By Rinelda Mouton
A continental survey on journalists’ working conditions, labour rights, safety and media freedom in Africa has revealed that journalists face various challenges, including working in fear, low salaries and job insecurity.
The report draws on findings from a pan-African survey of more than 1,500 journalists in 45 countries, making it one of the most comprehensive studies of the African media sector in recent years.
An alarming 61 percent of respondents reported that their income from journalism does not meet their basic living needs, while only four percent indicated that their salaries adequately cover essential costs.
“Even after years in journalism, I still cannot rely on my salary to support my family. Most journalists I know are doing side businesses simply to survive,” a radio journalist from Southern Africa said.
Journalists in several countries complained of prolonged salary arrears, irregular payments and widespread dependence on precarious freelance arrangements that lack contracts, healthcare, pension protection or social security. Some receive no salary despite working full-time, while others said their salaries were more than five months in arrears, yet their employers continued to expect them to work and deliver.
Approximately 62 percent of respondents reported working without written contracts, while many journalists continue operating under verbal agreements or insecure temporary arrangements.
Significant numbers of media professionals also reported excessive working hours without overtime compensation, weak legal protection and growing job insecurity.
The findings portray a profession increasingly shaped by youth participation and freelance labour.
The largest group of respondents was aged between 25 and 34 (39 percent), followed by those aged between 35 and 44 (28 percent). Younger journalists aged between 18 and 24 accounted for 14 percent of respondents, showing that young people continue to enter the profession despite worsening economic and safety conditions.
Many young journalists said they were working under freelance, temporary or informal arrangements with little job security or institutional protection.
“There are months when I survive entirely on transport reimbursements from events because my media house does not pay salaries regularly. Journalism has become survival work,” a freelance journalist from West Africa said.
According to the findings, the African journalism profession remains heavily male-dominated. Men accounted for two-thirds of respondents, while women made up just 32 percent.
Women journalists continue to face particularly severe and gender-specific challenges. More than three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) believe women journalists face additional risks within the media sector, including sexual harassment, online gender-based violence, unequal pay and exclusion from leadership positions.
“When women report on politics or corruption, the attacks become personal. They target your body, your family and your dignity instead of responding to your reporting,” a woman journalist from Central Africa said.
Journalists also described chronic stress, emotional exhaustion and growing uncertainty about the future of the profession.
“Journalists are exhausted physically, mentally and financially. Many people continue working while emotionally broken because they have no other option,” a television journalist from Southern Africa said.
