Is Journalism a Trade or a Profession?

The question in the headline lies at the heart of efforts to define the business in Western Europe, says Bettina Peters, director of the Global Forum for Media Development. In northern countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, journalism is regarded as a trade that anyone can practice. In southern countries, including France and Italy, it is has the status of a profession requiring suitable credentials.

In reality, there is very little difference in the qualifications of journalists north and south. In a tighter job market for professional journalists, it helps to have academic credentials and experience to get a fulltime job in the field anywhere in Western Europe. In a simpler era, “You could start as a cub reporter and work your way up,” says Peters. “Now some people have three degrees and still are working as interns.”

In southern Europe, only the credentials are different. France has its Commission de la Carte, a non-governmental group that provides national press cards for journalists. Anybody who has worked more than half-time as a journalist for a press agency or journalistic enterprise (written or broadcast) qualifies. You don’t have to have a card to work as a journalist, but the card makes it easier to get access to events and gives you a few benefits, including tax breaks and cheaper train rides.

Italy has its own Ordine dei Giornalisti, a council of journalists that issues credentials. There is a national council as well as regional councils around the country. But again, as in France, the Internet age has helped turn what once was a kind of guild into a less restrictive organization – one that bloggers and freelancers can ignore.

As I have covered in previous posts, the Latin countries, including Spain, also have strong professional organizations designed to elevate the status of journalists – and their benefits. “The unions take a guild point of view,” says Peters. “If you keep the pool small, you can charge a higher price for your service. That’s not a restriction on freedom of expression.”

In other countries around the world, licensing is becoming a more serious issue, as some governments look for ways to establish controls over online news outlets. “There is a blurring of who is a journalist who isn’t because of the Net,” Peters says. “Restrictive governments see this as a space they have to regulate.” So far, she adds, many of these countries are putting less emphasis on licensing news providers than they are on censoring news sites.

Her organization, GFMD, is fighting both strategies. In particular, she does not buy the idea that licensing journalists improves the quality of the journalism. “Licensing is not the answer,” she says. “The answer is to improve our training capacities.”

You Say You’re a Journalist? Prove It

If doctors, nurses and lawyers are licensed, why not journalists? Miguel Castro, special projects manager of the Open Society Media Program, poses that as a rhetorical question. “The counterargument is that a journalist has a basic human right to express himself,” Castro says. “A license that would stop that journalist from speaking out is a violation of that right.”

The issue of licensing journalists was more contentious several years ago, Castro says. Recently, as more nations have adopted the big international human-rights covenants (discussed in my earliest posts), one of their principles, the right of freedom of expression, has superseded laws designed to control journalists by licensing them one way or another.

All the same, licensing continues to make sense to some governments. One form – requiring journalists to have educational credentials – still is important in some African countries, for example, where requiring academic credentials is seen as a way to strengthen the quality of journalists and journalism.

In Spain, Portugal and Latin America, journalists support laws and regulations that set them apart. Most important, it is difficult to enter the profession without an academic degree. Across Latin America, as in Brazil (discussed in an earlier post), journalists themselves favor degree requirements as a way to strengthen their professionalism, foster unity and fight for rights and benefits. Journalistic associations and unions support requiring these credentials, and so do the hundreds of communications schools in South and Central America. More than 200 of these schools are united under the Federación Latinoamericana de Facultades de Comunicación Social (FELAFACS), which supports stronger journalism education in 23 countries, mostly in Latin America.

Far beyond Latin America, the proliferation of online journalists has led to another movement to regulate the profession. In Michigan, for example, state Senator Bruce Patterson has introduced a bill to register journalists. Those with a degree in journalism, three or more years of experience, at least three writing samples, awards or recognition for their work, “good moral character” and acceptable “ethics standards” could apply to a special board for registration as professional journalists, a credential that supposedly would set them apart from the blogging hordes.

This is needed to help consumers understand which news reporters to take seriously, Patterson argues. “We have to be able to get good information,” he told one interviewer. “We have to be able to rely on the source and to understand the credentials of the source.”

Although Patterson’s bill has received a lot of attention around the world, it is given little chance of passing. Other governments – including China’s – have considered measures that would forbid bloggers from posting anonymously. A French Senator, Jean-Louis Masson, has submitted a draft law that would require bloggers to provide their names, addresses and phone numbers on their blogs.

None of these initiatives likely will go very far, Castro says. Chinese officials ultimately backed down, saying they would only encourage bloggers to use their real names, not require the disclosure. Many countries contemplating stricter measures have to consider that they may be taking on a growing global consensus. “International standards of freedom of expression are very strong,” says Castro.

The Open Society Institute and other NGOs are working to ensure a strong connection between free expression and free media, Castro says. “It’s pretty fundamental for the donor community,” he says. “When we approach a country, we look at the environment. If freedom of expression is repressed, part of our work goes into opening the environment. We monitor, suggest legal changes, propose legislation, and support litigation if needed.”