A study which previously predicted the rise of “news without reporters” in regional journalism is calling for fresh evidence of journalists’ experience in the industry.

University of London researchers are carrying out a fresh ‘Journalism in the UK’ survey, seven years after it was last undertaken.

In the last survey, which was covered by HTFP, former Thanet Times editor Mike Pearce made the claim that publishers were close to the “holy grail of producing news without the expense of reporters”.

The lead researcher for the previous survey, Professor Neil Thurman of City, University of London and LMU Munich, is also involved with the new survey,  working together with Dr Imke Henkel of Birkbeck, University of London.

Imke, pictured, said: “The jobs journalists do are changing rapidly, and so is the environment in which they work.

“A new survey is set to assess journalists’ working conditions, practices, values, and opinions – and how they have changed over recent years. So watch out for an invitation to participate.

“[We] are inviting a carefully selected representative sample of UK journalists to answer a wide range of questions on topics such as the pressures they face and their professional principles and practices.”

“While the new survey asks many of the same questions as last time – to make it possible to track changes over the last seven years – it also includes new ones on automated journalism and journalists’ safety and well-being, as well as on the fall-out from Covid-19, to reflect the changing conditions that are affecting journalists’ work.”

Other key findings in the previous report included:

• Journalism has now become a “fully academised” profession, with 98pc of those surveyed with three or fewer years of employment holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

• Half of journalists described their political views as ‘left-wing’ – around the double the proportion in the population as a whole.

• 52pc of those surveyed now work online, more than double the number doing so in 2012.

• 83pc of journalists in their mid- to late-20s earn less than £29,000 while about 20pc of journalists have gross yearly earnings of less than £19,200.

The survey is part of the Worlds of Journalism Study, which means the answers given by UK journalists can be compared to the answers given by journalists in some 100 other countries around the world.

The WJS is supported by the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, the European Journalism Training Association, and UNESCO.