Vulnerable careers: analysis of media layoffs as a turning point for journalists

Abstract

Technologies of the digital era have deeply impacted the world of work and several sectors such as the news industry. Despite significant changes in newsrooms worldwide, there is a research gap in labor and journalism. Besides, few studies concerning job cuts and layoffs approach the issue broadly, identifying how redundancies affect workers and force them to think about the future of their profession and career. This article aims to understand how laid off survivors and victims see the future of their profession and career in this complex scenario. For this qualitative and exploratory research, interviews were conducted with 18 journalists, in three focus groups, and an expert in the field. Findings demonstrate that experiencing an organizational downsizing represented a turning point (DELUCA and ROCHA-DE-OLIVEIRA, 2016) by evidencing that journalist’s career has become vulnerable in a context where job insecurity, hopelessness, precariousness and damaged personal ties mirror dilemmas and suffering. Some of the interviewees left journalism and most of the others either plan to leave or are not sure whether they will remain in the profession, taking responsibility for finding a way out. This article brings together micro and macro perspectives (ABBOTT, 1993), an approach rarely found in Brazilian studies in Administration, and intersects topics generally discussed separately: career, redundancy and labor relations. Moreover, it contributes to career studies by using the turning point perspective to analyze layoffs, which are generally centered on the experience and its negative impacts (VACLAVIK, PITHAN, AVILA et al., 2017). Finally, it expands the scope of analysis to an occupation outside the Administration field, whose academic production is predominantly endogenous.

Keywords:
Journalism; Career; Media layoffs; Labor relations; Focus Group