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Worlds of Journalism Study
The Worlds of Journalism Study Sierra Leone
Media Education and Technology for Development – MEDUTECHD through its Journalism Cultures Africa Project is an affiliate of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS). The Worlds of Journalism Study Organisation is a global scientific body with headquarters at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), Munich Germany. Every five years, the organization conducts surveys to assess the state of journalism in countries around the world.
MEDUCTECH is strongly committed to research as a fundamental prerequisite to advance media development initiatives and technological innovation. In 2023, MEDUTECHD is conducting the survey in Sierra Leone. The research will form a part of the Worlds of Journalism Study’s assessment of journalists in more than 180 countries worldwide.
What is the research in Sierra Leone about?
As Journalists and news organizations in Sierra Leone and around the world confront unprecedented and multi-faceted crisis that pose a serious threat to journalism’s future existence as a social institution, this research aims to map levels of risk and uncertainty journalists are facing in Sierra Leone. It is about journalists’ perceptions of threats and their consequences as well as ways of coping with and adapting to risk. We assess these perceptions in the following domains that are critical to the practice of journalism: editorial autonomy, influences on journalism, journalistic roles, journalistic epistemologies, professional ethics, safety of journalists, and precarity of work.
Our research team are conducting the surveys of 375 Journalists in Sierra Leone.
Who can participate?
Everyone considered a professional journalist in Sierra Leone working for a news making organization is eligible to participate in these surveys. We consider peripheral journalists who provide intentional accurate news content without earning from it.
A professional journalist is someone who meets the following definition of journalist:
- Journalism is your main occupation that provides financial sustainability.
- You obtain at least 50% of your income working for news media.
- You spend at least 50% of you work hours in journalism if you have multiple occupations.
A peripheral journalist is a journalist who does not fit into the above criteria of a professional journalist but work in the new media space providing accurate information.
- They work in spaces as microblogging platforms, messenger apps, video content and social networking.
- Explore news practices of doing news including volunteers at more long-standing outlets such as community radio stations.
