Introduction
For my practice-based research I looked into journalism as a profession and what this means for journalists and journalism in the Netherlands. I believe research into this topic is relevant in today’s journalistic climate. Journalism is faced with new challenges since the introduction of internet and social media.
Though there has not been a specific call for journalism to become a protected profession, this is a practice already in place in some places. One of them being Belgium. There, the press has a self-regulating system with two types of journalists: the journalist and the professional journalist.
Other countries do not have journalism as a protected profession, or not yet, but do have other systems, codes and ways of protecting the profession of journalism. The Netherlands is one of these countries. In the Netherlands you can study journalism and journalism studies, there is a code, a guideline and a council.
There is already criticism on journalism being a tight, elite circle. At the moment of this writing, there is an ongoing debate about one of the broadcasters on the public broadcasting system, where system controller NPO wants far-right ON! off their channel.
Last year, the public news broadcaster removed their stickers from their equipment and vans to prevent physical attacks.
The trends that are ongoing could lead to the question: What would it mean for journalists if their profession became a protected one?
The research paper is best read offline. Download it here:
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