented positively in mainstream Hollywood films and celebrity culture such as Meryl Streep, Demi Moore, or Michelle Yeoh, this change is too little and too slow to address the powerful intersectional inequalities of ageism and sexism that dominate the film global industry today (Woods et. al, 2022).

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Bibliography

Applewhite, A. (2019). This Chair Rocks. Melville House UK

Dolan, J., & Tincknell, E. (2015, April 24). From ‘Old and Cold’ to Media Gold: The New and Troubling Visibility of Older Women? Commission on Gender Inequality and Power, London School of Economics, London, UK. https://www.lse.ac.uk/gender/research/Gender-Inequality-and-Power-Commission

Dorian R. Woods, Y. B. (2022). What is intersectional equality? A definition and goal of equality for organizations. Gender, Work and Organization, 29(1), 92-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12760

Kamei, M. (2019). Films as cultural artefacts. International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research, 6(1), 81-84.

Lauzen, M. M., & Dozier, D. M. (2005). Maintaining the Double Standard: Portrayals of Age and Gender in Popular Films. Sex Roles, 52(7), 437–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3710-1

Lemish, D., & Muhlbauer, V. (2012). “Can’t have it all”: representations of older women in popular culture. Women & Therapy, 35(3-4), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2012.684541

Ng, R., Indran, N., & Yang, W. (2023). Portrayals of older adults in over 3000 films around the world. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 71(9). https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18400

Ray, R. (n.d). Circa 1934 screenshot [Photograph]. Shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1096220329-circa-1934—this-drama-older-woman

Whelehan, I. (2009). Not to be looked at: Older women in recent British cinema. In Williams, M., Bell, M., British Women’s Cinema (1st ed., pp. 170-183). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203872000