Editorial jobs are coming back, but they’ve changed because of Covid: Telum Media
The massive layoffs at the start of the year have eased but new skills are now in demand, according to Haikel Fahim.
Takeaways
Telum Media connects PR professionals and journalists, and tracks job movements by journalists, offering rich insights into media employment trends.
Haikel says Covid forced massive layoffs — but jobs are starting to come back.
He also says the number of freelancers has increased exponentially due to Covid-based unemployment in the region.
Context
With an extensive online database of over 100,000+ journalists and media from across Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, Telum Media’s regional head Haikel Fahim is hopeful of establishing a “network connect” between the public relations and journalism industries.
With mass layoffs from Covid, Telum is seeing trends emerge: journalists are switching to PR, or going freelance but also offering content writing services and jobs.
In the last few months, employment is making a comeback in the region. According to Haikel, more journalists are moving into communications while a sizable proportion of journalists are also getting into freelancing. Between August 2019 and 2020, Hong Kong lost almost 20 percent of journalists while Malaysia was second-worst hit, losing almost 11 percent of journalists. Most of them moved to communications or went freelance.
Takeaways
There is a sharp uptick in freelancers as the model offers flexibility. Journalists are also taking on content writing for brands, organizing training workshops and developing their own brand.
Covid is also accelerating a move by publishers online.
While jobs were lost in March-June, employment opportunities coming back. Telum recorded a 50 percent rise in editorial employment opportunities.
But here’s another trend: Different skills are in demand now including social media, podcasting, and video production.
Telum has a job dashboard for openings in journalism. You can subscribe here.
Haikel says newsrooms should make it a priority to treat freelancers right — eg. come up with programs to keep them on payroll to make it sustainable.
Media trends and behavior
Media publications are focusing on niche beats and offering expertise on specific topics instead of general reportage.
Covid has ensured niche beat adoption.
Most media publications are going digital-first or digital only.