INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

STUDIES AND REPORTS
Series L (Professional Workers) No. 2

CONDITIONS
OF WORK AND LIFE
OF

JOURNALISTS

GENEVA
1928

CONTENTS

M
\

••

v>

Page
INTRODUCTION
I.

1

T H E PROFESSION

13

The Training of Journalists and the Recruiting
of the Profession
Aspects and Composition of the Profession . . .
A. Aspects of the Profession
B. Composition of the Profession . . . .
Organisation of the Profession
II.

T H E STATUS OF THE JOURNALIST

III.

TERMINATION
OF SERVICES
DISPUTES

AND

Termination of Services
The Settlement of Disputes
IV.

V.

54
SETTLEMENT

OF
77

77
90

W O R K I N G CONDITIONS

100

Hours of Work
Night Work
Weekly Rest
Annual Leave
Salaries

100
108
112
118
127

T H E LABOUR MARKET

Unemployment
Methods of Finding Employment
VI.

13
18
19
26
28

PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS

CONCLUSION

Appendix A
Appendix B

162

162
168
174
200

215
217

INTRODUCTION
The situation in which journalists find themselves to-day is one
of serious difficulty, reflecting partly the price paid for the progress
of journalism itself, and partly the consequences of the vast economic upheaval which followed the war and which, while it affected
all workers, was particularly disastrous to brain workers, including
those who live by journalism.
I n order to obtain a true appreciation of present conditions, it
is desirable first to glance rapidly over the history of the evolution
of journalism.
Journalism is of recent birth. I t is quite a modern profession ;
in fact, one of t h e youngest in the world. There have been actors,
musicians, and architects almost as long as man has existed ; there
have been journalists only for two or three generations. We may
say this, we hope, without being accused of forgetting venerable
ancestors — t h a t Chinese official journal, for example, which bears
the overwhelming weight of fourteen centuries ; or, penetrating still
further into antiquity, the Ada Diurna of ancient Rome. Nor do
we overlook those " gazettes " which appeared at Antwerp and
Venice towards the middle of the sixteenth century, or those which
were published a little later at Cologne, Frankfort, and Strasburg,
or, above all, those many sheets of the eighteenth century which
played such an important part in the social upheavals of the time.
All these, however, were only forerunners. We must pass over a
few more decades before we can see the emergence of t h a t power
which the Press was to become, and the development of the great
profession which journalism was to be in the modern world.
The history of the newspaper is punctuated by a number of
inventions which enabled journalism to make prodigious bounds.
First of all, a little after 1810, came the printing machine, displacing
the old hand press which only allowed of the printing of a few
hundred copies, and raising the output tenfold at a single stroke
Next, in 1814, there was the organisation and centralisation of the
manufacture of ink with which previously each printer had had to
occupy himself in his own workshop. A little later there was the

— 2 —

improvement in type-founding which doubled the production of
type. About 1844 the telegraph made its appearance, an invention
which was destined to enable the newspaper to become an almost
instantaneous informant of the most distant happenmgs. I n 1850
came the invention of wood pulp paper, which prevented the
starvation of the newspaper for want of paper by providing the
Press abundantly with raw material. The same invention led t o
another invention, equally of capital importance, when twelve
years later Hoe built, in America, the first rotary printing machine,
which, thanks to continued improvement, enables a newspaper
of 64 pages to be printed off nowadays at the rate of more t h a n
25,000 copies an hour. Finally, we have the invention of typesetting machines — linotype and monotype — which completely
changed the processes of typographical composition followed for
more than five centuries, and synchronised type-setting with the
accelerated pace of printing.
Between 1830 and 1840 occurred another event, concerned not
with machinery but with the financial organisation of the paper,
and fraught with the greatest consequences for the future of the
Press. I t was about this time t h a t the idea spread abroad of looking
for the revenue of the paper not in the receipts from its sales as
hitherto, but in an auxiliary power — advertising. From t h a t time,
the newspaper, having become cheap, was easily sold, penetrated
everywhere, increased its circulation, and, by this very means,
obtained new resources from advertising, which found in the
newspaper a wider field for propaganda, and paid more for it.
All these material means allowed of a prodigious development
of the Press 1 , a development facilitated by the progress of democracy and education which created the need, and by the increase of
capital which furnished the means. The newspaper thus rapidly
became what it is now — a factor which plays such a p a r t in the life
of to-day t h a t it would be difficult to picture the world without it.
The newspaper is everywhere. It has transformed social life. The
news, judgments, and opinions which had t o be sought in former
times in the street, in drawing-rooms and in antechambers, now
travel much more quickly, in much greater quantity, and from
much more remote spots, into our very homes. They are so
indispensable, we are so accustomed to knowing what goes on in
1
Nothing is more indicative of this development t h a n the following few
figures : in ninety years, from 1831 t o 1921, the number of periodicals increased
in Belgium from 34 to 1,112 ; in 1874 the post distributed 56,000,000 copies of
newspapers ; in 1902, 133,000,000 ; in 1921, 231,000,000.

the world, t h a t it is impossible to imagine a great nation suddenly
deprived of newspapers for any considerable time. In such circumstances, the nation would doubtless appear as though struck
down with paralysis. These thousands of sheets which are daily
scattered among the crowds of our towns, and reach the remotest
recesses of our countrysides, are very like the nerve impulses of
present-day civilisation.
I n Germany, in 1926, there were 3,812 dailies and 4,309 weeklies;
there were 1,100 periodicals in Belgium, 1,500 in Canada, several
thousands in China, and more than 2,000 in Spain. I n Denmark,
in addition to 750 periodicals, weekly and monthly, there are 320
newspapers with a circulation of 1,100,000 copies, t h a t is to say,
one copy for every three inhabitants. I n the United States, in
1920, there were 2,400 daily newspapers and 14,800 weeklies. The
total circulation of the daily papers in the United States rose from
28,700,000 copies in 1914 to 35,730,000 in 1923. In the same year,
the newspaper industry comprised 10,267 establishments employing
238,550 persons. In France there is the same prodigious development. A hundred daily papers appear in Paris alone, and several of
them have a circulation of more than 500,000 copies. In Great
Britain there are 2,400 newspapers, at least one of which has a circulation of more than a million. Italy had a thousand periodicals,
the Netherlands a thousand, J a p a n more t h a n 3,000, and Poland
more than 5,000, at the end of 1924. Switzerland has 2,000 papers
and magazines, or one periodical for 2,000 inhabitants. Czechoslovakia also has 2,000, of which 710 appear in the city of Prague
alone.
We can imagine the army of manual and intellectual workers
bestirring themselves to-day around the printing presses of a
newspaper.
These workers are employed in three main departments : editorial, managerial, and printing. Only the editorial
department will be touched upon here. In this department
there are sometimes a few, sometimes several hundred, people
who have to perform well-defined tasks, standardised ¡long ago,
for all newspapers are produced in much the same way. When
there are only a few editors, each has to fulfil a number of these
functions ; on the other hand, when there are many editors, and
if the undertaking is larger, there are several for a single task.
According to the nature of the paper, certain functions are
diminished in favour of others. There are two principal categories
of papers — papers giving news and papers giving opinions. The
former seek more especially to inform their readers of the events

— 4 —

of the day while maintaining a certain impartiality with regard
to them. They cater for all the world, and their readers are
recruited in the most widely differing spheres. The latter t r y
t o propagate a particular doctrine, religious or political ; their
readers generally belong t o a party — t h a t of the paper or t h a t
of its opponents. These papers are read to be followed or to be
combated ; they belong to the world of contention. I t is quite
obvious t h a t certain tasks, those having to do with news, are
reduced to very little in these papers, while the political side is
highly developed. The importance of these distinctions, however,
must not be exaggerated, because more often than not there is
news in the journals of opinion and there are opinions in the news
papers.
At the head of the editorial department is the editor. I t is
he who is responsible for the leader — a short article which gives
the opinion of the paper on the events and the problems of the
day. After him comes the sub-editor. " He is the pivot of the
paper. I t is he who receives and reads the articles and often
orders them. I n any case, it is he who deals with their publication, who requires, if need be, corrections and cuts to be made,
who with the help of the makers-up, settles the order and the
place in which the articles will appear, the type in which they will
be set, the headlines, and the illustrations which will accompany
the text. He is obliged t o remain until the moment at which
the stop-press news arrives. If the newspaper appears in the
morning, he is at work until 2 a.m. and he goes home as best he
can. If the paper appears in the evening, he works until 2 o'clock
in the afternoon and he lunches when he finds time. His very
fatiguing work is well enough paid, but he dies or retires fairly
young. He is in touch with the reporters, who fear him, and
with the printers, who carry out his orders. He is thus the liaison
officer between the intellectual and the manual workers of the
paper. " 1
Next in order come the editorial staff proper. To begin with,
there are the numerous special writers, critics, and news writers ;
the first, who are generally well-known men, sometimes occupying
public posts, write the chief article in which the questions of the
day are discussed ; the others — the dramatic critic, musical
critic, literary critic, and scientific correspondent — give their
opinions on important happenings in the world of art, on recent
1

G. RBNABD : Les travailleurs du livre et du journal, Vol. I I , p . 266. Paris, 1925.

— 5 —

books, and on scientific activities. Then come the reporters of
all kinds ; those who furnish an account of the proceedings of
courts or of Parliament, who describe sporting events, who report
miscellaneous happenings, the gossip of the fashionable world,
news of the social life, and those who in other towns of the same
country keep their paper informed of local events, and, lastly,
those who, still farther away, send it the foreign news. The
reporter is a very characteristic figure of the modern paper. Keen
and resourceful, he tries to get the news before anyone else, to
track down the sensational event or the merely useful piece of
information. Often the camera provides him with a hurriedly
snapped picture, a document made on the spot, which will illustrate
his text. There is reporting on a small scale — the reporting
of miscellaneous talk and facts ; there is also reporting on a
large scale — reporting which involves long journeys, patient
researches, and sometimes dangerous missions.
Some of the collaborators of t h e paper work at home ; they
never come to the office or they call only to bring their " copy "
and t o keep in touch with headquarters. Others work on t h e
premises, and constitute, with the administrative staff and the
workers of the press room, the permanent personnel. They have
their place in the editorial offices or have a private room. They
are obliged t o keep more or less regular hours according to the
paper and the nature of their work. They prepare their " stories "
on the premises or, reserving this creative work for more tranquil
moments, they collaborate in the thousand-and-one tasks t h a t
the running of a newspaper entails — reception and sorting of news,
proof-reading, etc.
. Whom does all this newspaper world obey? What is the
power which directs its activity ?
To reply to such a question, we must first of all realise what
a modern newspaper is.
For some decades a progressive transformation of the methods
governing the establishment and the management of a newspaper
has been going on. Industrial methods have penetrated into all
branches of journalism. A great periodical is a considerable
undertaking to-day ; like a mine or a foundry, it is owned by a
limited company. At its head there is à paid manager who is
responsible to a board of directors. The undertaking which he
directs is an enormous machine which is perpetually working
and which shifts of workers must continuously furnish with the
material it devours. I t is, in fact, easier to stop a weaving loom

— 6—
t h a n the printing presses of a newspaper. Considerable sums
pass through its coffers. The cost of advertising alone reaches
fantastic proportions ; in 1925 the newspapers of the United States
received 750,000,000 dollars for advertisements. A French paper
lets its advertisement pages for 5,000,000 francs. The raw material
passing through the presses — the paper — involves the expenditure
of large sums and the consumption of paper is increasing rapidly.
For all the newspapers in the United States it increased from
1,519,000 tons in 1913 to 2,980,000 tons in 1925. The cost of
the publication of all the English newspapers reached £62,000,000
in 1926. Some newspapers are very big affairs. One of them,
a London daily, made a net profit of £226,000 in 1927, and was
able to declare a dividend of 12% per cent.
A new phenomenon is looming in the newspaper world and
tends to accentuate this character of capitalistic enterprise ; it
is a process of concentration, the formation of vast trusts aiming
at controlling all or a part of the Press. In the United States
these methods, which have been applied for some time, are beginning to convert certain companies, and hence certain men (who
secure the control for themselves), into " newspaper kings ",
just as there are " steel kings " and " automobile kings ". One
of them who, at the beginning of his career in 1887, inherited a
San Francisco newspaper from his father, is at the present time
the owner of 24 daily papers, 14 weeklies, and 11 magazines,
with a circulation of 13,000,000 copies ; this means that about
40,000,000 persons read his papers. About 38,000 employees
work on his daily papers alone. The industrial character of
such undertakings is clear ; thought is regarded merely as a commodity which must, according to the locality, assume the form
the most likely to ensure its sale. Thus the trust in question
does not scruple " t o blow hot in Chicago and cold in B o s t o n " 1 .
This, it may be said by the way, is not necessarily and in itself
an evil from the point of view of the journalist, since such trusts
on a purely commercial basis willingly leave each new paper
acquired to follow its own tendencies, whereas those trusts which
may be called " trusts of opinion " modify the policy of the papers
they acquire if it is contrary to their own, and thus force many
members of their staffs' to resign and look for other employment.
This concentration of the Press, which is already very advanced
in the United States and which has begun in Europe, principally
1

The Journalist,

March 1927.

— 7—
in Great Britain, is the subject of anxious comment in the journalists' professional organs. I t undoubtedly brings a new element
into their life, though one which does not in any way contradict
the previous tendencies in the evolution of the Press. Be t h a t as
it may, the journalist of our day is dependent on a vast organisation of a more or less industrial type, and this is the power which
determines the working and living conditions of journalists. I t
is true t h a t the industrialisation of the Press has not everywhere
reached the same stage ; according to the country, according
to the paper, differences exist ; but, generally speaking, the
important phenomenon which is rapidly transforming the Press,
giving it a new aspect — even though it may sometimes do so
only indirectly — and creating all kinds of new problems, is this
penetration, this invasion, by the methods of big capital.
Journalists have thus found themselves face to face simultaneously with difficulties proceeding from two main orders of facts :
on one side, t h e change in the methods of running the paper ;
on the other side, the economic upheaval of the post-war period,
which affected all categories of workers and which had very serious
effects on journalists. Hence two grave crises, the one material,
the other moral.
The moral crisis had its origin in the economic catastrophe of
the last fifteen years, which resulted in what may be called a
depreciation of intellectual work, and in the adoption of industrial
methods by the Press which threatened to reduce thought to
a mere ingredient in the commercial prosperity of the undertaking.
The journalist, however, sets store by his intellectual status.
He has opinions inseparable from his professional activity ; he
wants liberty to express them. This liberty, which he won in
times gone by and defended at the cost of long efforts against
hostile public authorities, he will not see menaced nowadays
by the new organisation of the Press. He has set to work to
protect it by means some of which are purely moral, such as the
right of signature (which will not be dealt with in this survey),
and others economic, such as compensation in case of resignation
for reasons of conscience, a matter which will be considered in
a later chapter.
The material crisis is serious. Provoked or aggravated to
an equal extent by the transformation of the Press and the economic upheavals following on the war, it revealed an evil from which
journalism has suffered since its beginnings, but which was becoming more and more threatening as the profession developed —

— 8—
incoherence, arbitrariness, the absence of a code which would
define rights and duties, and would introduce a little order, and
a t the same time a little justice, in the conditions in which this
great modern profession is unfolding.
This absence of a code, which is beginning to be remedied
in certain countries, is a veritable anachronism. There is a striking
contrast between the methodical organisation of everything
which, in the Press of to-day, concerns the commercial running
of the undertaking, and the lack of organisation as regards the
riving conditions of the journalists. The incoherence of these
conditions was less perceptible before the introduction of the
methods of big capital into journalism. I t corresponded well
enough to the organisation of the Press as a whole. There was,
as in the old trades, a relationship between the owner and manager
of a paper and his collaborators close enough to enable each individual's position to be examined from time to time in a friendly,
or a t least a personal, way and to enable terms to be come to
more or less satisfactorily. The new structure of the newspaper
has built up before the intellectual collaborators an impersonal
power which opposes a blind resistance to their individual efforts,
and this at the very moment when the economic crisis, the
transformations of the modern world (those, for example, due
to the appearance of wireless telephony, which will not be without
influence on the profession of the journalist), and the internal
changes in journalistic work, such as the introduction of specialists,
have created new problems the solution of which is an absolute
necessity for the intellectual workers of the Press.
On the whole the establishment of a code which the conditions
of journalism urgently require to-day is in a sense facilitated by the
evolution of the methods followed in the organisation of the Press.
I n practice, it is easier to bring about standardisation in the journalistic profession under the regime of great undertakings than it
would be when variety of publications and of traditions of work
constituted serious obstacles. At the present time the needs of
the big Press entail the specialisation and the régularisation of the
work of journalists ; to ensure the uninterrupted working of the
complex mechanism which the newspaper has become, it was necessary to impose a differentiated discipline and then to group the
tasks. The modern journalist is, of all intellectual workers, one
whose work, in spite of certain appearances, has the most rigid and
the most regular character. The road is thus open to the introduction of a code. Journalists have insistently asked for it, and it

— 9 —

would be of great value to them to know of the experiments taking
place, and the results obtained, wherever an attempt has been made
to improve their living conditions.
The Office greatly desired to undertake this investigation, but
it foresaw the difficulties of an enquiry to be conducted in a domain
which was innocent of statistics and in which the greatest diversity
reigned. However, in 1925 a precise and pressing request was
made. The International Association of Journalists accredited
to the League of Nations, convinced t h a t it expressed the feelings of
the world of the Press, pointed out the importance which journalists
could not fail t o attach to an enquiry of this nature and the valuable
service which it could do them.
Acceding t o the desire of this important organisation, the Office
decided to undertake the enquiry requested and began by issuing
a questionnaire dealing with various aspects of the life of the
journalist. This questionnaire, which is reproduced as an appendix,
was addressed at various times to the principal journalistic organisations of the following countries : Argentine Republic, Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain,
Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serb-Croat-Slovene
Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay.
In these thirty-three countries about sixty organisations, groups,
and professional associations, and a certain number of individuals,
were consulted.
If the Office employed the method of the universal questionnaire for this enquiry, it was not without realising the serious
disadvantages of t h a t procedure. These disadvantages were perhaps
especially serious in a domain such as t h a t of journalism, where
everything is nuance, where there are sheaves of individual cases,
and where procedure by rigid questionnaire ran the risk of making
the production of an accurate picture of the reality very difficult.
This method, however, was decided upon firstly for budgetary
reasons, as the considerable resources required by multiple enquiries
carried out on the spot were not available, and secondly because it
seemed t h a t the questionnaire method, even if it did not permit of
arriving at a final result at the outset, nevertheless was at least a
good means of clearing the ground beforehand and classifying the
material.
The Office, then, sent out its questionnaire without ignoring

— 10 —
the inherent defects of this means of investigation — slowness
vagueness, gaps, etc. Most of these defects were met with. Some
answers were long in coming, some never came. Many gave only
vague and incomplete information.. I t is clear that in many countries
the position of journalists is so varied, their conditions of work are
so personal, t h a t no one could give a well-defined and complete
account of the state of the profession.
This is not to say t h a t the first stage of the enquiry gave no
result. On the contrary, it placed the Office in possession of
documentary material which,. if not abundant, was not without
value. However, the question of completing it arose. The best
method of doing this seemed to consist in making the material
available to those concerned, in showing them what we had received,
and asking t h e m if these first results seemed to them to constitute an
adequate presentation of the facts. The collaboration of journalists which we had solicited for our questionnaire could thus be
continued and developed by a common examination of the results
obtained. I t was therefore decided to publish very briefly, in a
kind of provisional report, without comment and in all its original
aridity, the information we had received.
This provisional report of about 100 pages, written and roneoed
at the end of 1926, was presented to the principal journalistic
organisations, and notably to the International Association of
JournaMsts accredited to the League of Nations, which had, as it
were, inspired the enquiry, and to the International Federation of
Journalists, which had just been founded, and which from the
beginning had been deeply interested in the enquiry. I t was also
sent to the various associations and persons who had received the
questionnaire. All were requested to send us such corrections and
additions to the original documents as might seem appropriate
to them.
Once again the answers were slow in coming in. At t h a t moment
important events were happening in the professional world, and the
persons concerned who wished to inform us of these events were in
no hurry, before they were fully accomplished, to send us information which might soon be out of date.
If the long duration of the enquiry, which sometimes made
necessary the revision and modification of information at first
seeming to be final, is to be deplored from some points of view, it
nevertheless permitted significant phenomena to be recorded in the
process of development. The last two years of journalism have

— 11 —
heen very fertile. At a moment when the enquiry seemed almost
«nded, we were faced with a new situation of the greatest importance, of which the constitution of the International Federation
of Journalists was in itself an important factor. I t was necessary
to recommence a good part of the enquiry in order to benefit from
experiments being carried out and to keep our investigations, if
possible, in harmony with the very active period into which
journalism was entering.
The documents received from various countries and the other
information with which our enquiry furnished us enabled the present
study to be written. I t makes no claim to exhaust the subject, but
it a t least endeavours to touch upon the principal aspects of the professional life of the journalist. We do not flatter ourselves t h a t we
have been able to avoid two reproaches which works of this kind
generally encounter. Readers unrelated to journalism will possibly
be rebuffed by the dryness of a text loaded with technical information, devoted to the analysis of the clauses of contracts or to the
presentation of statistics ; but we wished to give a certain amount of
precise information, and we hope t h a t it will not prevent persons
who, while not belonging to journalism, wish to acquire an idea of
the tendencies of a typical intellectual profession, from finding them
reflected in those parts of the study which are on more general lines.
Journalists, on the other hand, may consider t h e exposition of
facts of which they know the complex reality to be rather summary.
Certainly, the technical parts of our study are not sufficiently complete to dispense persons interested from further enquiry, if they
would have a more detailed knowledge of the facts before taking
action. But they will perhaps suffice to clear the ground and give
a general view of the problems to be discussed.
The collaboration of various national organisations of journalists
has been very useful to the Office, as has been t h a t of international
organisations, in the first rank of which we must once again mention
the International Association of Journalists accredited to the League
of Nations, which followed our work with interest after having
suggested it, and the International Federation of Journalists,
with which we have always been on cordial terms, and which
made use of our labours and enabled us to make abundant use of
theirs.
The study which follows successively passes in review the
general aspect of the profession, its composition, its organisation,

— 12 —
the status proper of the journalist and his conditions of work, the
state of the labour market, and the insurance institutions established for journalists. Whenever the subject dealt with and the
state of the documentation so permit, a triple survey has been
drawn up, dealing first with the theoretical and general state of
the question, secondly with the situation in various countries, and
thirdly with the international action to which the problem may have
given rise.

I
THE PROFESSION
T H E TRAINING OF JOURNALISTS AND THE RECRUITING
OF THE PROFESSION

The question of the training of journalists is one of those on
which the members of the profession have so far declared themselves
with the least clearness. Opinion is very divided on the subject,
and there is no agreement either on the utility of special education
for journalists or on the form or the subjects of this education.
The problem is not without interest. I t is linked with several
other important questions, such as the general organisation of
t h e profession and the constitution of a more or less closed corporation of journalists. I t is, moreover, engaging the attention of
t h e classes concerned, and the organs of the various associations
are devoting much space to it in their columns 1 . I t is not infrequently t h a t the assemblies of the national organisations of journalists discuss it ; recently, too, the Conference of Press Experts
convened in August 1927 by the League of Nations added the
question to its agenda.
Two principal tendencies in the opinions expressed by the
journalists of various countries may be distinguished.
Some, holding t h a t the career of the journalist requires above
all innate qualifications and natural talent, think t h a t a good
general education acquired in no matter what school suffices to
fashion such talent and t h a t practice in the profession constitutes
the principal factor in the training of a good journalist. Practice
is, in their opinion, the indispensable factor which the best education
could not replace. They fear schools of journalism where there
is the risk of artificially forcing natures which have no leanings
towards the profession, and of launching on their careers a host
of people doomed to unemployment, or ready to accept any
pittance. Such people lower the conditions of employment for
t h e entire profession.
1

1926.

See, inter alia, the special number of the Deutsche Presse, Nos. 50-51, 24 Dec.

— 14 —
Others, persuaded t h a t the modern journalist needs not only
wide culture which enables him t o interest the reader who is more
or less educated and exacting, but also a sound professional
training which may spare him many errors and hesitations in his
first days in the profession, urge the creation of special schools of
journalism, and even go so far as to propose the institution of
certificates which alone would give access to the profession. They
declare, moreover, t h a t the experience of many years has shown
t h a t far from bringing into journalism numbers of persons withoutcapacity, the schools, with their very long and detailed courses,
have turned many from the profession, the difficulties of which
they had not imagined.
The second tendency seems to be getting the upper hand of the
first, which was partly the result of the fear of compromising t h e
independence of the Press and the desire of safeguarding this
independence — acquired at the cost of long efforts, and for whose
sake journalism has had its martyrs — against any official education. I n any case several countries have created schools of
journalism, and in many others their creation is demanded. People
seem at present to be drawn more and more towards the opinion
t h a t if journalism is in a way an a r t which requires a certain
initial talent, those who practise it none the less need to make
their talent fruitful by nourishing it with sound study, and do
well to know, even before entering the profession, the ever more
complex technique and the mechanism of modern journalism..
Teaching for journalists, such as it is or such as it is demanded
by those concerned, may assume various forms. Sometimes it
is purely preparatory and caters for young persons who know
nothing at all of their profession. Sometimes it aims a t furnishing;
supplementary courses for persons already practising journalism ;
in this form may be included the articles which certain associations.
of journalists publish in their organs for the use of their members.
These methods are sometimes purely theoretical, going so far as.
those of t h a t science of journalism which is studied in certain
German institutes, sometimes entirely practical like those of the
American laboratories conceived in imitation of a real newspaper
editorial office.
The existing schools are of relatively recent creation ; they
have not yet been able to prove their worth or to find the ideal
form of teaching. They are, however, now in sufficient numbers.
to allow of abundant experiments.

— 15 —
The Australian
universities endeavour to furnish young
journalists with the means of learning their trade. The University
of Queensland even delivers a diploma for journalists after an examination comprising a dozen subjects — history, geography, languages,
political economy, etc.
The Austrian journalists declare emphatically against the
creation of schools of journalists.
They do not see any danger
in purely theoretical courses of journalism for the use of persons
whose situation obliges them to keep themselves informed of
the rôle of newspapers in modern life, but they take their stand
against any teaching whose purpose is to prepare people for the
journalistic profession. They consider the system in which the
candidate is gradually initiated into his trade in the editorial room
itself as far superior. Many young people in Austria begin thencareer as editorial stenographers. Their job, which is first of all to
receive and to sift news, prepares them very well for the editorial
table, where they generally find themselves sooner or later.
The Belgian Press Association, on the other hand, created in
April 1922 an Institute for Journalists, where courses in history,
political economy, art, literary, and musical criticism, and law were
organised. These courses were completed by practical exercises,
handling of telegrams, law reports, etc. The courses were held in
the evening from five to seven o'clock. Sixty pupils attended the
first series, lasting two years, and earned a diploma delivered by the
Institute at the end of their studies.
There is no course in journalism in Brazil or

Bulgaria.

In Czechoslovakia, the budget for 1928 includes a sum of 750,000
crowns for the creation of a Higher School of Journalism, which
will be created within the framework of the future High School for
Political Sciences.
In Germany since the armistice, schools of journalism have
been created in sixteen universities, two technical schools, and five
higher commercial schools. Among others may be mentioned the
university institutes of Munich, Halle, and Heidelberg, the lastnamed dating from 1895, the Berlin Institute, and the Institute of
the Nuremberg Higher Commercial School founded in 1923. The
Nuremberg Institute, whose theoretical and practical courses

— 16 —
mingle in a fairly harmonious way, gives special place to the study
of the rôle of the Press and of the psychology of the reader.
The Institute of Journalism of Heidelberg, with its interesting
Press laboratory (Zeitungsprobestelle), has built up a fairly high
reputation by its methodical and thorough teaching. Grenerally
speaking, journalists reproach these academic institutes with being
more suitable for persons who wish to keep themselves informed of
the development and the methods of the Press in a disinterested
manner than for journalistic candidates desiring to learn their trade.
The journalists' associations of Great Britain pay much attention to the training of members of the profession. The Congress
•of the Institute of Journalists, which met a t Glasgow in 1926, had
this question on its agenda. The advantages and the dangers of
the scholastic training of journalists were discussed at length. The
National Union of Journalists also deals frequently with this subject in its organ, The Journalist.
Generally speaking it fears private
schools of journalism, which are multiplying in England, throwing
many amateurs on the labour market and contributing to lowering
t h e conditions of employment in the profession. On the other hand,
the Union takes great interest in the supplementary education of
journalists who are already practising their profession ; it organises
for this purpose courses in history, economics, and sociology such
as t h a t instituted at Liverpool in the winter of 1926-1927. I t also
facilitates the inscription of its members for higher correspondence
«ourses, and has created an educational section in The Journalist.
During its twentieth Assembly, held in April 1927, the Union
passed a resolution instructing its committee to undertake negotiations with newspaper proprietors with a view to arranging for
the creation of courses in journalism in various centres.
An initiative — one of the most important in this direction —
was taken by the University of London in 1919 when it created a
cycle of courses in journalism. The courses, which deal with
history, political sciences, psychology, etc., and which entitle the
members to a diploma at the end of two years, are managed by a
committee composed of professors, newspaper managers, and
journalists. I n addition to the theoretical courses given by the
professors of the University, there is practical instruction given
by professional journalists.
There are no courses for journalists in Hungary.
An experiment
made by a political party ended in failure. The lessons given by

— 17 —
Dr. Wunscher a t the University of Budapest are intended to inform
the studious public of the developments of journalism and do not
aim at training members of the profession.
A school of journalism, which, it is hoped, will have a good effect
on the development of the Indian Press was opened a t Madras in
September 1927.
Italy has long been without schools of journalism.
Recently — on 15 March 1928 — a Fascist Faculty of Political
Sciences was instituted at Perusa. I t is divided into five sections,
of which one is devoted to politics and journalism. The teaching
of this section comprises political history, modern and contemporary, the history of journalism, and comparative legislation relating
to the Press.
There is no school of journalism in Luxemburg or Portugal,
The difficult life of the journalist in Spain is a reason why young
people would perhaps show little eagerness to attend such courses.
I t may however be mentioned t h a t the fifth Congress of the Latin
Press, held at Madrid from 1 to 5 July 1927, adopted a resolution
urging the creation of a School of Journalism at Madrid.
There is no school of journalism in Sweden.
The candidates for the profession in Sweden generally act as
substitutes during the summer holiday period and obtain a permanent post after several temporary engagements of this type.
In Switzerland the University of Zurich has courses for future
journalists, but more often than not Swiss editorial offices are
entered by means of occasional collaboration. Forty per cent, of
Swiss journalists have gone directly from a higher school t o the
newspaper, 60 per cent, coming from another profession.
I t is in the united States t h a t schools of journalism have
most decidedly assumed the character of professional institutes.
Putting an end to the long polemics on the utility of journalistic
education, Joseph Pulitzer, the celebrated founder of the New
York World, was the first to create a school of journalism. I t
was at Columbia University, and he endowed it with one million
dollars. At the present time there are institutes of journalism
2

— 18 —

in 28 State Universities and 19 State schools, and also in 50 private
institutions. I n the course of the last five years the number of
students in these schools has doubled.
Schools of journalism belong to most widely varying types.
Some, generally attached to higher agricultural institutes, prepare
workers for the extensive rural Press ; others provide teaching
more particularly commercial in character, as t h a t of Chicago.
Still others, attached to old universities, emphasise the intellectual
side of the profession.
The teaching, general to begin with, later becomes highly
specialised, and is thus perfectly adapted to the character of
American journalism, which has arrived at a degree of specialisation unknown in Europe. The methods of teaching all tend towards the practical. Most of the schools publish a journal which the
pupils, divided into classes, produce in the same conditions (especially of rapidity) as those of real publications. They practice
the sorting of news and its presentation, the preparation of titles,
headlines, etc., interviews, reporting, the drafting of educational
articles on given subjects, and bibliographic notices ; they are
also initiated into the commercial aspects of the newspaper, the
scientific organisation of work, advertising, etc. A large number
of schools award a certificate of Master of Arts in Journalism,
following a theoretical examination which students can only take
after a complete course of practical work.
The schools of journalism enjoy the greatest favour with the
members of the profession, and their graduates easily find work.
I n the West it is not rare for pupils to be engaged before the termination of their studies, and the great newspapers of New York
readily give responsible work to graduates of the institutes.

ASPECTS AND COMPOSITION OP THE PROFESSION

The journalist's profession is far from presenting the same
aspect in all countries. For example, it may vary in importance ;
journalism may be a veritable profession taking up the whole
time of the person who practises it, but capable, on the other hand,
of supporting him and his family, or it may be a spare-time profession, solely intended to supplement the income which a person
derives from another profession. The difference between countries
such as the United States, Austria, and Spain, from this point
of view, is very considerable.

— 19 —
The degree of specialisation is also very unequal. A journalist
is, on the whole, much less highly specialised in Europe than in the
United States, where the industrialisation of the newspaper and
the division of work have gone very far.
The composition of the profession — t h a t is to say, the percentage of the various categories which collaborate in the production
of the newspaper — may also be different from one country to
another. Thus, the proportion of men to women, and t h a t of
foreigners to natives practising the profession of journalism varies
in different countries, as do the relative numbers of the outside
contributors (occasional contributors having another profession,
or contributors living by journalism) and the internal editorial
staff. The proportion of journalists collaborating with several
newspapers may be higher or lower in comparison with those
who work for a single concern. Finally, the system of voluntary
contributors may be more common in some countries than others ;
in other words, according to the country, newspapers may have a
weaker or a stronger tendency to accept unpaid articles furnished,
for example, by persons who are simply seeking some notoriety
of a political, scientific, or other order. Below will be found some
information on these questions which, if they were closely examined, would provide not a little enlightenment as to the economic
conditions and the degree of organisation of the members of
the profession.
A. — Aspects of the Profession
First of all it may be asked whether journalism is everywhere
a profession, and if it deserves the name in every respect. Certainly,
wherever a big newspaper Press develops in the world, a corps of
professional journalists is constituted ; according to the stage of
development of this Press, and according to the form of certain
traditions among the intellectual circles, this corps varies in
strength, and is free to a greater or a less extent of a number
of hindrances due to antiquated systems of journalism. The
general tendency is certainly towards professionalism. I t seems
t h a t people will become journalists more and more in the same
way as they become architects or engineers or violinists — t h a t
is to say, thanks to preparatory work, to experience beyond
ordinary reach, and to knowledge perpetually brought up to date.
These are factors which, not to mention innate propensities and
initial talent, have already made many journalists indispensable
to the modern newspaper.

— 20 —

There are still many people who practise journalism in addition
t o their own profession (the so-called spare-time journalists),
but they are diminishing in number. I n the great daily
Press, occasional collaborators are now hardly ever recruited
outside the ranks of specialists dealing with questions which the
professional journalist could not know in all their technical or
scientific complexity. Even considered from this aspect, an
examination of the problem discloses a strong tendency towards
journalistic professionalism. Instead of a progressive invasion
of journalism by the non-professional specialist, there is to be
observed, on the contrary, a marked increase in the range of
journalism, a series of annexations which transform the members
of other intellectual orders into specialised professional journalists.
Thus, there is an ever-increasing number of doctors, jurists, and
officers who have become purely and simply medical, legal, and
military correspondents.
Non-professionalism in the Press is, then, diminishing, but it
has not been able to disappear entirely. There will always be
authorities on certain subjects to whom editors will with advantage
have recourse, so t h a t their readers may be furnished with information from the most competent sources. Moreover, journalists
recognise t h a t the system is a reasonable one, and if certain of
them have envisaged the possibility of reserving t o professional
journalists alone the task of presenting to the public, in the form
which their experience has shown to be the most efficacious,
technical information which specialists have furnished, most of
them content themselves with parrying this dangerous competition
by endeavouring to obtain for outside contributors a remuneration
equal to their own.
Either because the action of organised professionals tends
to enclose within narrow limits a practice which would cause
them serious harm, or because editors have recognised t h a t it
would be bad business to insert the prose of unqualified writers,
even if it were acquired cheaply, amateurism is on the decline,
and the papers which insert the "copy" of non-professionals are
becoming fewer in number. An exception must obviously be
made for publications championing political or religious opinions ;
such papers are often mainly, or even entirely, written by persons
for whom journalism is not a profession, men who derive their
livelihood from another profession and who receive little or no
remuneration for their collaboration. But even journals of this
kind do not fail to constitute a team of professional collaborators

— 21 —
whenever they have the necessary means. I t is true that the
means are often lacking owing to their relatively small circulation
and the difficulty of getting advertisements, which, as is known,
are the only means by which a newspaper can exist without outside
help, since the selling price of a copy is far from covering its cost
of production.
Some prudent minds have thought it right to denounce the
danger of this growing professionalism. They are afraid of seeing
the journahst's profession walled up, and access to the newspaper
barred to certain important movements of interest, to certain
ideas, or to certain verdicts of opinion, to the expression of certain
talent, which, even if it is not the talent of professional journalists,
is none the less useful to the community. They are afraid, too,
of seeing legitimate journalism petrified in routine under the
shelter of its many defences. Partisans of professionalism reply
t h a t journalism cannot be perfected, and that in fact it will not
be perfected until those who practise it are able to give their whole
time and energy to it ; further, t h a t this will not be possible unless
their existence is assured by sufficient remuneration, and their
work made tolerable by the establishment of good conditions.
But only customs or regulations making the profession indisputably
an important one, and protecting it against unfair competition,
are capable of achieving this result.
I n any case one is struck by the fact t h a t the Press associations,
which formerly readily admitted, side by side with professional
journalists, all kinds of persons — men of letters, professors, etc. —
who only have occasional dealings with the newspaper, have a
tendency to reconstitute themselves on a basis which is more
strictly professional.
The system of multiple collaboration also tends to diminish.
As a rule the journalists combat it as encouraging low salaries,
and endeavour to obtain from editors full-time employment
sufficiently remunerated to obviate the necessity of their seeking
work from other papers. The system by which voluntary contributors supply copy gratuitously for the sole pleasure of seeing
their names or their ideas in the paper is even more vigorously
attacked. There is naturally no question here of political or
religious papers, whose existence is frequently entirely dependent
on voluntary contributors, but of the use which the newspaper
Press might be tempted to make of a certain amount of gratuitous
copy. This system is also in full decline. I t is prohibited by
certain collective agreements, and the customs of the Press them-

— 22 —

selves are more and more opposed to
the whole, of the text of a great daily
tors, more often than not permanent
The aspect of the profession in
described below.

it. The greatest part, often
is written by paid collaboraones.
various countries is briefly

In Austria journalism is considered as a full-time profession.
Before the constitution of the Organisation of the Viennese Press,
editors often had recourse to persons practising another profession
— officials, teachers, etc. — but the efforts of the Organisation,
which has" succeeded in getting the principle of equality of pay
for the editorial staff proper and amateur journalists incorporated
in contracts, have led to the abolition of this system, which is no
longer practised except for columns requiring special knowledge,
the medical and legal chronicles for example. I t may be said
now t h a t if the technical periodicals are, as is natural, partly
written b}? persons not belonging to the profession, the great
daily Press is entirely reserved to professional journalists.
Austrian journalists rarely practise multiple collaboration.
A few only work for newspapers appearing early on Monday
morning, as well as for their own paper. More numerous are those
who, in addition to their regular employment, act as correspondents
of foreign newspapers. But, on the whole, work for a single paper
is much the most common. I t will be seen, moreover, when
salaries are being discussed, t h a t the collective agreement in force
in the Austrian Press forbids the writers of a daily paper to collaborate in any way with another paper, unless by special authorisation ; and it regulates collaboration with several papers belonging
to one and the same publishing undertaking.
The system of voluntary collaboration is formally prohibited
by the collective agreement, which only makes exceptions for
political papers, and then only on condition t h a t the permanent
editorial staff of these papers make no objection.
French journalists complain bitterly of "officials, professors,
teachers, etc., people of all kinds of professions, who look for
spare-time remuneration in journalism" 1 . They also denounce
"men who for derisory salaries, or even gratuitously, not to speak
of the cases in which they themselves pay in some form or other,
1

p. 24.

SYNDICAT DES JOURNALISTES : Les conditions
Paris, 1925.

d'existence des

journalistes,

— 23 —

do the work and take the places of the professionals" 1. These
voluntary contributors are numerous on the small papers, and
also insinuate themselves into certain great dailies. The Journalists' Association vigorously combats the amateurs, as it does
the tendency to make journalism a spare-time profession.
In Germany journalism constitutes a profession in the fullest
sense of the word. I t is rarely t h a t anyone will be found to consider
it merely as a spare-time occupation ; there are hardly any such
persons outside the small towns. Furthermore, the German
journalists are, in their very great majority, attached to one paper
only. I t will be seen later on t h a t the collective agreement in
force in the German Press does not allow a writer to work outside
his hours of duty for another paper, except with the authorisation
of his director. The number of voluntary contributors is insignificant.
In Great Britain the professional journalists, numerous and
well organised, are a little uneasy about the possible invasion
of the newspaper by amateurs, not so much in the guise of voluntary
contributors — they are few in number — but as collaborators
belonging to other professions and undertaking journalism t o
add to their income. This danger has become more threatening
since the creation of several private schools which are prepared
to give a rapid veneer of journalism to any person of intelligence,
no matter who he may be. An article which appeared in April
1927 in a London weekly drew the attention of its readers to the
advantages of occasional journalism, which "provides an interesting
hobby, and is also a useful source of revenue " 2.
The National Union of Journalists, without dissimulating
the dangers of this state of mind, and such propaganda, thinks
that the persons who allow themselves to be tempted by the hope
of easy gain are storing up grave disillusionment for themselves.
Its opinion is that, for the moment, it is sufficient t h a t care should
be taken to maintain the working conditions of the professionals
at a high level. This should be done by preventing conditions
from being lowered by the offers of amateurs.

1
2

Ibid.
Quoted by The Journalist,

J u n e 1927, Vol. X, No. 6.

— 24 —

In Hungary journalism in the capital and in various important
provincial centres is considered as a full-time profession. I t is
rare to see it practised as a spare-time occupation. More frequently
journalists are found exercising, side by side with their profession,
less important functions, such as the secretaryship of associations,
administrative posts in theatres, etc. Editors do not readily
employ non-professionals.
Multiple collaboration is fairly frequent owing to the system
of trusts, which has reached a relatively high state of development
in Hungary. A single publishing firm, for example, has grouped
three newspapers, and most of the editorial staff of the firm
work for all three papers. On the other hand, journalists working
for different undertakings are few in number.
Voluntary contributors are rare, and do not compete seriously
with the professionals.

Journalism has always been considered in Italy as a veritable
profession, which should suffice to support those who exercise it.
The present trade union organisation has still further accentuated
the character of professionalism. Even in comparatively unimport a n t centres, where the practice of journalism hardly existed
except as the complement of some other activity, the rigorous
selection due to the new corporative methods has now given it a
very marked professional character. Persons who do not make
journalism their principal activity (the Italians call them "publicists") are not considered to come within the compass of the
profession, and do not enjoy any guarantee or protection.
Most journalists work for a single paper. A certain number,
however, work for several undertakings, either because they are
obliged to increase their income, or because certain political or
other renown lays them open to numerous requests.
Voluntary contributors are not numerous ; for the most part
they are beginners, who need to make themselves known, but
their competition does not in any way inconvenience the paid
journalists.
The Luxemburg papers have many collaborators employed
in another profession, notably in primary or secondary education.
Some of them contribute largely to the papers ; hence the
journalists' association has not thought it right to exclude them
from its membership. The remuneration often constitutes a

— .25 —

considerable addition to the income from their regular profession,
but t h a t does not prevent the regular editorial staff from being
able to live on its income in most cases without having to seek
other resources.
If the correspondents of foreign newspapers are excepted
practically all the Luxemburg journalists work for a single paper.
There are a certain number of voluntary contributors, but
the paid journalists do not complain of their competition.
While there are writers in Portugal who make journalism their
main profession, there are others more numerous who only work
for the Press to add to income acquired in commerce, banking,
teaching, oi* public administrative services. This serious competition causes the remuneration allowed to the permanent workers
of the paper to be insufficient, and obliges them in their turn to
seek supplementary means in other activities.
Another result of this state of affairs is t h a t persons desiring
to devote themselves entirely to journalism are obliged to work
for several papers. Those who have to practise this system may
be estimated a t 30 per cent, of the total number of journalists.
Voluntary contributors are numerous in Portugal, but the
persistent efforts of professionals have succeeded in restricting
them almost completely to technical or political chronicles.
In Spain the great majority of journalists could not live by
their profession alone. Journalism more often than not can
only be a spare-time employment supplementing the income
of persons employed in public or private administration or in
commercial and banking undertakings, etc. If sometimes it is
the main profession, it could not be the only profession, and those
practising it are nearly always obliged to seek additional income
in some other occupation. This state of affairs is largely due to
the fact t h a t in Spain a newspaper which has not some political
or religious character is hardly ever to be seen, and the services
of the journalists are considered more as collaboration of an ideal
nature than as professional work: The few persons who have
given themselves entirely to journalism lead a precarious existence.
However, the rise in the cost of living which followed the war, the
new legislative provisions limiting the number of officials, thus
rendering more difficult of access a profession which constantly
found its complement in journalism, and finally a social conception
which has given the intellectual worker a more lively appreciation

— 26 —
of his economic situation and his rights, seem to impel the collaborators of Spanish newspapers nowadays towards making journalism
a more definite and independent profession.
The system of multiple collaboration is not, however, common.
On the other hand, voluntary contributors are numerous, although
it is true they are diminishing in number, partly owing to the
efforts of paid journalists.
I n Sweden, on the other hand, most of the journalists can live
by their profession, and the members of other callings who collaborate occasionally with the paper do not cause them any serious
harm. I t is rare t h a t a Swedish journalist has to work for several
papers.
Voluntary contributors are very few in number.
Most of the Swiss professional journalists find their sole source
of income in journalism. The Swiss Press Association recognises
as journalists in the proper sense of the word only persons who
give the greater part of their time to the profession. About
four-fifths of the journalists work for a single paper.
The voluntary contributors as a rule supply : t copy" of a
different kind from that of the professionals, and, apart from
some unimportant exceptions, do not cause any harm to the
latter.
B. — Composition of the Profession
Except in the United States and Brazil, it will be observed t h a t
the corporation of journalists includes very few foreigners. In
several countries, however, an increase in the number of foreigners
has been noticed since the war, although it cannot be said that
this increase is due to the considerations of an international order
which have taken an eminent place in the minds of the masses.
In fact, this curiosity about international affairs, which has obliged
many papers to develop considerably the system of foreign correspondents, does not seem to have made it necessary to employ
foreigners in editorial offices to a serious extent. The slight
increase pointed out here and there seems to be rather the result
of unemployment crises which have compelled many intellectuals
to leave their country. These crises have, however, had less
important effects in journalism than in many other professions,
owing to the obstacle of language.

— 27 —

The absence of statistics makes the evaluation of the number
of foreigners in journalism hi various countries very difficult.
Only approximative information is available.
Thus, for every thousand journalists, it is estimated t h a t there
are 15 foreigners in Belgium, 40 in Czechoslovakia, 40 in France, 20
in Great Britain and Portugal. I n Austria — or, more exactly,
at Vienna — foreigners are much more numerous than before
the war. Most of them are political refugees from the neighbouring
countries.
Their number is insignificant in Bulgaria, Hungary,
Italy,
Japan, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain,
Sweden,
and Switzerland.
There are none in Australia and none in Luxemburg.
On the other hand, in the United States and Brazil they amount
to 10 per cent, of the members of the profession, but in the latter
country, in contrast with what is happening in the rest of the
world, the number of foreigners is diminishing.
Foreigners enjoy everywhere the same conditions of work as
native-born journalists.
Women are also scarce in the journalistic profession. They
generally specialise in fashion, health, domestic economy, feminism,
and sometimes in literary and art criticism. In the United States
they are entrusted with some of the reporting.
I n Australia there were, in January 1927, 85 women to 1,850
men practising journalism, or 4.48 .per cent.
As regards Austria there were about 20 women in permanent
employment with the Vienna newspapers, t h a t is, about 3 per cent.
of the journalists at the capital. There is a slightly higher number
of women not attached to a paper, but doing literary criticism
or translations for the Press. The working conditions of women
are specially regulated by the collective agreement in force.
I n Belgium there are scarcely half a dozen women who are
regularly employed on editorial work.
I n Czechoslovakia there were about 30 women to every thousand
journalists in January 1928 (3 per cent.).
I n France there are 20 women for every thousand members
of the Journalists' Association (2 per cent).
In Germany, of 3,235 members of the Press Federation, there
are 78 women, or about 2.5 per cent, of the total, and the percentage
is certainly no higher outside the Federation.

— 28 —

There are about 400 women in Great Britain among about
7.000 members of the profession (7.71 per cent.) and six in Greece
among 300 journalists (2 per cent.).
I n Poland they amount to 6 or 7 per cent, of the members of
the Press Association, and it is estimated t h a t the proportion
is a little higher outside this organisation.
I n the United States, according to the census of 1920, there
were 5,730 women out of 34,197 persons employed on editorial
and reporting work, that is, 16.7 per cent, of all the members of
the profession.
I n Brazil, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Luxemburg,
Netherlands,
Portugal, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.S.R.,
they only represent an insignificant fraction of the total number
of journalists.
With the exception of Germany, Greece, Italy, and the United
States, where they are sometimes not so well paid as men, women
generally obtain working conditions identical with those of men.

ORGANISATION O F THE PROFESSION

I n the eyes of numerous journalists, the question of organising
the members of the profession is one of capital importance. I t
appears to them as the most vital factor in their economic and
social status and the essential preliminary of any lasting improvement in their conditions.
The evolution which Press associations have undergone as
regards their form is a striking example of the general tendency
to be observed in the intellectual professions towards a more
and more accentuated trade unionism. For a certain number of
years a closer grouping of brain workers has been remarked, as
well as their adoption of methods clearly inspired by the trade
unionism of the manual workers. I n succession, engineers, theatrical artistes, musicians, and teachers have united in self-defence.
The movement is even extending, with certain changes in form,
to classes of brain workers whose peculiar position of independence
seemed to keep them outside the main current ; doctors, lawyers,
and independent writers entered into association, no longer for
the technical development of the profession purely and simply,
but for the protection of their economic interests.
This general tendency has shown itself even more vigorously
in journalism than in the other professions. Latterly, at least

— 29 —
in some countries, it may be said t h a t the brain workers of the
Press more than their colleagues in other professions have resolutely
turned to trade union methods, and have applied them with a
fertile perseverance. One is struck, in reading certain bulletins
of national associations of journalists, with the resemblance which
exists between' the aspect and tone of these organs and those of
the industrial workers.
This transformation — for it really is a profound transformation
— which has taken place during the last two decades, has occurred
under the pressure of circumstances ; hesitating at first and delayed
by all sorts of experiments and contradictory efforts, it rapidly
gained momentum as soon as the members of the profession in
certain countries arrived, after ripe experience, at the conclusion
t h a t it was henceforth their last resource.
I n a general way and taking into account many peculiarly
national circumstances, the development of trade union principles
was effected parallel with the transformation of the Press and the
constitution of a sharply defined professional journalism. As
the great daily Press developed and the journalistic profession
assumed a more and more definite form, the Press associations,
which were purely idealist to begin with, were gradually penetrated
by à spirit of professional solidarity which, under the influence
of increasing material difficulties, changed into a definite determination to fight in self-defence.
There was one critical moment in the history of journalism ;
it was when, some twenty years ago, the rise of the great modern
newspaper was taking place. I t was then t h a t the class of workers
for whom journalism is a livelihood was formed. These workers
were subjected to the methods of an increasing industrialisation ;
they were numerous, but unorganised and powerless before the blind
force which the Press began to be, and did not yet know how to
find in the union of their scattered forces a counterpoise to t h a t
power. In many countries the crisis was prolonged, but here and
there the members of the profession tightened the bonds of neighbourliness and friendship which united them, and patiently forging
an instrument of defence — the trade union — applied themselves
methodically to the revision of their working conditions. The war,
b y aggravating the economic difficulties from which journalists
were suffering, precipitated the evolution. In countries in which
there were no organisations at all, organisations were created,
a t any rate friendly ones ; in countries where they already existed
the transformation in harmony with trade union principles was

— 30 —
begun, and in countries where the weapon of trade unionism was
available the foundation of a sound professional status was laid.
Four countries were in the van of the movement — Austria,
Germany, Great Britain, and Italy — and the start which they
gained still confers on them a position of the highest importance.
The trade union activity of the journalists of these countries ñs
frequently held up by their colleagues in other countries as a model
of professional defence.

As the professional evolution did not take place everywhere
in the same way, all kinds of associations are found in various
countries at the present time, from the friendly union intended
to create simple bonds of comradeship and to furnish means of
distraction or of culture, to the professional organisation on a
strictly trade union basis, passing by way of the mere mutual-aid
association. I n several countries the old form continues ; in
several others the transformation is taking place more or less
quickly ; in some it is as good as finished, and the new methods
are producing their full effect.
The organisations are by no means all composed of the same
elements. The friendly unions readily accept all members of the
Press — writers, managers, owners, and even people unconnected
with the Press or only in occasional relationship with it, for example,
authors and artists. When their aims are merely mutual aid
and welfare they are generally open to the entire journalistic
world and usually to rich philanthropists as well. I n their latest
form, in which they appear as a professional weapon, they adopt
a more exclusive constitution and close their doors not only to
publishers and managers, but usually to casual journalists also.
Certain journalistic associations have a considerable administrative organisation with information, propaganda, and legal
departments. They have a monthly, some even a weekly, organ,
in which the news of the organisation appears and questions of
doctrine are discussed.
Once the trade union is fully and strongly constituted, there
remains the problem of its attitude in the midst of the other
organisations which form so close a network in the modern world,
the problem of its relations with these organisations, and, possibly,
its affiliation to one or other group. This is a thorny question
which has been solved in different ways in different countries.

— 31 —
Sometimes, and this is usually the case, the journalists' association remains isolated, maintaining no relations with any other
organisation, or only those of pure courtesy ; sometimes it draws
closer to the intellectual workers' movement ; sometimes it veers
towards the manual workers, and may not stop short of amhation
pure and simple with a manual workers' organisation.
These differences of attitude are dictated by reasons of doctrine
or simply by reasons of trade union policy or even of professional
psychology. Thus in some countries the journalists, penetrated
above all by the intellectual character of their profession and
persuaded t h a t this character is the fundamental thing which
should determine the entire life of the profession, would not consider
co-operation of any kind with the manual workers' trade union
movement. I n this case either they feel t h a t the unifying principles which they have applied among themselves should be
extended outside their ranks and hence they affihate themselves
to the intellectual workers' movement, or they prefer to remain
alone, united among themselves but independent of other organisations. This isolation is often forced on them by the insufficiency
of the intellectual workers' movement, particularly in so far as
it is a movement purely trade union in form.
If they are
resolved to remain outside manual workers' trade unionism they
could not ally themselves with a movement — t h a t of the brain
workers — which in many respects is far from having attained their
degree of organisation, and which would rather be an obstacle to
their action. Affiliation to the intellectual workers ' movement, such
as it is at present, would in many cases signify for the journalists,
who are much better prepared to take up arms for their profession.
a return to a stage of development which has been left far behind 1 .
They therefore renounce all- alliances and decide to act alone.
Elsewhere, holding the opinion t h a t the journalist is before
everything a worker and t h a t in questions involving the safeguarding of professional interests the quality of worker is more important
than t h a t of intellectual, they have drawn closer to the oldest and
the best organised combative movement in the labour world.
They have allied themselves with some powerful industrial trade
union, deliberately accepting all the obligations imposed by the
rule of solidarity. "The day came", writes the general secretary
1
I t is true t h a t this remark is losing its force from day to day ; the intellectual
workers' movement is rapidly advancing in the direction of trade unionism. The
example of journalism has as a matter of fact contributed greatly to this evolution.

— 32 —

of one of these associations 1 , "when driven by the logic of events we
decided t h a t just as unity between ourselves was good, unity
with our fellow-workers in the industry would be good."
Below will be found some information on the organisation of
the members of the profession in various countries.
The brevity
of the survey for certain countries arises in some cases from the
insufficiency of the information furnished by the organisations
concerned and does not necessarily correspond to the actual
importance of these organisations. More often t h a n not, however,
the brevity of the text does correspond to a low state of trade
union development.
After a cursory description of the principal national associations,
the important movement towards international organisation
which has quite latterly made such remarkable progress will be
described in some detail.

I n Australia the Australian Journalists' Association has assumed
the defence of the social and economic interests of the members
of the profession. I t has succeeded in concluding important
agreements with the Association of Newspaper Proprietors.
I n Austria is found a striking example of t h a t progressive
transformation of journalists' organisations which has already
been referred to. Although the Austrian journalists were early
in organising, their first association only set itself literary or artistic
aims and envisaged purely friendly relationships. The Concordia
Society, founded more than sixty years ago, grouped, in addition
to journalists proper, independent authors and other persons
having only occasional dealings with- the Press. B u t in contrast
with many countries where this form of association long survived,
evolution began very soon in Austria.
I n fact a few years after its foundation the Concordia Society
began to act in the social sphere by devoting the greatest care
to the creation of pension and sickness insurance funds in
favour of journalists and authors. These institutions acquired
great importance in the course of several decades, and impelled
the members of the profession towards a continuously crystallising
comprehension of solidarity. The war completely annihilated the
reserve funds of the welfare institutions of the Concordia Society.
1

The Journalist, Vol. X, No. 8, p. 1.

— 33 —

Apart from this Society, which gradually came under the
influence of the Liberal Party, and in opposition to this political
school, one or two other organisations were founded towards the
end of the nineteenth century, namely, the Association of Authors
of German Austria (which embraced the members of the ChristianSocial P a r t y and the National German Party) and the Union of
Catholic Journalists.
During the last phase of the war of 1914-1918 the creation,
independently of all parties, of a journalists' association which
would act in the economic and social sphere alone came to be
ardently desired. In the autumn of 1917 the Organisation of
the Viennese Press (Organisation der Wiener Presse) was founded
and was entrusted with the defence of the material interests of
the profession. I n 1922 the Concordia Society renounced everything relating to welfare and the Union of Catholic Journalists
suspended its activities.
On the other hand, the Organisation of the Viennese Press took
steps from 1918 onwards to extend its defensive principles throughout the territory of the Republic. Analogous organisations were
created in the principal centres. Those in the regions which the
Treaties of Peace detached from the former Monarchy were united
to the organisations of the newly formed countries ; the others
constituted the National Organisation of Austrian Journalists
(Reichsorganisation der Oesterreischischen Journalisten), the general
management of which is entrusted to the Organisation of the
Viennese Press.
Finally a certain number of associations uniting special categories of journalists have been constituted at Vienna within the
framework of the Organisation of the Viennese Press. Such
associations are the Association of Dramatic Critics, the Association
of Law Reporters, and the Syndicate of Sporting Journalists. All
these associations are represented by delegates in the Organisation
of the Viennese Press, which has charge of the defence of their
economic interests. Only the special technical questions peculiar
to each branch remain within the competence of the associations.
The Organisation of the Viennese Press includes some 1,100
members ; it has to its credit the drafting of a series of agreements, of which the first was concluded in 1918 a little after the
foundation of the new group ; it maintains close contact with the
Union of Newspaper Employees and with the Union of Printing
Workers. Apart from the relations which the Organisation maintains with the Association of Publishers by reason of the agreements
3

— 34 —

which it is working out, it sometimes undertakes negotiations
with this latter organisation on matters touching their common
interests.
Belgium has two important journalists' organisations, the
Belgian Press Association and the Professional Union of the Belgian
Press.
In addition to these two, there are a few associations with
political or religious leanings, such as the Association of Catholic
Journalists, the Association of Liberal Journalists, and the Association of Socialist Journalists ; some are established on a specialised
professional basis, like the Professional Association of Sporting
Journalists, others on a regional basis, like the Association of the
Newspaper Press of Ghent.
Nowhere perhaps have journalists shown more hesitation than
in Belgium in inclining their associations towards the use of trade
union methods. I t seems t h a t Belgian journalists feared, for a
longer time than their colleagues in other countries with big newspapers, to compromise their independence, and to lose the characteristics peculiar to their profession, by adopting a defensive attitude
hitherto unknown in professional matters.
The activity of the organisations of Brazilian journalists is
displayed principally in the sphere of assistance and mutual aid.
They do not concern themselves with the defence of the economic
interests of the profession. Their policy is, moreover, very eclectic,
for they accept indifferently employers and employees, and also
intellectual workers of various other categories.
If they had a desire to join some professional movement, it is
to t h a t of the intellectual workers t h a t they would turn.
In Bulgaria there are two organisations of journalists which are
engaged in defending the interests of the profession, namely, the
Sofia Association of Journalists and the Union of Provincial
Journalists.
The Sofia Association of Journalists has joined the Bulgarian
Confederation of Intellectual Workers.
Numerous efforts have been made in Canada to group the
journalists on a firm basis, but they have had no more success than
similar efforts in the United States. The Union of Canadian
Journalists leads a rather precarious existence.

— 35 —

The Czechoslovak journalists are grouped geographically, or
according to distinctions of nationality or professional specialisation, in several organisations, of which the principal are the Syndicate of Czechoslovak Journalists, the German Press Association,
the Association of Czechoslovak Journalists, and the Organisation
of Newswriters of the Czechoslovak Social-Democratic Party.
Only the first two associations stand resolutely on the ground of
professional defence. Together they include some 800 members,
and both have adhered to the International Federation of
Journalists.
In Denmark there are several Press organisations. The principal aim of the oldest, the Journalists' Association (Journalistforeningen), is to guarantee retiring pensions t o its members. The
Association of Copenhagen Journalists, founded twenty-five years
ago, and the Association of Provincial Journalists deal with the
defence of professional interests.
I n French journalism, there are a great number of professional
associations organised on a local basis, e. g. the Association of
Parisian Journalists, or according to their political opinions,
e.g. the Association of Republican Journalists, or finally, according to the professional category, e.g. the Association of Parliamentary Journalists.
There are dozens of them in the capital
alone.
The purpose of all these associations, as defined in their rules,
is the defence of the professional interests of their members ; b u t
most of them have established no plan of action and have not
ventured beyond mutual aid.
Only the Association of Journalists, the seat of which is at Paris
and which possesses local sections in various regions of France, has
resolutely kept to the professional sphere. Founded in 1918, it
comprised 700 members in 1923, and about 1,200 at the beginning
of 1927. The proportion of Parisian journalists adhering to the
Association is estimated a t 70 to 75 per cent.
The Association of Journalists is in full development. I t s
organisers are working t o forge t h e strong trade union weapon
which the members of the profession desire. " We who are intellectuals exercising a liberal profession", said its secretary-general
recently \ " have been forgotten, if not derided, and we were late
1
Bulletin du Syndicat des journalistes, Paris, No. 41, J u l y 1926, p . 2 : speech
made a t Lille by Mr. G. BOUBDON.

— 36 —

in reaching the conception of professional defence. But we know
what is involved. Lessons abound around us, and the example
of the employers is not the least noticeable of them. They are
teaching us t h a t the first condition of all collective action is trade
union organisation. Except in t h a t form, there is no salvation
for u s . "
The rapid increase in the activity of the Association and the
growing zeal of its members (it is significant t h a t an assembly
in January 1927 decided almost unanimously to double the
members' contributions) seemed to promise speedy success. For
the moment the most solidly established conquests of the Association are in t h e domain of welfare. I t will be seen later on
how it came about t h a t its efforts to improve working conditions
have not so far achieved the results hoped for by journalists.
In Germany there are several journalistic organisations ; three
of them are concerned in varying degrees with professional defence
— the Union of Catholic Journalists (Augustinus),
the Union
of the Labour Press (Verein Arbeiter-Presse), and the National
Association of the German Press (Reichsverband der. deutschen
Presse).
The Union of the Labour Press, which only embraces writers
of the Social-Democratic P a r t y Press, is, as may well be imagined,
far from having the numerical importance of the National Association, but it has the merit of having obtained, more than twenty
years ago, precise regulations on different points, including hours
of work and the settlement of disputes. I t has kept its own
welfare institutions, which are also of long standing.
The National Association of the German Press is by far the
most powerful of the German organisations ; numerically it is
second among the journalistic associations of the world, and
occupies a place in the front rank on account of its trade union
activity.
Founded in 1910, the National Association caters for professional journalists- without distinction of party. Its aim is
" to watch over the common interests of the German Press in
general and the professional interests of journalists in particular ".
Its resources are those of a veritable trade union.
I t is divided into twenty regional unions. Its membership
which was 1,100 in 1919, when the Association was reorganised, is
4,400 at the present time. Every German journalist haying
practised journalism as his principal profession for at least a year

— 37 —

may be a member, and he is entitled to the protection of the
Association in every circumstance of his professional life.
The activity of the Association in the realms of professional
defence and welfare is remarkable. I n 1926 the central office
received and despatched some 36,000 letters, an average of 100 a
day. To this must be added more than 10,000 telephonic communications in the course of the year. Its archives at the present
time contain approximately 12,000 files and deal with about
300 documents every day. The Association publishes a weekly
organ, Die deutsche Press, to which it devotes about 20,000 marks
a year, and which is a great propaganda power.
The Association has accomplished work of the highest
importance along the road which it has mapped out for itself.
I t is work which develops from year t o year; it h a d in 1922 its first
important result in the creation of a National Commission of
Collaboration, and its crowning success in 1926 with the conclusion
of a whole series of new agreements concerning working conditions,
welfare, and the settlement of disputes.
I t was on 25 April 1922 that the National Association of the
German Press founded, with the Newspaper Industry Employers'
Association, a National Commission of Collaboration composed
of seven representatives of each of the two organisations concerned ;
the expenses of the Commission were met in equal parts by the
two organisations. The aim of the founders was to create " an
organisation capable of adapting itself to the active evolution
which the Press is undergoing under the influence of circumstances " \ Its duties were, among others, " to safeguard the
dignity, the liberty, and the prestige of the Press and the social
situation of its members ; to create a legal status of the Press
adapted to present circumstances ; to watch over the journalistic
training of recruits endowed with the necessary qualities and
worthy of the profession ; to create a standard employment contract
for permanent writers and collaborators ; to provide assistance
in case of illness, old age and death, and for widows and orphans ;
to create an office for assessment and for conciliation " 2.
These tasks were immediately approached by the Commission.
The representatives of the two parties found it a suitable instrument of negotiation and one which enabled them to devote themselves to important work on employment contracts and welfare
1
1

Satzung der Reichsarbeitsgemeinschajt
Ibid.

der deutschen Presse, § 2.

— 38 —

institutions \ The results of the work of this organisation, which
has certainly rendered a great service to the entire Press, will be
dealt with later on in this survey.
Side by side with the National Commission, regional commissions of collaboration may be constituted among the associations
affiliated to the two original organisations. These regional commissions are competent to draw up separate regulations, valid in their
territory, but lapsing when general regulations are established
by the National Commission, at least to the extent to which they
do not correspond to the general regulations.
Such, briefly outlined, are the principal results obtained by
the National Association of the German Press, whose name will
frequently be found in this survey side by side with those of three
or four other journalistic organisations which have succeeded in
bringing the profession into a strong position.
The National Association is not affiliated t o the manual workers'
movement nor to t h a t of the intellectual workers, but it collaborates
in an intermittent manner with both.
Great Britain possesses the strongest professional organisation
of journalists in the world from the numerical point of view, and
one of the most active in the trade union sphere.
The National Union of Journalists, founded in 1907, had
4,480 members in 1924, and now has about 4,800, or nearly half the
journalists of the country, who are estimated to number about
10,000. I t soon turned towards most pronounced trade union
methods. Perhaps this movement was accentuated because side
by side with the Union there existed another organisation, the
Institute of Journalists, whose methods, very different in character,
had not obtained adequate results in the opinion of many journalists, so t h a t the National Union was determined not to copy
them.
However this may be, the Union embarked on a resolutely
trade union policy, which led it, as soon as it had introduced
cohesion into its own organisation, to extend abroad the principles
of solidarity which it had applied to itself. I t sought allies among
the workers whose long experience in trade union matters had
familiarised them with all the questions of remuneration in particular and working conditions in general which were occupying its
attention ; in 1919, after a referendum among all its members, it
1

See the description of this work in Das
meinschaft der deutschen Presse.

Vertragswerk

der

Reichsarbeitsge-

— 39 —
affiliated itself to the Printing and Kindred Trades Federation,
thus realising in the Press one of those rare instances in which
intellectual and manual workers of a branch of production are
organised together. This affiliation, to which the journalists
grouped in the National Union strongly hold, was not open to
question again until 1926. A certain opposition then seemed to
declare itself. The Union had just been p u t into a very difficult
position by the general strike called by the Trades Union Congress.
The Printing Trades Federation had obeyed the strike order and
the committee of the National Union of Journalists had to decide its
attitude. I t concluded t h a t its obligations as an affiliated member
obliged it to take part in the movement, and it gave instructions
to this effect to all the members of the Union. A certain hesitation
was perceptible in the ranks of the Union. Many members having
doubts as to the interpretation of inter-trade union obligations,
abstained from taking part in the movement, which, as a matter of
fact, came to an end soon after. I t was in these circumstances t h a t
a new ballot was held for the entire Union on the subject of the
affiliation to the Printing Trades Federation. The result was an
overwhelming majority in favour of the affiliation, which was
consequently maintained. Many members of the Union, moreover,
hold t h a t it has already rendered a great service to their cause.
" I will not say " wrote the general secretary of the Union, " t h a t
our Union would have utterly failed had it not allied itself to the
other workers. I t would probably have succeeded in a degree, but
not without many strikes and many lock-outs, and many incidents.
. . . Our alliance with the Printing and Kindred Trades
Federation made the path of progress smooth." 1
The activity of the National Union in safeguarding professional
interests is noteworthy, and the results which it has obtained are
of the highest.importance. We shall have occasion to examine
them in detail in the various chapters on working conditions and
welfare institutions.
The Union publishes a monthly organ, The Journalist, which
contains, in addition to news of the organisation and of the journalistic movement abroad, articles on trade union doctrine and
articles of a general cultural nature for journalists who desire to
complete their education.
There is one question which is earnestly engaging the attention
of British journalists at the moment, and t h a t is the possible amal1

The Journalist,

Vol. X , No. 8, Aug. 1927, p . 1.

— 40 —

gamation of the National Union with the other important organisation, the Institute of Journalists. The Institute of Journalists,
founded in 1890 (as a matter of fact it existed before then under the
name of the National Association of Journalists) and endowed
with a Royal Charter, is animated by a spirit different from t h a t of
the National Union. Whereas the latter only accepts journalists
who are not themselves employers of journalists, the Institute
accepts employers, although it excludes them from certain of its
committees which have to deal with working conditions. Generally speaking, the Institute appears to champion the journalists'
cause, but less vigorously than the Union, or at least it proceeds by
methods which appear to imply more caution and hesitation.
The relations of the two organisations are sometimes rather
strained ; a t other times, on the contrary, they improve, and
numerous members of the Press who grieve to see the profession
thus divided into two camps would like to take advantage of these
moments of reconciliation to bring about an amalgamation. Negotiations have been undertaken at various times since 1916, but up
to the present they have not succeeded. The National Union seems
to fear t h a t amalgamation would only lead to a weakening of
its trade union spirit, and t h a t its affiliation with the Printing
Trades Federation would once again be open to question. I n spite
of these difficulties, the attainment of unity in British journalism
appears to be so fraught with advantages t h a t the idea of amalgamation seems to be making progress. A committee has been
appointed to examine the means of realising it.
I n Greece the Association of Press Writers maintains close
contact with the Association of Newspaper Employees, with which
it has even founded a common insurance fund.
The interests of the Hungarian journalists are defended by three
main organisations, the Hungarian Journalists' Association, the
Hungarian Journalists' Pension Institution, and the Journalists'
Hospital and Sanatorium Union. These organisations, as well as
several others less important, are not attached to any trade union
movement.
In India there are two large groups of newspapers — those
printed in English and those printed in Hindu. This distinction also
governs the grouping of the journalists of the country. Those
whose mother tongue is English belong to an organisation entitled

— 41 —
the Press Association, whose activity in the professional domain is
very feeble, and the others, those who use one of the national
languages, tend to group themselves apart. Thus it was latterly
proposed to found an association of journalists whose language is
Hindi. The Hindi Press is of recent formation, but as it caters for
a very extensive public it may be destined to develop to a certain
degree.
Italy is one of the countries in which journaists have most
successfully united with a view to protecting their professional
interests. Sturdy associations were early constituted in various
parts of the country. The most important of them, twenty-five
in number, amalgamated more t h a n fifteen years ago to form
a national organisation, which called itself the Italian Press
Federation (Federazione nazionale della Stampa).
The Federation set itself the tasks of working, by trade union
methods, for the improvement of the material and moral conditions
of the profession, and of watching over the liberty of the Press.
Under the terms of its rules, it abstained from all political activity.
The efforts of the Federation soon led to substantial results ;
indeed, it is t o these efforts t h a t the Italian journalists owe the
possession of a noteworthy collective agreement dating from
1911.
In December 1925, following the reorganisation of the trade
unions of the country on Fascist principles, the Press Federation
joined the National Confederation of Fascist Trade Unions under
the name of the Fascist Federation of Italian Journalists. I t
modified its constitution by making it conform to the trade union
policy of the Government, and once more changing its name,
finally adopted that of the National Fascist Syndicate of Journalists
(Sindacato Nazionale Fascista dei Giornalisti).
Attached first
of all, as were the theatrical artistes, to the National Federation of
Fascist Industrial Trade Unions, one of the six large trade union
groups, it was subsequently transferred by Royal Decree to the
National Federation of Fascist Intellectual Workers' Trade Unions.
At its head is a directorate composed of a secretary-general
nominated by the secretary-general of the National Federation of
Fascist Intellectual Workers' Trade Unions, and members elected
by the General Assembly of the Syndicate. Among its aims may
be mentioned the campaign against unemployment, the protection
and the utilisation of its members' work, the extension and the

— 42 —

supervision of the enforcement of the laws relating to labour and
welfare, the diffusion of general and technical culture among its
members, and the propagation of the fundamental principles of
Fascist trade unionism.
The National Syndicate, which is the only professional organisation authorised by law, is composed of eleven regional syndicates.
These accept only persons exclusively practising the profession
of journalism. I t is they who constitute the professional register
of the region (album), in which are inscribed the names of persons
entitled to practise the profession \ The persons inscribed in
the album are not obliged to belong to the Syndicate, and in fact
the collective agreements concluded by the Syndicate (which alone
is authorised by the Labour Charter to discuss working conditions
with employers) extend to persons who do not belong to it. But its
members are endowed with a privilege in the matter of employment.
I t will be seen later 2 t h a t when vacancies occur, employers
are bound to give preference to members of the Syndicate.
The Fascist Syndicate has, as its name indicates, a definitely
political character. By means of successive measures all the
elements suspect in the eyes of the regime have been eliminated.
Thus, in November 1926, the Rome correspondents of the Avanti
and the Unità and other opposition papers were expelled from
the Syndicate which had up till then "tolerated their presence
owing to a conception, no longer held, of professional liberty" 3 .
Simultaneously, at the end of April 1927, a communique of the
secretariat of the National Syndicate announced t h a t the directorates of the regional syndicates had terminated the organisation
of Italian journalists according to the principles of the National
Directorate. The journalists who had occupied important posts
on anti-Fascist papers at the time of the Matteoti affair were
excluded not only from the Syndicate but also from the album.
Those who had less important positions on these papers were
simply invited to "manifest their sentiments with regard to the
regime", after which their inscription in the album or in the Syndicate would be considered. Finally, it was decided t h a t only
members of the Syndicate could occupy important positions in
the newspapers which were faithful to the regime. The directing
authorities hoped that in this way the Syndicate "firmly organised
1
2
3

Cf. "The Status of the Journalist", p . 67.
Cf. "Methods of Finding Employment", p . 171.
Italian Press of 3-4 Nov. 1926.

— 43 —

and disciplined would be able to turn journalism into an excellent
political instrument at the orders of the Duce and of the party " 1 .
The Fascist Syndicate has continued the work of the former
Press Federation in connection with welfare and agreements.
I n 1925 it succeeded the latter in the existing agreement, which
was first redrafted with simple changes of names and subsequently
underwent various modifications. Like the former Press Federation, it publishes a bulletin.
The Japanese journalists have no professional defence organisation ; their associations aim only at developing friendly relations
between the members of the profession.
I n Latvia there is a Professional Union of Authors and Journalists which has undertaken the task of defending the interests of
the profession.
I n Luxemburg it was only towards the end of 1925 t h a t an
organisation of journalists was constituted, with the name of the
Association of Luxemburg Journalists. Although the new organisation was late in coming into the world, it skipped the stages of
development usual with journalists' organisations, and assumed
from the outset a fairly definite trade union form. There had
been a question of admitting publishers to it, but the Constituent
Assembly, which was held on 7 November 1925, decided to accept
as members only paid workers who made journalism their main
occupation.
The Luxemburg journalists did not stop a t the creation of
this first organisation. On 17 July 1927 they created another,
entitled the Luxemburg Independent Journalists' Syndicate.
The two organisations have a fairly similar programme of professional action. The principal difference between them resides
in the fact t h a t the second intends to join the intellectual workers'
movement (in which the first is less interested) and admits to
membership free-lance journalists who do not make journalism
their principal profession, a category which is fairly numerous
in Luxemburg, as has been shown.
Journalists in the Netherlands are grouped in the Association
of Netherlands Journalists (Neederlandsche
Journalistenkring)
1
Communiqué of the secretariat of the National Fascist Syndicate of Journalists of 30 April 1927.

— 44 —

founded in 1884, and which, at the moment of its fortieth anniversary in 1924, was composed of 578 members among the 600 or
so journalists living in t h e country.
I n several towns and regions of Poland there are journausts'
associations which all belong to the Union of Journalists' Associations founded in 1924, with its seat at Warsaw. This union is
not affiliated to any trade union movement.
Portugal has four journalistic organisations — the Porto
Association of Journalists and Writers, which is the oldest ; the
Association of the Professional Workers of the Lisbon Press ; the
Journalists' Home, an organisation whose purpose is the creation
of a rest house ; and, finally, the recently founded Association
of Portuguese Authors and Journalists. Only the Lisbon Association has definitely undertaken the protection of the economic
interests of the profession. The other associations have more
the character of friendly societies and mutual-aid societies.
The Association of the Professional Workers of the Press is in
close contact with the manual workers' movement.
I n every important town of Rumania there are bodies of
journalists who defend the moral and material interests of their
members and who, when necessary, solicit the aid of the associations of the capital.
Three large associations have their seat at Bucarest — the
Association of Bucarest Journalists, the General Association of
the Rumanian Press, and the Union of Professional Journalists.
These associations are affiliated to the Rumanian Confederation
of Intellectual Workers.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom the journalists are united
in the Journalists' Association, which displays considerable activity
in matters of professional protection and welfare.
There are organisations of journalists in about forty towns and
regions of Spain : the most important of these are the Association
of the Madrid Daily Press, the Association of Journalists (founded
in 1913), the Association of the National Daily Press, the Bilbao
Press Association, and the Malaga Press Association.
Most of these organisations are mainly mutual-aid societies ;
but they also endeavour to protect the professional interests

i

— 45 —

of their members. Nearly all of them are grouped in two federations — the Federation of the Spanish Press, whose seat is a t
Madrid, and the Federation of the Catalan Press, which also
includes the journalists of the Balearic Islands.
They are not affiliated to any trade union movement. The
Association of Barcelona Journalists endeavoured to create a
confederation of intellectual workers, to which journalists would
have belonged, but its efforts were unsuccessful.
In Sweden there are two organisations of journalists, the Press
Association (Publicistklubben),
founded in 1874, and which has
preserved the form of the old Press associations (in addition to
journalists it accepts publishers and other persons who have only
a distant connection with the newspaper), and the Federation
of Swedish Journalists (Svenska Journalistföreningen),
created in
1901.
Only the latter association is concerned with the defence of the
economic interests of its members.
The Swiss Press Association, which came into being nearly
fifty years ago, embraced in its early days all those who were
closely or distantly connected with the newspaper. Mr. Pierre
Grellet writes in the Gazette de Lausanne : "Like all corporative
bodies it had to effect a certain professional concentration and
make the necessary distinction between those for whom journalism
is the profession by which they live and those who consider it
chiefly as a feather in their cap." The foundation in 1900 of the
Society of Publishers favoured this evolution and allowed the
Press Association to conclude a considerable number of professional
agreements. During the last Assembly, which was held at Fribourg on 10 September 1927, the Association, now 750 members
strong, still further accentuated its professional character by
various measures, which, among other things, facilitated its
adhesion to the International Federation of Journalists.
I n the United States there is a great number of small Press
clubs, which are principally concerned with the moral interests
of their members.
Five years ago there was founded an American Association
of Newspaper Writers, whose principal aims were "to promote
friendly relations among its members, to develop esprit de corps
among them and to maintain the dignity and rights of the pro-

— 46 —
fession". I n 1926 it had barely 200 members scattered in most
of the States. I n fact, American journalism is almost unprovided
with professional organisations.
The journalists of the U.S.S.E. are gathered together in the
only authorised organisation — the Section of Press Workers —
which was first of all attached to the Syndicate of Educational
Workers, but which has belonged since 1926 to the Syndicate of
Polygraphie Workers. The Section of Press Workers has about
25,000 members.
Finally, in Uruguay the only journalistic organisation, the
Press Club, seems to lead an uncertain existence.
All these efforts towards association, which in some countries
have reached such a high stage of development, have not remained
within national limits. I n the international sphere, too, the
work of organisation, begun many years ago and interrupted by
the war, has advanced in recent times with giant strides, culminating
in a concentration of forces without equal in the intellectual
world. There are elsewhere organisations with a larger membership,
but there are none more coherent by reason of their internal constitution and better prepared for action by the conciseness of their
programme.
I t is not to be wondered at t h a t the most interesting example
of international professional cohesion in the intellectual world
is found in the domain of journalism. The journalists were in
fact led by their knowledge of foreign affairs, by t h a t contact
between men of different countries which the functioning of the
modern Press requires, to understandings which were rendered
difficult of achievement for other brain workers by the conditions
of isolation in which their work is still often performed. Moreover,
the similarity of the situation and the interests of journalists in
various countries was destined to facilitate the process of international grouping, and if there is any astonishment to be felt it is
the astonishment at seeing a movement which is so natural occur
so late. The slowness of the phenomenon, however, is not at all
incomprehensible if account is taken of the repugnance which
brain workers have always h a d for forms of association, in which
they appear to see an abdication of their personal independence.
I t was in 1890 that the International Union of Press Associations was founded ; its purpose was to bring together, in the

— 47 —

international sphere, all persons concerned with the Press, for t h e
discussion of questions of interest to the profession. The Union
accepted indifferently organisations of journalists, organisations
of publishers, and mixed organisations. Before the war it held
numerous congresses where various problems concerning the Press
were discussed, and where the journalists of various countries
learned to know each other better. The very comprehensive form
of the Union nevertheless hindered it in the choice of a well-defined
policy, and the spirit of the national organisations belonging t o
it was, moreover, not favourable at t h a t time to specific action.
Then came the war, which severed all relations between t h e
affiliated organisations, and when hostilities were terminated the
chasm remained. In the old Union there were no common interests
powerful enough, no collective activity profound enough, t o
enable the enmities and bitterness generated by the war to be
forgotten.
On one or two occasions efforts were made to restore a part
of the old Union, but these efforts failed. The attempt was made
with little enthusiasm as it was well realised t h a t a movement
so truncated would lose half its efficacity, and t h a t , without
injuring the cause which it was desired to further, it would not
be possible to exclude organisations whose activities had been
among the most fruitful of any. The confusion produced by t h e
war among the membership of the former Union created a state
of mind unfavourable to the reorganisation of the international
movement, and it seemed to some people t h a t this reorganisation
could only be achieved on a quite new foundation. The form
and the spirit of the national associations and the attitude of
journalists of various countries to professional problems had,
moreover, considerably changed since the war.
The first move was made in France. The Association of
French Journalists convened the representatives of the organisations of various countries at Paris, on 12 June 1926, for the purpose
of discussing the creation of an International Federation of Journalists. After two days of work the delegates of some twenty
countries drew up in outline the constitution of the new organisation, and pointed out the road along which it should direct ita
first efforts. I t was decided t h a t a Congress should be called i n
September to ratify the Paris decisions, to adopt a definitive
status, to give the nascent federation a financial foundation, and
to fix the details of its programme.
This first Congress was held at Geneva on 24 and 25 September

— 48 —

1926. The journalists' associations of the following countries
were represented : Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France,
Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Poland, Rumania, Serb-CroatSlovene Kingdom, and Spain. The Spanish interests were represented by the French delegation ; the Rumanian interests by
the Polish delegation ; the Norwegian and Swiss associations,
although they did not yet belong to the new Federation, each
sent an observer. Representatives of the International Labour
Office, the Secretariat of the League of Nations, the International
Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, and the Association of
Journalists accredited to the League of Nations, also took part
in the Congress.
During the four meetings which the Congress held, the constitution of the new Federation was drafted, and the necessary steps
were taken to ensure its activity until the next Congress, which
was t o be held in the autumn of 1928. The Congress also took
note of the provisional report on the working conditions of journalists, which had been diawn up by the International Labour Office
with the help of the first answers received to its questionnaire,
and decided to render all possible aid to the Office in the completion
of its enquiry.
The International Federation of Journalists is formed "of
associations, unions, or syndicates of professional journalists,
t h a t is to say, organisations whose members are exclusively
journalists attached to the ordinary editorial offices of newspapers
or news agencies, who make journalism their principal profession,
provided t h a t these organisations are constituted for the defence of
their rights and professional interests and for the improvement
of conditions in which the profession is exercised in various
countries" \
" I t s purpose is, notably, to safeguard in all possible ways the
liberty of the Press and of journalism which it will endeavour to
have guaranteed by law ;
" T h e elaboration, preservation, and publication of statistical
and other documents of a nature to assist in the work of defending
professional interests ;
" T h e study of formulas capable of bringing about the institution of standard contracts for individual ox collective employment,
and the general surveillance of the enforcement of these contracts
wherever they have been accepted ;
1

Statutes, Article 1.

— 49 —

•The examination of the methods of assistance and welfare
most suitable to the profession, and their appUcation for the
benefit of organisations which may desire to take advantage of
them ;
•' The extension to journalists of all countries of the advantages
and the rights won by national associations ;
" I n adhering to the Federation every association implicitly
recognises the principles of trade union organisation, which are,
essentially, the establishment of an employment contract, the
determination of the minimum wage, and the recognition of a
conciliation procedure for all disputes which arise between a journalist and the paper for which he works, and it undertakes t h a t
its activity shall be in conformity with these principles." 1
The Federation has a permanent secretariat administered
by a secretary-general, elected for four years, and an executive
committee composed of two members for every country affiliated.
The executive committee meets once in six months. The bureau
of the Federation, composed of the presidents, treasurers, and
secretaries, meets more frequently.
I n addition to these organs, the Federation has instituted
special committees in various countries, a step which, without
threatening to bring about an excessive decentralisation which
would militate against the vigour of the common work, promotes
a fruitful circulation of ideas and encourages, or revives, the zeal
of affiliated associations.
These committees are : the committee
on documentation, publications and archives, a t Paris ;
the
legal committee, at Berlin ; the technical committee, at Geneva ;
the committee on assistance and welfare, at Vienna ; the propaganda committee, at London ; and the financial committee, at
Paris 2.
At the present time the International Federation of Journalists
comprises twenty-two organisations in the following eighteen
countries : Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece,
Latvia, Norway, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Serb-Croat-Slovene
Kingdom, and Switzerland. The members number about 25,000
in all.
During the first eighteen months of its existence the Federation
1

Statutes, Article 2.
Not all these committees began their activities a t the same time.
Technical Committee has not yet been formed.
2

The
4

— 50 —

has shown remarkable activity. Interesting discussions took
place at the first three meetings of the executive committee
held in 1926 and 1927, and important pieces of work, memoranda,
and studies, have been elaborated either by the secretariat or
by the various special committees. For instance, in J a n u a r y
and February 1927 the secretariat assembled a series of collective
agreements in force in a certain number of countries and compiled
an index of the subjects contained in these agreements. The legal
and welfare committees have also undertaken important investigations relating to the questions within their competence. As
regards the executive committee, it has drafted a certain number
of proposals concerning notice of termination of services, indemnity
for dismissal, and special jurisdictions, problems which the Geneva
Congress had placed on the programme of the Federation for
immediate action. Lastly, in November and December 1927,
the secretariat published in the monthly bulletin of the Federation
(Bulletin mensuel) a draft model agreement drawn u p on the
lines of the principal existing agreements, and model rules for
associations of journalists for countries in which the profession
is not yet organised, or which desire to renovate an obsolete society.
The Federation maintains close relations with the official
international institutions — the International Labour Office,
the Secretariat of the League of Nations, and the International
Institute of Intellectual Co-operation — and, among other things,
it has greatly facilitated the accomplishment of the present enquiry,
When the League of Nations convened a Conference of Press
Experts at Geneva, at the end of August 1927, for the purpose
of seeking means of ensuring easier and cheaper transmission of
news and of discussing professional questions whose solution
might contribute to the pacification of public opinion in various
countries, the International Federation of Journalists was invited
to be represented, side by side with directors of agencies and of
newspapers, and representatives of Government Press bureaux
and various other organisations. The representatives of the
Federation, Mr. Stephen Valot, secretary-general, Mr. Richardson
of the British association, and Mr. Stern-Rubarth of the German
association, soon came to the front in the discussions. Many
of their proposals, countersigned by the representatives of other
organisations, were adopted by the Conference, notably those
relating to collective journeys for journalists, schools of journalism,
reduced rates on railways and ships, and an international identity
card for journalists. In connection with the last subject, the

— 51 —
three delegates submitted the card considered and adopted by
the Federation — a model of precision and convenience.
Relations with the International Labour Office have been
equally close. When, on 19 December 1927, the time came.for
nominating the members of the Advisory Committee on Intellectual Workers which the Governing Body of the Office had
decided to constitute to aid it in its work, the three members of
the Governing Body and the two members of the Committee on
Intellectual Co-operation entrusted with the task of choosing
the most representative international organisations, included the
International Federation of Journalists among their number.
For the moment the Federation acts alone. I t has not thought
it necessary to join the International Confederation of Intellectual
Workers, with which, however, its relations are excellent, as they
are with other Press organisations, in spite of a dispute which
momentarily arose in 1927 with the former Union of Press Associations, then in process of reconstitution.
The latter, in fact, after several fruitless efforts to re-establish
itself, succeeded in November 1926, five months after the foundation of the International Federation of Journalists, in holding a
conference where the question of universality, which was such a
grave obstacle to its resuscitation, was settled. I t was decided that
an attempt should be made to re-establish the Union according to
its pre-war principles, and negotiations were carried out with
the organisations of the former Central Powers.
I n July 1927
a congress was held in London, and the organisers accepted the
exclusion of all discussion relating to the status of journalists,
which the representatives of organisations affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists had demanded as the condition
of their presence. During the course of the Congress, dissension
broke out on this subject between the members of the Union and
those of the Federation ; it was soon healed, but it showed the
need of arriving at an understanding and a delimitation of the
respective spheres of the two organisations.
The understanding appears to be materialising. I t seems
t h a t the Union will renounce all action in the special domain of
working conditions, and will endeavour to be the mixed organisation
in which journalists, internationally organised in their Federation,
will be able to meet managers and publishers of newspapers, who
themselves are organised in their own fashion. The composition
of the Union, which admits indifferently associations of journalists.
or of publishers, or mixed associations, seems to be predestined to

— 52 —

facilitate such a rôle. In this way would disappear a certain
rivalry extremely harmful to the cause which the organisations
concerned desire to champion.
I n addition to these two organisations, there are a certain
number of international associations which will not be taken into
account, because they only include publishers, for example, the
International Association of the Technical Press, or because they
are exclusively interested in the technical development of the
profession, which is the case with certain societies of specialised
journalists.
I t is appropriate, however, to refer to some associations which,
without having the improvement of economic and social conditions
of journalists as their sole or principal aim, are nevertheless highly
interested in this question.
I n the very front rank of these organisations is the International Association of Journalists accredited to the League of
Nations, whose seat is at Geneva. Founded in 1921, it groups
the professional journalists who regularly follow the work of the
League of Nations, and its purpose is to safeguard their professional interests and to facilitate the accomplishment of their
mission by the improvement of the technical means of information
and transmission. Although the Association only comprises a
rather small number of individual members, it enjoys considerable
influence by reason of its ceaseless collaboration with the League
of Nations. I t is this Association, as has already been said,
that launched the idea of the international enquiry undertaken
by the International Labour Office, whose results form the subject
of this volume, and there is no doubt t h a t this initiative powerfully
contributed towards the constitution of an International Federation
designed to study and develop the journalistic movement in so
far as professional interests are concerned.
The Association has followed the development of the enquiry
by the International Labour Office with interest, and has afforded
the Office its most cordial assistance. I t played a p a r t of the
highest importance in the preparation and the proceedings of the
Conference of Experts convened by the League of Nations in
August 1927, and it has come to an understanding with the International Federation of Journalists for the submission of several
proposals relating t o the economic and moral interests of journalists.
Finally, there was founded quite recently at Paris an International Bureau of Catholic Journalists. The Catholic journalists
of various countries, noting the development latterly achieved

— 53 —

by the international movement of journalists, and their interest
in professional questions — revealed by initiatives such as the Conference of Press Experts convened by the League of Nations, and
the work of the International Labour Office relating to the material
conditions of the existence of journalists — were of the opinion
that, while participating in the movement, either in national
associations or in neutral international organisations, they should
approach the problems under discussion from the point of view,
and according to the social and moral principles, which are peculiar
to themselves. I t is for this reason t h a t the Association of French
Catholic Journalists, with the co-operation of the Catholic Committee on Intellectual Co-operation, convened the representatives
of the principal national organisations of Catholic journalists at
Paris, from 14 t o 18 December 1927. These organisations decided
upon the creation of an international bureau which should pursue
" a precise objective : the study and if necessary the defence of
well-defined professional interests" 1.
The addition, an organisation known as the World Press
Congress, which for the moment groups American journalists,
and which up to the present has held three assemblies a t San
Francisco, Honolulu, and Geneva (1927), for the purpose of
"establishing the highest possible level and the maximum of
well-being in the P r e s s " practically completes the number of the
various international bodies endeavouring to co-ordinate efforts
bearing on the professional interests of journalists.
Henceforth these efforts cannot be studied unless the greatest
attention is paid to activities such as those of the International
Federation of Journalists, which is beginning to exercise undeniable
influence on the development of national movements.
1

La Vie catholique, 17 Dec. 1927.

II
THE STATUS OF THE JOURNALIST
The engagement, the work, the cessation of employment of
a journalist, and in a general way the aggregate of relationships
existing between the employee of a paper and its publisher may
be determined by four different methods : (1) by simple verbal
agreement ; (2) by individual written contract ; (3) by collective
agreement ; (4) by law.
Generally speaking, it is in the order in which they are enumerated that these four methods have occurred chronologically ;
in fact, the history of journalism shows that after having been
governed by the system of verbal agreement, the work of the
journalist was subjected to that of the individual written contract,
which finally gave place to the system of collective agreements
and legislation.
Certainly, this remark, general as it is, is not absolute and does
not pretend to establish a standardised hierarchy among the
systems. Here the journalists have passed without intermediate
stages from the verbal agreement to the collective agreement ;
there they have passed from the individual contract to the law.
Elsewhere forms which are theoretically successive — verbal
agreements and written contracts — co-exist. It is possible also
that all the different solutions determined by circumstances are
equally good. In any case, this exposé of facts is not at all the
place to discuss such a question of doctrine.
The verbal agreement which existed almost everywhere at
the dawn of journalism survives at the present time in certain
countries, either owing to attachment to certain customs, or
because journalism in these countries has held to old forms and
has not been affected by the industrialisation of the great modern
newspaper, or, again, because even if it has been affected by this
industrialisation it has maintained old systems of employment
owing to the inaction and the impotence of the journalists. The
verbal agreement is, as its name indicates, the result of a mere
discussion between employers and employees, not giving rise

— 55 —

to any document ; capable of being prolonged without vicissitudes
if the two parties preserve a good understanding, it does not
give them any real security and risks causing them serious embarrassment and, to one of them at least, serious injury, if they cease
to work in harmony.
A verbal agreement, although subject to arbitrariness and to
caprice, is not completely subordinated to one or the other. There
are, in journalism, as in other professions, customs and usages,
often tyrannical, which it is not easy to dispense with. These
customs are u p to a certain point a guarantee for the employee ;
they defend him against complete arbitrariness and ensure a certain
uniformity, more or less equitable, in conditions of employment.
But they are harmful to him, on the other hand, first of all because
they are customs which it is not impossible to infringe to his detriment, and secondly because in spite of all the fragility which they
may disclose to his disadvantage, they are apt to acquire, according
to circumstances, an implacable rigidity which is well calculated
to crush any attempt on his part to improve his situation. I t
. must also be recognised t h a t customs often do not correspond
to the situation thrust on the employee by the march of events.
Everywhere to-day customs age quickly ; they are often very
old things which have not been able to keep abreast of progress.
I n a profession like journalism which has developed in a vertiginous
way, customs, although not belonging to a period of great antiquity,
are nevertheless not those of our own times. They have remained
immutable, or they have changed so little t h a t they no longer
correspond to reality, whereas conditions have visibly changed.
For these reasons an agreement founded simply on custom runs
a great risk, apart from the insecurity caused by the absence of
documents and signatures, of creating an anachronous situation
and of gravely harming a man who is obliged to work under
antiquated conditions while living in the modern world.
The individual written contract has the advantage of giving
to its signatories a security which the verbal agreement does
not furnish. I t serves as the basis for the settlement of disputes
which may arise between employer and employee, and furnishes
each of them with a t least the possibility of appealing to the provisions — sometimes very vague ones it is true — of the Civil
Code concerning the hiring of labour. On the other hand, it has
the defect of being founded only on custom, with the exception
of the possible provisions — always very general — of the Civil
Code.

— 56 —

Journalists have so well realised the inconveniences of these
systems of individual contracts, oral and written, t h a t they have
boldly followed in the footsteps of the manual workers and have
sought to obtain the establishment of collective agreements capable
of giving them all the advantages of a general and uniform
determination of the conditions of work.
The collective agreement which organisations of employers and
employees sign and which regulates conditions of work, no longer
for individual cases but for great numbers of persons, may vary
in its scope. Sometimes it only covers a fraction of the conditions
of work, for example, the collective agreement governing wages ;
sometimes it only applies to one or two categories of workers,
the outside contributors of the paper, for example, or artists
and photographers. I t may also vary in precision, be more or
less detailed ; it may merely give the general principles which
should serve as a base for individual contracts, or, on the other
hand, it may exactly indicate working conditions with such completeness t h a t individual contracts do no more t h a n reproduce its
clauses or refer to them.
The collective agreement, in the eyes of journalists, constitutes
an immense progress from the individual contract, oral or written.
I t may be said t h a t the principal aim of their professional organisation, which formerly, as has been said, was to provide mutual
aid, is now to obtain, maintain, and improve collective agreements.
I t is certain t h a t the collective agreement affords great advantages. I n the first place it determines a uniform regulation of
working conditions, thus guaranteeing the maximum of equity and
making possible the simplification of the conditions of engagement,
as well as enabling greater stability in the management of the newspaper to be achieved. If it only possessed the advantage of
codifying and unifying existing customs, its worth would not
be open to doubt. But t h a t is not its only value ; the conclusion
of the collective agreement and its maintenance imply the existence
of firmly constituted professional organisations. To secure a
collective agreement the professional organisation had to be
possessed of vitality, and to be endowed with energy such that it
could obtain, as a rule, not only a unification of the working
conditions, but also their improvement.
I n fact it is rarely that a collective agreement does not introduce
some happy innovation. And these innovations are not the last.
The agreement is valid for a certain period, at the end of which its

— 57 —

renewal is discussed. At this moment it is not isolated individuals,
b u t the entire organisation which comes forward to take part
in the discussion. I t has a good chance of stating its views afresh,
of getting a t any rate some of its claims accepted, and of securing
the signature of a new agreement which will be superior to the old.
Generally speaking, the collective agreement, not only regularises
conditions of work, but is also the instrument by which valuable
improvements are secured, and it is thus the guarantee of future
improvements. Moreover, it is far from having advantages for
the workers only. The employers also derive benefit from it,
if only from the guarantees which it provides against the competition
of neighbouring undertakings, from the suppression of perpetual
and frequently costly disputes which are generated by chaotic
conditions of employment, and lastly from the pacification of the
discontent and bitterness which deprives their collaborators of
t h e good-will and enthusiasm which are so necessary to the smooth
running of the undertaking.
Lastly, the law sometimes lends the journalists the aid of its
sanctions. Legislation may concern the journalists in several
ways. Sometimes there are general laws t o which both manual
and brain workers are subject, as is the case in Great Britain with
regard t o compensation for accidents. Sometimes there are laws
more limited in their scope, applying, for example, only to nonmanual workers or a part of them, the " employees ", and it may
happen as it does in Luxemburg, t h a t the definition of this term
enables journalists to be included. Sometimes journalists are
expressly and specially referred to. The laws of this last kind
may be general or particular ; in other words they may regulate
the aggregate of the working conditions of journalists and
determine their status in its entirety, as in the Serb-Croat-Slovene
Kingdom, or they may refer only to some of these conditions,
weekly rest, for example, as in France. Again, it may happen
t h a t the laws of limited scope applying only to manual workers
and not journalists, nevertheless affect the latter in an indirect
way. Without being governed by the law they experience its
after-effects ; this is what occurs in Hungary where the prohibition
of Sunday work in the printing trade ensures the weekly rest of
journalists.
As journalists endeavour to obtain collective agreements, so do
they endeavour to secure the passing of laws covering their particular status. They rightly think t h a t general laws, or those, more
restricted, which relate to the large class of private employees,

— 58 —

cannot fully meet their case. The conditions of journalistic work
are so exceptional, they are different in so many ways from those
of manual work, from those of " employees ", and even from those
of other intellectual professions, that it would be impossible to arrive
at a reasonable and efficacious regime for journalists except by
means of special laws. This has been understood in two or three
countries where there are legislative provisions applying expressly
to the status of journalists, either in its entirety, or in part.
As a rule, journalists consider the establishment of such laws as
the consummation of their efforts. A certain number of them;
however, prefer the system of collective agreements as being more
supple, and capable of more rapid modification at the bidding of
circumstances. It is possible, moreover, to harmonise the two systems, and incorporate in the law only the obligation to conclude
agreements, the enumeration of the points which these agreements
should cover, and the statement of the fundamental principles
which should be taken into account in regulating the working
conditions of the journalist, while the details are left to be incorporated in the agreements themselves.
A brief analysis will now be made to determine what are the
factors — usages, verbal agreements, individual contracts, collective
agreements, legislative provisions — which determine the status of
journalism in various countries.
The Australian journalists benefit from a double collective
agreement which came into force in 1924 and regulates questions of
salaries, hours of work, holidays, settlement of disputes, etc., for
metropolitan and provincial journalists.
This agreement, which adopted — while improving and completing them — regulations dating from 1917 and springing from a
decision of the Federal Arbitration Court, applies to all categories of
newspaper workers from the editor to artists and photographers,
and extends to the States of New South Wales, Victoria, South
Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.
Thanks to this agreement, which contains some very interesting
clauses, Australian journalists are among the members of the
profession possessing the most satisfactory status.
In Austria, the journalists long ago obtained regulation of
working conditions by agreement, and statutory provisions have
since reinforced them.

— 59 —

It was in the spring of 1918, a few months after its foundation,
that the Organisation of the Viennese Press concluded its first collective agreement with the Association of Daily Papers. It was,
as a matter of fact, only a simple agreement for rates of payment,
but in view of the importance which questions of remuneration have
always had, and the acuteness of this problem during and immediately after the war in certain countries, we cannot do otherwise than
draw attention to the value of the result obtained by the Austrian
journalists.
The agreement of 1918 underwent several modifications in
accordance with the changes in the price level consequent upon
the monetary crisis.
Finally, in March 1921, a new collective agreement came into
force. Pounded on the law newly passed relating to journalists,
it went much further than its predecessor as regards salaries, and,
in addition, settled a number of other questions. This agreement,
which is prolonged automatically from year to year if it is not
denounced by one of the parties two months in advance, has only
undergone slight changes since 1921, notably on 1 March 1923,
and it is still in force.
Legislation furnished a firm foundation for the agreement
which had been begun to be built up. On 11 February 1920 an
Act relating to journalists was passed laying down a number of very
interesting principles. Under the terms of the Act (section 2),
every Press writer, on the day he takes up his duties, must be
furnished with a contract of employment containing a precise
description of the nature of the employment and specifying the
rates of salary, special fees, and contingent allowances for out of
pocket expenses, the rate of increments to be granted at least once
in five years, the length of holidays and the period of notice to be
given on the cancellation of the contract.
The Act of 1920 applies to all professional journalists who make
journalism their principal vocation, whether they belong to daily,
weekly, monthly, technical, scientific, or industrial organs or to
bulletins of associations, etc.
The collective agreement of the Viennese Press, on the other
hand, extended only to the daily papers of the capital, to which a
number of political organs appearing on Mondays and two or three
other weeklies were subsequently added. It must, however, also be
mentioned that in all the important towns collective agreements
similar to the Viennese agreement have been concluded. The
present tendency is to fuse these various regional agreements into

— 60 —
a single national agreement, but this work of unification encounters
certain difficulties owing to the diversity of the working conditions
of journalists in various parts of the country.
The collective agreement of the Viennese Press, which may be
taken as an example and a model of the entire network of agreements of the Austrian journalists, relates to permanent writers
and artists (in receipt of fixed remuneration), the regular contributors (writers paid by the line or by lump sum), editorial stenographers 1, and permanent foreign correspondents. It is one
of the most complete and the most detailed of existing agreements.
Its clauses bear upon the nature of the work, salaries (fixed remuneration, increments, salaries by the line or in a lump sum, out-ofpocket expenses, dates of payments), welfare, multiple collaboration, hours of work, night work, weekly rest, holidays, sick leave,
the right to work and the refusal to work, termination of services,
special conditions of regular contributors, changes in the editorial
policy of the paper, the sale of the undertaking, and the settlement of disputes. An appendix to the agreement indicates the
salary rates for various categories of posts and various kinds of
work paid by the line. The Organisation of the Viennese Press
has established a model individual contract which is employed
in most undertakings ; it is based on the Act of 11 February 1920
and on the collective agreement in force.
The individual contracts established in conformity with the
terms of the collective agreement are generally signed for an
indefinite period. When on rare occasions a time limit is assigned.
it is fixed at several years ahead. There is only one instance of
life contracts, and those are in respect of a group of some ten writers
who had belonged to the Wiener Tageblatt and were engaged by
the Neuer Wiener Tageblatt at the time of its foundation.
Such is the regime of working conditions which is valid for the
journalists of the capital and which has been extended to the rest
of the country by regional agreements. Established at the same
time by law and by an agreement which is among the best in
existence, this regime guarantees a noteworthy status to Austrian
journalists.
The Belgian journalists, unlike their Austrian colleagues,
possess neither model nor collective agreements. Generally
speaking, they do not enjoy any kind of contract, a simple verbal
1

See p . 15 for a definition of editorial stenographers.

— 61 —
agreement more often than not constituting the basis of their
employment. Moreover, since no legal provision is applicable t o
working conditions, they can hardly be said to be governed by
anything but custom.
I n Brazil and Bulgaria also the journalists are usually engaged
by simple verbal agreement. The rare written contracts are
subordinated to the general legislation relating to the hiring of
services, and there are no model or collective agreements in
existence.
As regards the status of journalists in Czechoslovakia, there are
two different regimes in existence according t o the region.
In
Bohemia, it is the Austrian Act of 13 January 1910, relating t o
commercial employees, which governs the drawing up of contracts
in journalism. I n Slovakia and Ruthenia is found the Hungarian
Press Act of 1914. The Minister of Social Welfare is at the present
time drafting a Bill for the whole country, dealing especially with
the working conditions of journalists. Another draft Bill relating
to social insurance, and containing clauses specially applicable to
journalists, will be submitted to Parliament in the near future.
The model contract does not exist in Czechoslovak journalism.
I t must, however, be observed t h a t , little by little, custom has
brought it about t h a t individual contracts in respect of various
periodicals are drawn up in almost the same way. I n general, they
treat of the hours of work, salaries, holidays, weekly rest, sick leave,
collaboration with other undertakings, and social insurance
charges.
There is no collective agreement covering the entire Press or
even an important p a r t of it. I n 1919, the Press Syndicate drew u p
a draft agreement which was accepted by only a few periodicals.
Since then it has n o t ceased to work for the establishment of a
general agreement, b u t its efforts have not been successful up t o
the present. On the other hand, the Press using the German
language possesses collective agreements of which one, t h a t
concluded between the writers of the Prager Presse and the " O b i s ' '
Publishing Company, may serve as an example. I t was signed
on 1 J a n u a r y 1927, and relates to salaries, hours of work, holidays,
the cessation of services, etc.
With the exception of t h e recent provisions concerning weekly
rest, there is no legal regulation of the working conditions of journal-

— 62 —

ists in France. Individual contracts are the exception, and they
are extremely variable in form and duration. Collective agreements are, a fortiori, unknown. In 1920 andin 1921 the Journalists'
Association drew up a draft agreement, but the negotiations which
were begun on this subject broke down owing to the resistance of
the Paris Press Employers' Association.
Only one attempt led to any result. At the time of the foundation of an important Paris paper, the editorial staff of the paper,
in agreement with the management, asked the Journalists' Association for a model contract. This model contract, which was
accepted by the management, served as a pattern for the individual contracts concluded with a certain number of writers, but it
remained an isolated case, and went no further than the paper in
question. The management of the paper having undergone radical
changes in 1926, and its staff of writers having been almost entirely
replaced, the contracts were abrogated, but they served as a basis
for the legal proceedings brought by a number of writers who held
that their rights had been infringed.
The Journalists' Association was not discouraged ; it is continuing negotiations, and hopes for the establishment of a body of
regulations governing the profession, in which it sees the surest
foundation of cordial relations with the employers. One great
difficulty arises from the lack of cohesion in the employers' organisation, which is far from being governed by strict discipline, and
in reality binds none of its members.
A certain success obtained in 1926 in the matter of salaries,
however, justifies some hope of seeing French journalists one day
endowed, like their colleagues in neighbouring large countries,
with regulations which the development of modern journalism
seems to render necessary.
In Germany, before the conclusion of the National Press
Agreement in 1926, the execution of which, as will be seen, was
declared obligatory by the Federal Labour Administration, the
relations between journalists and newspaper directors were subject — unless otherwise laid down by the regional collective agreements then existing — to the provisions of the Civil Code relating
to the contract of service (Dienstvertrag) (section 616 et seq.).
The only condition required was the absolute agreement of the
parties in conformity with the principle of liberty guaranteed
by the Federal Constitution. It is, however, appropriate to

— 63 —
remark t h a t according to section 624 of the Civil Code, the employee
has the right a t the end of five years to denounce any contract
envisaged for a longer period, even if the clauses of the contract
stipulate otherwise.
The system of collective agreements has been extensively used
in Germany for many years. The first was concluded by the Union
of the Labour Press more than twenty years ago with the newspapers of the Social-Democratic Party. This agreement covered
about 170 newspapers and the clauses (which have remained in
force in so far as they do not overlap with those of the national
agreement, or do not contain provisions inferior to them) related
to hours of work, minimum wages, holidays, sick leave, notice of
termination of services, welfare, etc.
This agreement was for a long time the only one of its kind.
I t was not till after the war t h a t the system spread, and then in
various regions of Germany a number of collective agreements were
concluded, among which may be mentioned those which were
signed in September 1921 by the professional associations of East
Prussia, and in March 1923 by the associations of Central German}\
These agreements contained noteworthy clauses concerning points
for which professional organisations in other countries still have to
strive, and which are regarded by journalists as being of the utmost
importance ; for example, notice of termination of services, special
jurisdictions, and changes in the editorial opinions of the paper.
At the end of 1925, shortly before the conclusion of the national
agreement, there were a number of regional agreements in existence
in Germany. In the National Association of the German Press
alone five regional unions had established agreements governing
rates of payment.
In April 1922 the National Association of the German Press
and the Newspaper Employers' Association endeavoured to unify
working conditions in German journalism by the conclusion of
a collective agreement which was declared obligatory by the Federal
Labour Administration and which, without having the scope of
the agreements of January 1926, may be regarded as a decisive
step towards the preparation of the latter. At this time, too,
was created the German Press Collaboration Commission x already
mentioned, which considerably facilitated the understanding
between the two parties and the preparation of subsequent agreements.
1

Cf. "Organisation of the Profession", p. 36.

— 64 —

This A'ast work of organising the German Press, and regulating
terms of employment, found its fulfilment in a series of agreements
concluded between the two national associations of publishers
and journabsts in January 1926. The instruments at present in
force concerning working conditions and welfare institutions are
published by the German Press Collaboration Commission and
form a volume of 117 pages. I t is eloquent testimony of the
punctilious work which has conferred a status of the highest order
on German journalists.
Four kinds of texts may be distinguished among these documents, in addition t o the declaration prolonging the Collaboration
Committee founded in 1922 :
(1) An employment agreement (Arbeitsvertrag) which contains
provisions concerning the position of the journalist with
regard to the paper, the publisher, and the public, the
conclusion of contracts of service (Dienstvertrag), the functions of the Collaboration Commission as regards the execution of the agreement system, disputes which may arise
concerning the interpretation of the agreement, the obligation upon the two signatory organisations t o come to an
understanding for the constitution of a welfare institution,
and finally the scope of the national agreement and the
status of district agreements.
(2) A standard service agreement (Normaldienstvertrag) in which
is included a model contract and which covers the nature
of the employment, wages, weekly rest, annual holidays,
procedure for annulment, compulsory insurance, changes
in the editorial opinions of the paper, and the sale of the
paper.
(3) Regulations governing arbitration courts, or an arbitration
agreement which is bound up with the existence of employment agreements and which lays down conditions for the
institution of special tribunals in various large towns, and
the procedure of the different courts.
(4) A series of agreements relating t o welfare institutions,
optional or obligatory, created by the two signatory organisations and provided for in the first two agreements.
On 10 J u n e 1926 the Federal Labour Administration took a
decision, in conformity with the Act of 23 J a n u a r y 1923, rendering
the two labour and service agreements obligatory on all the members
of the profession. An exception was made for the clauses concern-

— 65 —
ing welfare in t h a t they were not to apply to two or three large
undertakings which already possessed satisfactory institutions, or
to the members of the Union of the Labour Press which were
in a similar position.
The whole of the part concerning special jurisdictions is
excluded from the declaration establishing the obligatory nature
of the agreements, with the result t h a t members of the profession
who do not belong to the signatory organisations have the option
of appealing to the ordinary courts for the settlement of their
disputes.
The first two agreements, which form a single whole and whose
clauses are mutually complementary, apply to the writers of the
German daily papers. Among the writers are to be included the
permanent outside contributors whose principal occupation is
journalism and who are in the service of a single publishing house
for the whole of their working time.
They lay down only the general lines of the regulations governing work and state their fundamental principles, leaving the fixing
of details, especially the level of wages, to district agreements
which may exist side by side with the national agreement if they
do not treat of matters already settled by it.
The district agreements a t present in force, excluding those
between the Union of the Labour Press and the newspapers of
the Social Democratic P a r t y are :
(1) An agreement concluded by the Press Association of North
Western Germany which apphes to the towns of Hanover,
Bremen, Wilhelmshafen, Göttingen, Lüneburg, and Osnabrück, among others.
(2) An agreement concluded by the Bavarian Press Association
applying to the towns of Munich, Nuremberg, and Augsburg, among others.
(3) An agreement concluded by the Press Association of the
Palatinate applying to the towns of Ludwigshafen, Landau,
Spires, and Kaiserslautern, among others.
(4) An agreement concluded by the Silesian Press Association
applying to the towns of Breslau, Liegnitz, and Glatz,
among others.
I n the chapter concerning salaries will be seen those provisions
of these district agreements which complete the national agreement.
5

— 66 —

The agreement system of the German journalists is of the
greatest importance. The National Press Association is of the
opinion t h a t certain points are in need of improvement, especially
with regard to salaries. The work bears the impress of a very
pronounced spirit of collaboration and nowhere else perhaps is
to be found evidence of such close contact between publishers
and newspaper workers as there is in Germany.
In Great Britain the contracts of employment of journalists
are subject to the general provisions of the law concerning relations
between employers and employees. There is no provision concerning their duration, but it is customary for contracts in respect of
the F a r East and other distant countries to be concluded for an
initial period of three to five years.
For a certain number of years English journalists have benefited
from a series of collective agreements, all concluded by the National
Union of Journalists :
First, in March 1920, an agreement was concluded with the
Newspaper Society, regulating the salaries of the staff of the London
offices of provincial newspapers.
I n April 1920 a collective agreement was concluded with
various Press agencies, fixing the rates of remuneration for news
communicated by the correspondents of these agencies.
I n August 1920 an agreement was concluded with the Newspaper Proprietors' Association, fixing the remuneration of correspondents for general home news.
On 16 March 1921 a new collective agreement was concluded
between the National Union of Journalists and the Newspaper
Proprietors' Association. This was the most important of the
series ; it regulated wages, hours of work, holidays, etc., of the
permanent members of London editorial offices, including artists
and photographers.
On 22 March 1921 an agreement, amended in May 1924, was
concluded with the Newspaper Society fixing the minimum salaries
of members of the National Union of Journalists belonging to
provincial newspapers.
A new agreement was concluded in March 1922 with the Press
agencies fixing the minimum salary and the hours of work of the
staff of these agencies.
Finally, on 26 July 1922 an agreement which regulated salaries,
hours of work, and holidays, of photographic operators and printers
was concluded with the Association of Press Photographic Agencies.

— 67 —
For its part, the Institute of Journalists, the other organisation
of English journalists, has established a scale of salaries which
it is endeavouring to get adopted by the employers.
The agreement concluded in March 1921 between the National
Union and the Newspaper Proprietors' Association constitutes
the basis of the working conditions of English journalists, and
it is this agreement which, in the absence of special mention, is
referred to in the course of this survey.
The use of written contracts is rather rare in Hungarian journalism. Certain responsible Press writers, however, possess
contracts with a duration of from five to ten years. At the present
time, there are neither model contracts nor collective agreements.
I n 1917, the Independent Organisation of Journalists established
a collective agreement approved by the Association of Publishers,
and renewed in 1918 ; but after the fall of the Dictatorship of the
Proletariat which had nationalised all newspapers, the publishers
declared t h a t they considered their papers as new undertakings,
and t h a t in their opinion the collective agreement was void. They
no longer treated with their collaborators otherwise than on an
individual basis. Since t h a t time no attempt has been made to
establish a new collective agreement.
In India, there is no regulation, by law or collective agreement,
of working conditions in journalism. The only journalists in
possession of an individual contract are generally those who have
come from Great Britain and who have signed a contract of this
kind before their departure.
I n no country does legislation intervene to a greater extent
in the journalistic profession than it has done in Italy since the
coming of the Fascist regime. The law operates not only with
regard to the conclusion and the enforcement of contracts of
employment and certain living and working conditions such as
welfare and weekly rest; it regulates t h e very exercise of the
profession, which it makes a closed corporation submitted to a
severe control. As a matter of fact, journalism does not receive
exceptional treatment. I t shares this form of regulation with
other intellectual professions, not excluding those of the chemist
and the engineer, and it harmonises in this respect with the general
Fascist conception of the organisation of professional Ufe within
the State.

— 68 —
Under the terms of the Royal Decree of 20 February 1928,
the profession of journalist may be practised only by the persons
inscribed in the professional register. The maintenance of this
register and the discipline of the persons inscribed therein are
confided to a Committee of five members, themselves belonging
to the Syndicate, and chosen by the Minister of Justice, in agreement with the Ministers of the Interior and Corporations, from
among the journalists nominated by the competent professional
association.
An appeal may be made from any decision of this Committee
relating to inscription or discipline to a Commission nominated
by Royal Decree, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice in
agreement with the Ministers of the Interior and Corporations.
This Commission is composed of a president and ten members,
of whom five are chosen from a list presented by the Directorate
of the National Fascist Syndicate of Journalists.
The professional register, which is established by the regional
Fascist syndicates of journalists, contains three lists relating,
respectively, to professional journalists, probationers, and publicists.
The first are those who-have exclusively exercised the profession
of journalist for a t least eighteen months, the second are those
who have exercised their profession for less than eighteen months,
or who have not yet reached the age of twenty-one ; the third
are those who are engaged in other activities, or other professions,
in addition to their journalistic activity. Under the terms of
the Act of 31 December 1925, the responsibility for daily publications can be assumed only by professional journalists ; for other
periodical publications, the responsible publisher may be a publicist.
The Italian journalists have long been in possession of a collective agreement relating to employment.
The first of all the Press organisations, the National Federation,
obtained, as early as 1911, an agreement which remained unchanged, until 1919. Although it had not the force of law, as the
present agreement has, its clauses were always recognised in legal
proceedings. This agreement was revised and improved in December 1919, and again in October 1925. The adhesion of the Press
Federation of the Confederation of Fascist Syndicates in December
1925 necessitated a new edition of the agreement in which nothing
but the names of the contracting parties were changed. Finally,
in 1927, a new agreement was signed, in substance almost identical
with those which preceded it. One of the principal changes follows
from the fact that, in conformity with the provisions enacted by the

— 69 —

Ministry of Corporations, the managing directors and managers
of newspapers are excluded from the scope of the agreement. They
are invited, on their side, to constitute an " Association of Managing
Directors " and to conclude a special agreement with the publishers.
The novelty of the present agreement resides in the sanction
which it receives from the Trade Union Act of 3 April 1926, the
methods of enforcement of which are defined by the Regulations
of 1 July 1926.
I t is public knowledge t h a t according to the principles of the
Fascist regime, all citizens grouped in professional organisations
are incorporated in the State. The economic interests of employers
and employees are grounded not only in private law, but in public
law, and more precisely in constitutional law. This situation
is clearly defined in the Labour Charter promulgated on 21 April
1927. Among the tasks incumbent on professional associations
recognised, in a sense, as wheels in the Fascist State machine,
is the regulation of working conditions by means of the collective
agreement. The Act of 3 April 1926, drafted in the spirit which a
year later inspired the Labour Charter, established the conditions
in which this task should be accomplished. Under the terms of
section 5 of the Act, legally recognised associations represent all
the members of the same professional category. With the
employers, they draft the clauses of collective agreements which
are obligatory on all persons belonging to the profession (section
10) ; employers and workers who do not observe the terms of the
collective agreements are responsible to the signatory associations. The enforcement Regulations of 1 July 1926 specify
t h a t collective agreements which are not established by legally
recognised associations are null and void (section 47).
All
individual contracts must conform to the collective agreement of
the profession unless their clauses are more favourable to the
worker than those of the collective agreement (section 54). The
duration of collective agreements is not specified ; it is left to the
decision of the signatory organisations, b u t the agreement which
has arrived a t its full term is automatically renewed for a period
equal to t h a t of the preceding one unless one of the parties has
denounced it two months previously (section 54).
The law and its enforcement regulations prescribe in detail
the manner in which the special tribunals x for dealing- with labour
questions arising from the collective agreements should be instituted,
1

See "The Settlement of Disputes", p. 95.

— 70 —
and define the procedure of such tribunals. These special jurisdictions will be dealt with later on.
The Labour Charter of 21 April 1927 specifies the various
points which the Government intend to have included in collective
agreements. I t declares : "Every collective agreement, under pain
of nullity, must contain precise rules on internal discipline, periods
of probation, the amount and methods of payment of salaries,
and hours of work."
I t also furnishes guiding principles relating to weekly rest,
paid holidays, and indemnities in case of dismissal.
Thus the agreements relating to Italian journalists are sanctioned by an Act which governs the relations between employers
and employees generally, and applies to journalists equally with
other workers.
Although it is true that the journalists, owing to their strong
organisation and their energetic activities, favoured by a spirit
of comprehension on the part of Italian publishers, obtained a
very complete agreement years ago, it is none the less true t h a t
the subsequent legislative provisions have invested this agreement
with additional force and prestige. I n any case, it is interesting
to note t h a t in spite of the changes in the aspect of the former
Press Federation, which has become a Fascist syndicate, the agreement established by the former has been maintained almost
in its entirety by the latter, and it may be added t h a t it met the
permanent needs of journalists to such an extent t h a t it was
uniformly valid under different political regimes.
The collective agreement of the Italian journalists, signed by a
recognised association, and adopted by the entire hierarchy of
the vast professional organisation of the Italian State, has thus
force of law for all the members of the profession, whether they
are members of the association or not.
I t was signed on 15 November 1927 for the period ending
30 J u n e 1931, and as has been said, it differs very little from the
preceding agreement to which additions have been made only
here and there.
The agreement applies to professional journalists who have made
journalism their sole paid profession for at least eighteen months,
and more precisely, to assistant editors, special editors, ordinary
Press writers, news writers, correspondents, assistant correspondents, stenographers, reporters, regular outside contributors, and
artists. Its clauses, which will be examined later, relate to the
following questions : probation, nature of employment, multiple

— 71 —
collaboration, salaries, indemnities for dismissal, cases of conscience,
changes in the editorial policy of the paper, welfare, and settlement
of disputes (professional courts) (Collegi probivirali).
Japanese journalists only know of individual contracts established in conformity with the general provisions of the Civil Code.
relating to the hiring of services.
In Latvia, since 1920 the journalists have been in possession
of a collective agreement, the clauses of which deal with salaries,
the general conditions of work, and the cessation of services.
There are no statutory provisions concerning journalists.
The establishment of the contract of employment of Luxemburg
journalists falls within the scope of the Act of 31 October 1919,
relating to the hiring of services of private employees. As is the
case in numerous other countries, moreover, at least half the
journalists do not possess even an individual written contract.
The political directors, the editors and the political editors enjoy
a contract of this kind, generally drawn up on the Unes of the
contract for private employees, for all that concerns hours of
work and conditions of annulment, and following the legal provisions
relating to the remuneration of State employees as far as salaries
are concerned. In Luxemburg, there is no model contract, nor
collective agreement. At the time of the constitution of the
Association of Luxemburg Journalists, there was some question of
inscribing the preparation of a collective agreement in the programme of the new organisation, but this proposal was abandoned.
The Syndicate of Journalists, created a little after the Association,
revived the idea, and included among its demands the drafting
of a collective agreement, or at least of a model contract. The
Syndicate is learning from experiments made in other countries,
especially in Germany and in Italy, and thus hopes to endow
Luxemburg journalism with a sound status.
In journalism in the Netherlands there is neither model contract
nor collective agreement. The individual contracts of employment are subordinate to the provisions of the Civil Code concerning
the hiring of services. Their duration varies greatly.
There is a very marked tendency in Poland to regulate the
conditions of work of ¡intellectual workers jby legislation. In

- 72 —
1920, a Bill concerning the work of journalists was placed
before the Diet. The examination of this Bill having been ¡postponed as a result of political events, the Union of Journalists'
Associations requested the Government to promulgate the text
in the form of a Decree. The Government, acceding to this
wish, prepared a new text which, however, encountered such
opposition from the publishers t h a t its promulgation had to be
renounced. The Union of Journalists' Associations is endeavouring
at the present time to get the Diet to pass the Bill.
I n the absence of statutory regulations peculiar to journalists,
there have recently come into force in Poland, two Legislative
Decrees on intellectual workers, the scope of which includes members of the journalistic profession. One relates to social insurance
the other t o the conclusion of contracts of employment. The
latter, promulgated on 16 March 1928, deals with the conditions
governing payment of salaries, cessation of services, indemnities
in case of death, etc.
Collective agreements are found in various parts of the country.
The most important, concluded by the Journalists' Associations
and the Warsaw publishing houses, has been in force since 1 June
1924, and it applies to all the papers of the capital. I t s principal
clauses concern probation, salaries, holidays, and sick leave.
Portuguese journalism is devoid of collective agreements ; even
individual contracts are unknown. As there are no legal provisions
which can be applicable to journalism, it is ruled only by customs
which determine the verbal agreements governing the engagement
of journalists.
In Rumania also, there are no special legal provisions for the
conclusion of contracts between directors and journalists. Moreover, the use of the contract itself is very rarely met with in the
profession. There is no collective agreement in existence except in
the minority Press of Transylvania. Apart from this, a few
model contracts are found in this region, in use in the Press
appearing in the German language. This local situation appears
to be partly due to the former Hungarian Press Act, which regulates
the relations between journalists and newspaper directors. The
collective agreement concluded on 1 October 1925 by the Association of Minority Journalists of Transylvania and the newspaper
undertakings, which is automatically renewable from year to
year, deals with salaries, probation, cessation of services, arbitra-

— 73 —

tion, disputes, the moral obligations of journalists, changes in
the editorial policy of the paper, sale of the paper, holidays, and
taxes. I n addition, it contains an interesting clause which is
found in no other collective agreement, and according to which
the undertakings bind themselves to employ a number of professional journalists in proportion to the importance of the paper.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom, journalists have a legal
status defined in detail. A Decree of the Minister of Social Welfare
dated 25 September 1926, and issued in virtue of the Act on the
Press, and which came immediately into force, governs the working
conditions in journalism.
The Decree considers as a journalist "any person employed in
editorial offices in the quality of writer, reporter, or artist, or
working there in a continuous manner and deriving therefrom
the greater part of his income" (section 1). I t declares t h a t
"every journalist must, at the latest one month after his arrival
in an editorial office, conclude a contract with the manager of
the paper stipulating : (1) the amount of monthly salary ; (2) the
period of notice in case of dismissal ; (3) the duration of the annual
holiday. The journalist who does not desire to conform to these
provisions cannot invoke them in his favour, and the manager
is not responsible for the consequences of his refusal. If, on the
other hand, the manager refuses to establish a contract in spite
of the request of a journalist, the competent authority of the
Ministry of Labour shall apply the sanctions provided for in the
law on the inspection of labour. The managers of newspapers
are bound to notify these contracts to the competent authority
of the Ministry of Labour" (section 2).
The Decree then treats in detail of dismissal, holidays, and
special jurisdictions, and ends with a certain number of sections
on the constitution of an insurance fund for old age and invalidity.
The Yugoslav Decree may be considered as one of the most
important documents relating to the regulation of working conditions in journalism.
Spanish journalists are not acquainted with either collective
agreements or model contracts ; in most cases even individual
contracts are unknown.
The legislation does not contain any special provision in this
connection. Nevertheless, without prescribing any measures

— 74 —

with regard to working conditions themselves, it has constituted
organisations which may be destined to facilitate the regulation
of journalistic work later. These organisations are the joint
Press committees created by Royal Order in J a n u a r y 1927, in
conformity with the Act of 26 November 1926, on the corporative
organisation of the nation. The committees are instituted on a
regional basis and are being organised at present. They are
composed of representatives of publishers and journalists and
intended to deal with labour questions (e.g. the interpretation of
ordinary contracts, dismissals). The Professional Association of
Madrid Journalists, desiring to take advantage of the possibilities
offered by this schene, submitted to the joint committee of its region
a certain number of proposals which might serve for the drafting
of a collective agreement ; the Association sees in this action the
first step towards measures capable of rescuing Spanish journalism
from the precarious situation in which it finds itself.
I t may not be inappropriate at this point to draw attention to
an initiative which has of late deeply stirred Spanish journalists
in various parts of the coun ry. The National Advisory Assembly
has been supplied with a draft statute of the Press which applies
quite new principles to the working conditions of journalists. The
draft provides for the compulsory conclusion of contracts of employment in which questions of salaries, holidays, hours of work, and
dismissal, would be treated. I t also makes provision for the
creation of insurance funds which would be very advantageous
to the journalists \ sanatoria, and orphanages, as well as the
constitution of building co-operative societies. I n each undertaking a staff committee would be formed, composed of the manager
and three Press writers who would deal with certain internal
professional questions. In spite of the enormous progress which
such a statute would bring about in the working conditions of
Spanish journalists, they have not shown much enthusiasm for
the proposal. The reason for this attitude may be t h a t the Government's draft provides for the maintenance of the censorship, the
abolition of which is energetically demanded by the Press, and it is
thought t h a t the economic advantages offered to the journalists
are a means of inducing them to accept its maintenance. This
explains why the Liberal papers and even certain organs of the
Right have explicitly declared against the proposal.
The sixth committee of the National Assembly, known as the
1

See "Welfare Institutions", p. 196.

— 75 —

Committee on Political Laws, was entrusted with the examination
of the draft. I t was not able to come to any definite conclusion,
and decided, in view of the various currents of opinion stirred by
this delicate question, to proceed with a kind of consultation
among the circles concerned by means of a questionnaire which
it published in the newspapers in December 1927. The answers
were to have been sent, before 10 January 1928, t o the Secretariat
of the Assembly.
The result of this enquiry is not yet known, but it is certain
(to keep to the subject which is being dealt with here, t h a t is to
say, the working conditions of journalists) that the draft statute
would enable Spanish journalism to realise considerable progress.

The contracts of employment of Swedish journalists are subject
to the provisions of the general legislation relating to the hiring
of services. There are no collective agreements in Sweden. On
the other hand, the Association of Newspaper Publishers and
the Association of Journalists have established a model contract,
the use of which they recommend to their members. The principal
clauses of this contract concern hours of work, minimum salaries,
sick leave, indemnity in case of death, holidays, and weekly rest.

No statutory provisions are to be found in Switzerland specially
applicable t o the working conditions of journalists, b u t the
Swiss Press Association has concluded a series of agreements
with the Newspaper Publishers' Association settling various
questions of employment.
The earliest of these agreements now in force, signed in 1919,
concerns the remuneration of Press writers. Another agreement
of the same year minutely regulates the remuneration and the
general situation of independent journalists (regular external
collaborators). I n 1923, a new agreement was signed, dealing
with the conditions of work of journalists, hours of work, holidays,
etc. The latest agreement, also drawn u p in 1923, determines
the charges incumbent on the employer in respect of the insurance
of his personnel. Thus, the Swiss Press Association has obtained
successive agreements which, little by little, have covered a good
part of the living and working conditions of journalists.
I n consequence of the absence of large journalistic organisations,
collective agreements are unknown in the United States, as far as

— 76 —

the Press is concerned. Apart from special cases, there are hardly
any contracts of employment between managers and journalists.
On most occasions questions of employment are settled by simple
verbal agreement. In the rare cases in which an individual
contract exists, it is the ordinary law which determines its terms.

Ill
T E R M I N A T I O N OF S E R V I C E S A N D S E T T L E M E N T
OF D I S P U T E S
TERMINATION OF SERVICES

The termination of services is one of the crucial questions
affecting the situation of journalists. Together with the salaries
question, it receives their constant attention, and it is not without
reason t h a t the first act of the International Federation of Journalists was to inscribe it in its programme as one of the questions
which most urgently called for settlement.
Among t h e disadvantages of the profession, t h a t which journalists perhaps fear most is insecurity. At the root of this insecurity
is the ever-present possibility of dismissal. The vicissitudes
which the development of a newspaper may undergo are well
known. If to the surprises which the course of political events
may bring are added the ups and downs of fashion, and the caprices
of advertising, and then t o all the outside circumstances which
may lead to reduced circulation or to the extinction of a paper
are added the internal events — transformation, reorganisation,
disagreements, which may affect a part of the personnel — one
arrives at a disquieting number of circumstances in which a
journalist risks the loss of his employment, and may be obliged,
often in unfavourable conditions owing to his age or to his specialised qualifications, to seek work elsewhere.
Among these cases there is a particularly hard one which is
bound up with the very nature of journalistic work : it is t h a t
in which a newspaper, in consequence of changes in its editorial
policy and general outlook — changes which may arise either
from the transfer of the paper by sale or from the influence of
a political movement on its administration — might require its
staff to express opinions different from those which they were
previously called upon to profess. These changes of policy, more
or less frequent according to the country and t o the state of
development of the Press, necessarily create conscientious dim-

— 78 —

culties for the journalist. He is often required to do work of a
very personal character and to make use of his own political,
religious, and moral opinions in his activities ; there are thus,
in journalism, relations between the individual and his calling,
between the personality of the man and his professional work,
of such a nature t h a t the character of his writings cannot be
modified without a certain violence to the private conscience of
the writer. Naturally, a man who holds t o his principles will
not wish to make any distinction between his opinions and those
of the paper for which he is working, and will consider any suggestion of supporting ideas not in agreement with his own as
contrary to conscience and honour.
This is, perhaps, a harsh illustration of the difficulties with
which a journalist may be confronted for reasons of conscience.
There are others, more delicate and more complex, which create
embarrassments just as serious. I t may happen, for example,
t h a t a journalist is not required to modify his way of thinking,
t h a t he is even left full liberty of expression, and t h a t his articles
are printed in full, but at the same time the general attitude of
the paper is altered in such a way t h a t the journalist feels himself
compromised. He is not compelled to take any action contrary
to his principles, but he feels t h a t his reputation is none the less
in question.
I t may also happen that, without any change in the general
attitude of the paper, a director will ask the journalist to do him
some service contrary to morality ; for example, to take p a r t
in a compaign of blackmail or simply to help with his pen to
pursue some private vendetta.
These cases are not purely theoretical. They are met with
frequently enough to constitute an urgent problem in the eyes
of journalists, and they interest a large number of the members
of the profession. In fact it is not only writers having to treat
of political, religious, and moral questions who may find themselves confronted with such difficulties, as one might be tempted
to think ; cases of conscience may arise with more or less acuity
in several domains — in art criticism, theatrical criticism, sport,
etc.
In
papers championing definite opinions, where every
journalist carries on a kind of warfare, it may very well happen
t h a t even those members of the staff who are not directly concerned
with the preparation of articles expressing ideas, but only perform

— 79 —

tasks of a neutral character, such as the sub-editing of telegraphic
reports, or reports of traffic accidents, are faced with a question
of conscience in the event of a change in the editorial policy
of the paper. Even if the nature of their work does not undergo
any alteration, they might find themselves in some degree in
the situation of men who, without having to take their place in
the firing line, are obliged to work in the supply or medical services
of an enemy army and thus indirectly help to fight its battles.
A man of honour could not accept such a situation and would be
obliged, in spite of himself, to withdraw his services from the
undertaking.
What happens in such a case ? As it is the employee who
has denounced the contract and not the employer, the latter has
no obligations with regard to the former, who, according t o the
usual legislation concerning hiring of services, is even obliged
to give him a certain amount of notice, during which period he
must continue his work. This situation appears profoundly
unjust to journalists, who cannot admit t h a t they should support
the consequences of a profound change in their conditions of
employment, and t h a t they should be deprived of compensations
which might normally accompany dismissal, merely because
their departure has the appearance of a voluntary resignation.
To protect themselves as much against the risks of sudden
dismissal as against the particularly distasteful circumstances
surrounding cessation of services for reasons of conscience, journalists have endeavoured to hedge the annulment of the contract
with certain conditions which soften its effect.
They have
obtained these conditions here and there, either by custom which
has gradually become general, or by the provisions of collective
agreements, or even by law. They consist in the establishment
of the longest possible term of notice of dismissal and in the grant
of indemnities.
The conditions of the termination of services in various countries
will now be examined. I t is well to observe at the outset the
distinction between the notice of dismissal, on the one hand,
which entails the payment of salary during the period of notice
and which is intended to enable the person concerned t o seek
another post, and, on the other hand, the indemnity, which is a
compensation for the material and moral damage suffered by the
employee and the recognition of services rendered t o the paper.
I t will be seen below to what extent one of these conditions, if
not both together, has been established in different countries.

— 80 —

The Australian collective agreement, so detailed and so complete
in other respects, does not contain any clause concerning the
termination of services. The dismissal of journalists is subject
to the general legislation.
In Austria the Act of 11 February 1920 relating to journalists
requires t h a t the written contract with which every writer is
furnished when he takes up his post shall contain, among other
things, express mention of the notice of dismissal, which must
coincide with the end of a quarter, and must not be less than three
months (six months in the case of the closing down of the undertaking). After five years' service the notice is increased by one
month for each year of employment, up to a maximum of twelve
months.
Under the terms of the collective agreement of the Viennese
Press, in case of annulment, the collaborator who has worked for
the paper for three years (permanent writer, permanent foreign
correspondent, or regular outside collaborator) must receive, in
addition to his pay for the duration of the notice, an indemnity
equal to twice the emoluments of his last month of service. After
five years' service the indemnity is equal to thrice the emoluments
of the last month, and after eight years the amount is increased by
one month's pay for each year's service, up to a maximum of
eighteen months.
When an agreement more favourable than the provisions of
t h e Act of 1920 is concluded between the parties, the collaborator
renounces the sums due to him on account of the extended notice
provided for by the law, and declares himself satisfied with the
three months' pay for the period of notice, increased by the indemnities specified in the agreement (sections 19 and 22).
If the editorial policy of the paper is changed, the collaborator
"who is unable to continue his services without doing violence to his
opinions is entitled to annul his contract, without notice, within a
month from taking note of the change. The collaborator in question is in this case entitled, in addition to the three months' pay
for the period of notice provided for in the Act of 1920, to an indemnity which up to five years' service is equal to an entire year's
salary. Every new period of five years entitles him to a supplement amounting to six months' salary. A period which has merely
been begun counts as five years. Regular outside collaborators
are not entitled to this indemnity unless they have belonged to the
paper for at least one year,

— 81 —
If disputes arise, the task of deciding whether the conditions
for annulment on the grounds of changes in the policy of the paper
exist is confided t o an arbitration committee composed of two
arbitrators nominated by one of the parties, two nominated by the
other, and a president who is a member of the National Council and
chosen by the first four arbitrators. I n the event of the arbitrators
failing to agree on the choice of a president, he is appointed by the
President of the National Council. If the committee is of the
opinion t h a t the declarations of the journalist relative to changes
of policy are tainted with bad faith, it may inflict a fine on him not
exceeding 10,000 crowns (section 25).
If a newspaper is sold, the purchaser may denounce any contract
within a period of one month after the sale. The indemnities due
are the same as those for changes in policy. An arbitration
committee may also grant these indemnities to a collaborator who,
for personal reasons, does not desire to be bound by contract to
the new publisher.
Finally, in the case of the closing down of a journalistic undertaking, the employee is entitled t o a lump sum equal to six months'
pay, unless the length of his services entitles him to the larger
indemnities provided for in section 19 quoted above.
Mention may also be made of a clause of the Austrian agreement
to the effect t h a t any provision in an individual contract which
restricts the liberty of work of a journalist after the termination
of his contract or after he has reached the retiring age is null and
void (section 19).
In Bulgaria journalists' contracts are subject to the general
legislation concerning obligations.
In Czechoslovakia, under the terms of the Austrian Act of
13 J u n e 1910 relating to private employees, which is still in force in
Bohemia, notice of annulment of a contract is of six weeks. I n no
case may it be less than a month. However, t h e custom has
become established in journalism of granting three months' notice,
b u t for certain posts this is sometimes prolonged to a year. Custom
has thus rectified the insufficiency of the legal provisions, and has
created in Bohemia a situation identical with t h a t which Slovakia
owes to the Hungarian Act of 28 March 1914. I n fact, under the
terms of sections 57, 58, and 59 of this Act, notice of annulment of
a journalistic contract is, as already stated, of one year for the
6

— 82 —

responsible editor, six months for the assistant editor and any
other member of, the editorial staff of more than five years'
standing, and three months in all other cases.
The collective agreement of the Prager Presse adopts the legal
provisions as far as notice of dismissal is concerned. It adds the
principle of compensation to these provisions, and indicates
amounts which vary from one month's pay after five years'
service to six months' pay after fifteen years.
Furthermore, it lays down that the employer must allow the
dismissed journalist time to seek new employment, provided that
this time does not exceed three weeks in all 1 .
In France, where, as has already been said, there is no legal
provision specially concerning the journalist's contract, it is the
general legislation on the hiring of services which determines
questions of dismissal in the Press. However, customs, which
the courts take into account, have established themselves ; a
proof of this is furnished by a judgment delivered in May 1927.
A journalist, having been informed that the paper on which he
was working would cease to appear in three months' time, claimed
an indemnity calculated at the rate of one month's pay for each
year of service, an indemnity which he declared to be in conformity
with custom. The newspaper, on the other hand, declared that
the three months' notice which he had been given was also customary
and dispensed it from giving any indemnity. The court declared
that "in default of custom, it appears from the precedents that
the courts enjoy in this matter a sovereign power of assessment
for the purpose of deciding whether or not there are reasons to
award damages or simply the amount of salary in respect of the
months covered by the notice", and decided that the paper should
pay the journalist an indemnity which was higher than the salary
for the three months covered by the notice, without, however,
amounting to as much as the sum claimed by the plaintiff. The
Journalists' Association, which had been dealing with the case,
is of the opinion that this judgment has given satisfaction to
1
The collective agreement of the Prager Presse, which provides in case of simple
annulment for a notice of three to six months and compensation ranging from one
month's pay after five years' service to six months' pay after fifteen years, declares
t h a t if the editorial policy of a paper is changed the journalist resigning for reasons
of conscience shall receive half his annual salary. If he has not found a post a t
the end of six months he shall receive another indemnity of the same amount.
After five years' service he is entitled to a third indemnity, after ten years to a
fourth, and so on for every period of five years' service.

— 83 —

the employees' thesis, according to which, as far as the Press is
concerned, the notice does not suffice, and must be backed by
an indemnity in proportion to the services rendered by the
journalist 1 .
The Association also endeavours, in the absence of fixed rules,
legal or contractual, to settle individual cases by arbitration.
Arbitral proceedings of this kind in June 1927 fixed at two months'
salary the amount due to a journalist whom certain errors of
procedure had prevented from taking advantage of the three
months' notice given by his paper 2.
In Germany the rules which govern the annulment of a journalist's contract are founded partly on the Civil Code and partly
on the collective agreement in force since January 1926.
The duration of contracts varies greatly. The collective
agreement does not contain any clause dealing with this point.
It must, however, be observed that, according to section 624 of
the Civil Code, the employee has the right to denounce his contract
at the end of five years, even if it is laid down otherwise in the
contract itself.
With regard to notice of dismissal, section 622 of the Civil
Code provides that any contract, binding a person employed on
work of a certain level and devoting the greater part of his time
to such work, cannot be denounced except at the end of a quarter,
and subject to six weeks' notice. These provisions were adopted
in the collective agreement, where they appear as the conditions
applicable to the dismissal of a journalist employed for less than
three years. For persons with more than three years' service,
the agreement provides conditions more advantageous than those
of the law, viz. that the notice of dismissal shall be three months ;
at the end of ten years' service notice is increased to six months.
The agreement adds, in an important clause, that in calculating
years of service, every period of three years spent in another
undertaking shall be considered as equivalent to at least one
year in the new firm.
Changes in the editorial policy are provided for in the collective
agreement, which first of all requires (contract of normal service,
Article 2) that every individual contract of employment shall
contain, among other things, a declaration of the editorial
1

Bulletin du Syndicat des journalistes, No. 42, J a n . 1928, p . 6.
» Ibid.

— 84 —

policy of the undertaking or of the tendencies of the paper, and
then prescribes (Article 15) t h a t every journalist has the right,
within a month from the day on which he learns of the changes
in policy, or from the day on which, in view of events, he ought
to have perceived such changes, to terminate his services. Nevertheless, he continues to receive his salary until the expiration
of the normal notice of dismissal. If the writer has accomplished
five years' uninterrupted service in the undertaking, he is entitled,
in addition, to a sum equal to six months' salary, and if he has
spent more than ten years in the same undertaking, to one year's
salary \
If the paper is sold, and the new proprietor does not wish to
take over the old contracts, the writers receiving their dismissal
leave their posts immediately. They are entitled to the payment
of their salary until the expiry of the normal notice of dismissal,
or until the expiry of their contract.
I n Great Britain, the contracts of employment of journalists
are subject to the general provisions of the legislation, which
require t h a t reasonable notice shall be given in case of annulment.
The usual notice is of three, six, or twelve months, according
to the importance of the post.
I n Hungary, according to the terms of sections 57, 58, and 59
of the Press Act of 28 March 1914, the notice for the denunciation
of a contract concluded between the publisher of a periodical
and a member of the editorial staff is of one year for the responsible
editor, six months for the assistant editor and any member of the
staff of more than five years' standing. I n other cases the notice
is of three months. Certain serious circumstances, enumerated
in the Act, alone allow of immediate denunciation.
Without expressly mentioning changes in the editorial policy
of the paper, section 58 of the Act implicitly admits resignation
for reasons of conscience. I t declares t h a t : " a member of the
editorial staff may denounce the contract without notice . . .
if the publisher requires t h a t member to write an article whose
contents are tantamount to a punishable action or whose tendency
is contrary to the stipulations of the contract of employment . . .
1
I t must be added t h a t a publisher has the right to dismiss without notice
any journalist who acts in a manner contrary to the recognised editorial policy
of the paper. The right of a journalist dismissed in this way to formulate a claim
for damages rests intact.

— 85 —

the employee is entitled to demand his full salary for the entire
period of the notice of denunciation".
Italian journalists have obtained detailed regulation of the
question of termination of services. The collective agreement,
revised in 1927, lays down t h a t the breach of a contract not provoked
by a culpable act on the part of the journalist gives rise to the
following indemnities :
1. One year's pay to directors and assistant directors ;
2. Nine months' pay to editors and the titular Rome correspondents ;
3. Six months' pay to ordinary journalists, foreign correspondents, stenographers, reporters, regular outside contributors,
and artists.
I n addition to the fixed indemnities, all the preceding categories
receive an amount equal to one month's pay for every year or
fraction of a year of service (Article 16). The contract may
even be denounced at the request of the journalist if he has reached
the age of sixty years or has accomplished thirty-five years of
professional activity. Retiring allowances are then due to him.
If the editorial policy of the paper should be changed, the
collaborators who have to deal with political questions in the
paper are entitled to break their contract. The same right is
granted to all collaborators who are placed for any reason whatsoever
in an unfavourable situation incompatible with their professional
dignity ; the indemnity for dismissal must be paid to them.
I n the case of fundamental changes in the policy of the paper,
the following have the right to break their contracts : the editor,
the heads of departments, the managing director, the sub-editor,
the nominal head of the Rome correspondence office, and, generally
speaking, all journalists who have political functions or responsibilities.
I n Japan, apart from the general provisions of the Civil Code
relating to the hiring of services, there are no rules concerning the
annulment of contracts, other t h a n those required by the varying
customs of the various undertakings.
I n Latvia it is the rule in the profession to give three months'
notice of dismissal.

— 86 —
In Luxemburg, under the terms of the Act of 31 October 1919,
relating to the hiring of services of private employees, apart from
cases in which serious reasons permit immediate denunciation
with compensation for damages, the annulment of a contract
can only take place subject to notice of two, four or six months
according, to whether the employee has worked for less than five
years, for more than five and less than ten years, or more than
ten years.
No recent case of changes in the editorial policy of a paper
is known in Luxemburg. Thus, in the absence of any legal or
contractual provision envisaging this particular case, it is difficult
to say what form the settlement of a dispute due to reasons of
conscience would take. The Luxemburg journalists are of the
opinion that, in spite of the rarity of such cases in their country,
it would not be futile to make provisions in a collective contract for
the possibility of their occurrence, and, similarly, that it would not
be inappropriate to obtain, at least by contractual means, longer
notice of dismissal than the periods provided for in the Act relating
to private employees.
In the Netherlands individual contracts of employment are
subordinate to the general provisions of the Civil Code relating
to the hiring of services. Notice of denunciation is usually from
three to four months.
In Poland also it is the general principles of civil law which
govern the drafting of journalists' contracts, with the exception
of certain questions which, as has already been explained, are
treated in regional collective contracts, the most important of
which is that in force in Warsaw. Notice of dismissal is generally
of three months, unless serious reasons justify immediate denunciation.
In Portugal the cancellation of journalists' contracts is subject
only to the legal provisions concerning the hiring of services. If
the editorial policy of a paper is changed, no indemnity is due to
a journalist resigning for reasons of conscience.
In Rumania the established customs of journalism generally
require that the notice of denunciation of a contract shall be three

— 87 —

months. The collective agreement of the minority Press of Transylvania requires the following periods of notice :
1. For a responsible sub-editor, at least one year ;
2. For ordinary journalists of three years' standing, at least
nine months ;
3. For ordinary journalists, six months ;
4. For beginners, at least three months.
Under the terms of the collective agreement, any journalist
who is dismissed may demand to know the reasons for dismissal.
If they are not furnished to him within one week, the denunciation
of the contract is considered null and void.
When a newspaper requires the preparation of an article contrary to the tendencies specified in the contract, or when the
editorial policy of a paper is changed in an obvious manner, the
journalist may immediately withdraw his services while keeping
his rights to the salary due for the period of notice. An arbitral
committee settles doubtful cases. The committee may also
compel the publisher to whom presents or other favours may have
been given for the purpose of obtaining tendentious articles, or
the silence of the paper, to accept the resignation of the collaborator
who has suffered moral damage, and pay him the statutory indemnities.
If the newspaper is sold and the purchaser refuses to take
over the existing contracts, the former owner must pay the collaborators leaving their posts the indemnities provided for in case
of changes in the policy of the paper.
The Decree of 1926 which governs the status of journalists
in the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom declares that the written
contract with which every journalist is furnished on his entry into
employment must mention the notice for the denunciation of the
contract. This notice may not be less than three months. Every
journalist who has accomplished more than ten years' service
in the same editorial offices is entitled, in addition to the three
months' notice, to an indemnity of one month's pay for every
year's service after the tenth (section 4 and 5).
If the newspaper ceases to appear the publisher must pay the
journalist the salary due for the legal period of notice. In the
event of the bankruptcy of the paper, the claims of the journahsts
have priority over all others (section 7).

— 88 —
A journalist may cease work without notice and without
losing his right to the indemnity if the publisher compels him
to perform a task contrary to his personal or professional honour
(section 11).
It seems that the case of changes in the policy of a paper could
be brought within the scope of this clause.
In Spain, apart from the general provisions of the Civil Code
and of the labour legislation, there are no rules but those in use
in each undertaking.
Generally, one month's notice is given, but this custom is not
at all rigorously observed, and the same may be said of the substitution of this short notice, when it is suppressed, by a month's
salary.
Changes in the policy of a paper have only rarely occurred up
to the present, and the journalists have not raised the problem
publicly. If a journalist is led to resign for reasons of conscience,
he does not receive any kind of indemnity.
In Sweden, custom, consecrated by the model contract
recommended by Press associations, and by jurisprudence, fixes
notice of dismissal at three months.
Changes in policy are not envisaged in the model contract,
and there is no recent legal decision on the subject. Nevertheless,
it is held in Swedish journalistic circles that a collaborator resigning
for reasons of conscience would receive three months' pay as
compensation.
The agreement of 1923, which determines the conditions of
employment of Swiss journalists, declares that the parties concerned
must come to an understanding with regard to the length of notice
of denunciation, but adds that it must not be less than three
months (paragraph 5). Furthermore, the agreement of 1919
concerning independent journalists (outside contributors), who
receive very special attention in the Swiss Press, declares that the
unjustified and purely arbitrary replacement of an independent
journalist warrants a request for an indemnity which may amount
to the sum of the fees paid during the preceding year (paragraph 1,
Article 2).
In the United States, it is the general civil law which settles
questions of annulment of journalists' contracts.

— 89 —

In the U.S.S.S.,
it is the Labour Code, sections 46, 47, 48,
88, 89, and 90, which govern the conditions concerning the annulment of contracts of workmen and employees. The notice of
dismissal provided for in respect of all workers is of two weeks.
Finally, in Uruguay,
case of dismissal.

journalists receive no compensation in

Such is the state of the question in a number of countries.
If, in the numerous countries in which no legal or contractual
regulation exists, the solution of the various individual cases is
left to friendly arrangements, which vary according to circumstances, or to the decision of the courts, which are founded on the
general provisions of the Code concerning hiring of services and
on the rather vague customs established in the profession, it will
be observed that, in the countries in which journalists have obtained
collective regulation of their working conditions, they have taken
care to devote detailed provisions in their agreements to this
question, which they have very much at heart ; in fact practically
all the agreements deal with the problem.
There is one principle which is universally established in agreements and which, moreover, is consecrated by the general legislation concerning the hiring of services, and t h a t is the principle
t h a t notice shall be given by the party which desires to annul
the contract. The collective agreements are careful to provide
t h a t this notice shall be fairly long, and usually require t h a t it
shall be proportional to the length of service. Notice may relate
to a period of work actually done or may be represented by a sum
of money equal to the salary due for this period.
A second principle consecrated by several agreements is t h a t
of compensation intended, not t o replace notice, but t o be added
to it. The compensation is held to represent t h a t part of the
prosperity of the undertaking which can be attributed to the
activity of the journalist in question, and aims at counteracting
the damage caused to him by dismissal. Agreements which provide
for compensation also require it t o be proportional to the length
of service.
The particular case of termination of services constituted by
resignation for reasons of conscience is also the subject of detailed
provisions in the collective agreements. Sometimes the signatories
are content to assimilate this resignation to a dismissal, and to

— 90 —

guarantee to the journalist compelled to resign for reasons of
conscience the usual notice and indemnity. But on other occasions
the signatories attach importance to ensuring to the resigning
journalist conditions more favourable than those for a dismissed
journalist ; and, holding that he suffers more serious damage than
the latter, they grant him a larger indemnity.
While the national organisations of journalists have. been
dealing with this important question of the termination of services,
the International Federation of Journalists also has paid it very
special attention. At its first Congress in September 1926 it
included the question on its initial agenda, side by side with the
question of special jurisdictions. Two months later it sent a
long note to the affiliated organisations with a view to a common
campaign on this subject, and it followed up the note with a statement of the proposals accepted by the executive committee of
the Federation and intended to serve as a guide in the negotiations
to be undertaken. In this statement the Federation insisted
on the necessity of the conscience guarantee. It declared that :
"the conscience guarantee should be represented in case of voluntary
departure based on reasonable and sincere scruples of conscience
by an indemnity superior to the ordinary indemnity for dismissal".
The same principle was incorporated in the draft collective agreement which the International Federation of Journalists established
towards the end of 1927.
Finally, a new proof of the importance for journalists of the
question of the termination of services, and particularly of resignation for reasons of conscience, is found in the fact that when the
Advisory Committee of Intellectual Workers, created in connection
with the International Labour Office, examined the urgent problems which should be included in its first agenda, it thought that
it could not do better than choose, with a few other questions
concerning various categories of intellectual workers, that of the
conscience clause in journalism.
THE SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

Journalists very soon acquired the sentiment that their profession presents rather peculiar features, and that disputes which
may arise on the subject of their working conditions are of such a
special and delicate nature that recourse to the ordinary courts
would not be without inconvenience. 'The rights and interests
of journalists cannot be effectively guaranteed either by the ordinary

— 91 —
civil courts or by professional courts (tribunaux prud'hommaux)
constituted for other corporations" 1 , declares the executive
committee of the International Federation of Journalists. " I t
is in our best interests to be summoned before judges who know
our profession and who belong to i t 2 ". These principles, recognised
in 1910 by an International Press Congress held at Trieste, offered
substantial advantages in the eyes of journalists, whatever the
condition of their status. If their working conditions are regulated
neither by law nor by collective agreements, and only conform
to usages, they are of the opinion that members of the profession
would know better than anyone else how to interpret these usages
and to settle disputes in conformity with the conditions which
are peculiar to journalism. It is for this reason, even in countries
in which no precise regulation of journalistic activity exists, that
newspaper workers demand the institution of a special professional
jurisdiction, in the place of professional courts for commercial
or Government employees, before which they are usually summoned
and which they regard as not competent to deal with journalistic
cases. The very absence of a precise regulation of their working
conditions and the fact that, in case of dispute, a delicate appreciation of custom must be undertaken, seem to them to justify so
much the more the appointment of judges thoroughly acquainted
with the calling.
When the working conditions of journalists are governed by
law or by collective agreements, the advantage of special jurisdictions in the opinion of those in the profession, is evident, moreover,
and they have accordingly confirmed the principle of such jurisdictions when drafting and negotiating agreements, as will be seen
later. They hold that only persons in the profession itself are
capable of giving a precise interpretation of the clauses of a contract,
when the dispute involves complex considerations. Even when
this interpretation does not raise difficulties, and when the cases
to be settled are particularly simple, the system of special jurisdictions offers such advantages from the point of view of speedy
operation that it is to be preferred above all others.
Below will be found a summary showing the ways in which
the settlement of disputes which may arise between journalists
and their employers is effected in different countries.
1
Proposals accepted by t h e executive committee as conclusions t o t h e Report
on the Plan of Work of the International Federation of Journalists, 1926, p . 2.
2
Note addressed t o national organisations, Oct. 1926, p . 7.

— 92 —

In Australia the collective agreements obtained by the journalists provide for two kinds of institutions. One kind, known as
advisory committees, and whose task is to examine disputes
arising between publishers and journalists with regard to questions
which are not dealt with in the contracts, or relative to the interpretation of contracts, have only a limited power. Their decisions,
regarded as simple opinions, have no executive force. The other
kind of institution is represented by the Federal Council, which
is entrusted with the prevention and settlement of disputes.
The advisory committees are constituted on a joint basis in
each State of the Commonwealth.
The Federal Council, also constituted on a joint basis, meets
in the places determined upon by the two parties. It has full
powers to judge disputes which may arise respecting the interpretation of collective agreements, and even disputes arising
between the journalists' association and newspaper owners concerning subjects not dealt with in the collective contract.
The settlement of labour disputes in Austrian journalism
may be arrived at in two ways. When the dispute arises from
the application of the collective agreement, it is brought before
an arbitral committee constituted in conformity with Article 30
of the agreement. It is composed of four arbitrators, of whom
two are chosen by the newspaper concerned, and two by the
Organisation of the Viennese Press, and a president elected by the
four arbitrators. The decisions of the Commission are without
appeal.
When the dispute arises out of questions which do not directly
concern the application of the agreement, it may, if the plaintiff
does not prefer the arbitration procedure, be brought before the
competent ordinary court, that is to say, in the case in point,
before the professional court composed of an ordinary judge assisted
by a representative of the journalists and by a representative of
the publishers. The parties may appeal from these courts to a
national court composed in the same way.
Disputes which may arise in Belgium in regard to labour
questions are submitted to the jurisdiction of professional courts
(tribunaux prud'hommaux) as far as salaries below 6,000 francs
are concerned, and to the commercial courts in the case of salaries
above this amount.

— 93 —

In Brazil labour disputes which, as a matter of fact, the Press
associations endeavour to settle by friendly intervention, are
within the competence of the ordinary civil courts.
In Bulgaria also, such disputes, which are fairly rare, are
settled by the ordinary courts, in virtue of the general legislation
on obligations, or simply by the friendly intervention of the Society
of Journalists.
Disputes which may arise in Czechoslovakia are within the
competence of the ordinary courts. The journalists' organisations intervene whenever they can, to secure a friendly settlement
of disputes. The collective agreement of the German Press
instituted an arbitration court. The collective agreement of t h e
Prager Presse also provides for an arbitration court composed of
a representative of the German Press Association, a representative
of the Czechoslovak Syndicate, and two representatives of the
employers. These four members elect a fifth to act as president.
Disputes arising in France between directors and journalists
are normally settled by legal proceedings before the civil or the
commercial courts.
The Association of Journalists, for its- part, intervenes as
much as possible in these disputes ; in each important case it
suggests the arbitral system before recourse to courts, and directors
accept this speedy and equitable method more and more frequently.
A recent case of arbitration of this kind has already been described 1 .
This practice, which tends to become commoner, remains,
however, a simple usage which is consecrated in no formal agreement, but the Association of Journalists attaches importance
to including the question of special jurisdictions in the collective
contract which it desires to discuss with directors.
I t has been shown t h a t in Germany the decision of June 1926
of the National Labour Administration, which rendered obligatory
on the whole country the clauses of the agreements concluded
between the Press associations in January of the same year,
excluded from the declaration establishing compulsion the provisions concerning arbitration institutions. Journalists who do
not belong to the contracting organisations are therefore not
1

Cf. "Termination of Services", p . 82.

— 94 —
obliged to apply to the special courts established by these organisations, and may have recourse to the ordinary courts. The exclusion of the arbitration clauses from the declaration establishing
compulsion also leaves in existence the arbitration organs created
by other associations. Such is the case with the Union of the
Labour Press, which organised more than twenty years ago an
optional arbitration court which is still in existence.
The arbitration institution created by the Newspaper Industry
Employers' Association and the National Association of the
German Press is based on Articles IV and VI of the agreement on
employment, on Article 17 of the agreement on normal service of
January 1926, which lays down the general principles, and on the
rules relating to arbitration courts, which form the subject of a
special agreement, also of January 1926.
The institution consists of fourteen regional courts constituted
in the principal towns of the country, and a high court whose seat
is at Berlin, all of which are organised in the spirit of Part X of
the Code of Civil Procedure, and deliver judgment independently
of the ordinary judicial channels.
The regional courts are composed of four judges — each of the
contracting associations appointing two — and a president
appointed for two years by the regional Commission of Collaboration 1, or by a similar organisation on which the two contracting
parties are represented.
The high court is composed of six judges — each of the contracting associations appointing three — and a president appointed
for two years by the National Commission of Collaboration 1.
The regulations established by the two associations describe
in great detail the procedure to be followed by cases submitted
to the regional courts, which function as lower courts, and to the
high court, which sits as a court of appeal.
All disputes relating to conditions of service which may arise
between the publishers, on the one side, and the editorial staffs
and permanent collaborators, on the other, are submitted, to the
exclusion of the ordinary channels, to the special courts thus
instituted.
In addition to the ordinary courts to which, in Great Britain,
disputes arising on the subject of the execution of contracts are
1

p. 36.

For the Commissions of Collaboration, cf. "Organisation of the Profession",

— 95 —

submitted, the collective agreements provide for the creation of
special organs charged with the settlement of disputes. For
instance the agreement respecting rates of payment, concluded in
March 1921 between the Newspaper Society and the National
Union of Journalists, established a joint committee composed of
five representatives of each of the contracting parties, to decide
all cases that previous negotiations between the parties concerned
have not been able to settle.
In Hungary, the collective agreement of 1919, which was
annulled when the Dictatorship of the Proletariat fell, contained
a clause instituting a joint arbitral committee.
At the present time disputes which arise concerning working
conditions are submitted to the ordinary professional courts. A
very few individual written contracts provide for arbitration
procedure in case of dispute.
Italian journalists long ago obtained the special courts which
the members of the profession in many countries desire. The
collective agreement established by the former Federation of the
Press and revived by the Fascist Syndicate of Journalists, with
some modifications, stipulates that every dispute which may arise
from the interpretation of the contract shall be settled by professional courts (Collegi Probivirali) whose rules of procedure are
annexed to the agreement (Article 27).
Under the terms of these rules a professional court is established
at the seat of ten regional syndicates (13 in the old contract) and
their jurisdiction extends to all the journalists inscribed in the
syndicates and in the regional album of journalists. A national
court (Collegio Probivirale Federale) at Rome serves as a court
of appeal. The regional courts are composed of publishers and
journalists, or their representatives, in equal numbers. They
may not be composed of more than six members or less than four
plus two substitutes.
The national court is composed in the same way ; it may not
have more than eight members or less than six plus two substitutes.
The members are appointed for two years, the presidents for one
year.
The latter are nominated by the members of the courts, who
come to an agreement for this purpose. If it is impossible to
realise an agreement, they are nominated, in the case of the national
court, by the president of the court of appeal (Corle di Cassazione),

— 96 —

and, in the case of the regional courts, by the presidents of the
civil courts of the various regions.
The decisions of the regional professional courts may form the
subject of an appeal to the national court when the petition relates
to a sum of more t h a n 75,000 lire, when the regional court concerned
has not given a unanimous decision on a question of principle
relating to the interpretation of a contract, or simply when the
two parties are in agreement to appeal. I n all other cases decisions
are final and without appeal, and may be given executive force
in conformity with the provisions of section 24 of the Code of Civil
Procedure.
The working expenses of the courts (Collegi Probivirali) are
met in equal parts by the two contracting organisations. The
professional courts enjoy great prestige in Italian journalism.
Particular care is devoted to the choice of their members ; they are
often persons of the highest importance (the president of the
national court is at the present time the Attorney-General of the
Court of Appeal at Rome).
I n Japan there are no special courts for the settlement of
disputes in journalism.
The same remark applies to Latvia.
I n Luxemburg disputes between directors and journalists are
rare. When they do occur, it is the Act of 31 October 1919 relating
to private employees which comes into play. Section 26 of this
law instituted in each canton an arbitral tribunal composed of a
justice of the peace and two assessors one of whom is chosen by
the employers and the other by the employees. The case may
be carried in appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice.
In the Netherlands disputes are simply submitted to a justice
of the peace.
Disputes arising in Poland concerning questions of employment
are brought before the ordinary courts or before the Ministry
of Labour and Social Assistance (this is the procedure provided
for by law but not used in journalism) or, finally, before arbitral
commissions specified in the collective agreements. The Association of Journalists intervenes whenever it can, to settle disputes
in a friendly way.

— 97 —

I n Rumania disputes which the Press associations cannot
settle in a friendly way are brought before the ordinary courts.
The collective agreement of the minority Press of Transylvania,
on the other hand, institutes an arbitral committee of three members entrusted with the settlement of disputes between journalists
and publishers.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom the Decree of 25 September
1926 on journalists lays down t h a t "all litigation referring to
working conditions must be submitted to a special court. This
court is a permanent institution created in all important towns
where several newspapers appear, and its continuity is guaranteed
by the president, nominated for three years from among the judges
of the town by the Ministry of Justice. The other judges, not
more than four in number, shall be chosen for each case, two by
the journalists and two by the publishers" (section 13). The
decisions of the court have immediate effect and are without
appeal.
I n Spain the joint Press committees x created in J a n u a r y
1927 in virtue of the legislative Decree of 26 November 1926
on the corporative organisation of the nation, have, among other
tasks, t h a t of settling disputes which may arise in connection with
the working conditions of journalists. The Press associations,
on their side, endeavour to settle disputes in a friendly manner:
Apart from recourse to the ordinary courts, the agreement
established in Sweden by the Association of Journalists provides
t h a t disputes shall be brought either before the Press Commission
or before an arbitral council.
Swiss journalists may apply in case of disputes either to the
ordinary courts or to the arbitral court instituted by the agreements of 1919 relating to permanent journalists and to independent
journalists.
This court is composed of four judges and four substitutes
appointed for three years on a joint basis by the two contracting
associations, and a president elected by the judges. The execution
of the arbitral decision is guaranteed by the two organisations.
1

Cf. t The Status of the Journalist •, p. 73.
7

— 98 —
In the United States disputes arising in journalism are within
the competence of the ordinary civil courts.
I n the U. S. S. R. the Labour Code (sections 168-174) provides
for a series of professional courts from the joint commission of the
undertaking 1 , to the arbitration court which decides without
appeal. . With the exception of the joint commission of the undertaking, these various jurisdictions do not specially concern journalists.
I t will be apparent from the foregoing resume t h a t journalists,
as we pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, display a very
marked tendency to avoid recourse to the ordinary courts for the
settlement of their professional disputes. When they have not
been able to obtain a special jurisdiction, their organisations
endeavour to settle conflicts in a friendly way in conformity with
the usages of the profession, and thus t r y to spare the person
concerned the expenses, which are often considerable, and the
delays of the ordinary civil procedure. Wherever the establishment of a collective regime has furnished them with an opportunity,
they have not failed to institute arbitral commissions or special
professional courts (tribunaux prud'hommaux)
either permanent
or constituted for each particular case. These courts are generally
established on a joint basis. Their members, nominated in equal
numbers by the journalists and the employers, usually elect a
president whom the contracts are careful to require to be independent, and frequently a lawyer by profession. According to
the system instituted by the Serb-Croat-Slovene Decree, it is the
president, nominated by the Minister of Justice, who ensures the
continuity of the court which in other respects is constituted
afresh on the occasion of each dispute.
The journalists hold strongly t o this system of arbitration
and special jurisdictions, which appears to give excellent results
in the countries in which it has been instituted. They are endeavouring to get it adopted everywhere, and the International
Federation of Journalists regards it as one of those problems
whose solution would give an indispensable minimum of guarantee
to all concerned. The Federation has applied itself since its
creation to the study of the question and has even placed it,
1
The control of the decisions of the joint commissions is a matter for the
Labour Commissariat.

— 99 —
together with the question of the termination of services with
which, moreover, it is closely bound up, on its agenda for immediate
action. A little after its first Congress a t the end of 1926, it
despatched proposals and a note on this question to the affiliated
national organisations, and since then it has not ceased t o devote
attention to it. I t would seem t h a t the day is not far off when
the journalists of all the countries in which journalism constitutes
a well-defined profession will obtain the special jurisdictions which
they are demanding, and to which, moreover, the employers
themselves seem to hold firmly in the countries in which they
are instituted.

IV
W O R K I N G CONDITIONS
H O U R S OP W O R K

When an examination is made of working conditions in any
profession whatsoever, one of the first questions which arises is t h a t
of hours of work. How much time should the worker devote to his
task? How much may he reserve for his leisure and his rest? Is
there a danger of overwork in the profession which he practises?
Do work, leisure, and rest harmonise in such a way as to ensure the
individual's physical and intellectual development, the satisfaction
of his artistic tastes, and his need for recreation a n d recuperation?
Or does the calling dangerously encroach on the other requirements
of life?
These questions, which it is possible t o answer in the case of
manual workers because the working process is a visible thing,
whose beginning, end, and intensity, can be easily verified, may
perhaps appear vain when intellectual workers are concerned, and
this for many reasons.
The main reason (which obviates the need of giving others —
indeed there will be no room to do so in this survey) is t h a t intellectual work, by reason of its indefinite nature, and, as it were, its
dispersion, does not lend itself to precise measurement. Intellectual activity is at every moment bound up with the life of an individual to such an extent, and professional pre-occupations have
such a tendency to reappear at every instant of intellectual activity,
t h a t it is impossible to say precisely at what moment an intellectual
worker begins to produce what his profession requires of him and
at what moment he stops.
When does a political or dramatic writer — to take an example
from the profession under consideration — begin, and when does he
finish work? At what moment can we catch him in the full swing
of professional activity? Is it at the editorial offices of the paper,
to which he will go, perhaps, to write or to dictate his article,
or simply to get into touch with his colleagues and to seek the

— 101 —
latest news t Is it a t the theatre, at a poUtical meeting, or at home
reading a critical work or an historical study, or yet again during
his meal or during conversation with friends, when an idea flashes
through his mind, bringing other ideas in its train and allowing
him to build up, there and then, the entire framework of his article?
Is he working, or is he resting, when he travels, or when he reads ?
Could he himself differentiate exactly between the moments devoted
to his professional work and those reserved to undisturbed
recreation 1
We do not wish to depict the intellectual worker as a person
whose untamed spirit, rebelling against all discipline, works in
its own way, launches out unexpectedly and respects neither time
nor place. To be sure, the intellectual worker has his moments of
deliberate concentration, and he has his desk, where the most tangible part of his task is performed. B u t surrounding these
moments of intense and disciplined work, which vary with the
individual, there is an ill-defined zone in which it cannot be said
t h a t he has finished with his professional work b u t in which, on
the other hand, purely professional activity cannot be recognised
with certainty.
To this difficulty of distinguishing the periods of purely professional activity in the life of an intellectual worker from those which
may be counted as unalloyed leisure is added in the case of certain
professions, t h a t of ascertaining the sum of the periods of professional activity accomplished in different places. And this is,
indeed, the situation in a great part of journalism.
Supposing t h a t it has been possible to give an exact definition
of journalistic work, and to decide, leaving out of account all
periods of productiveness mingled with periods of leisure, whether
the time spent by a journalist in seeing a play with a view to
furnishing an account of it, the time which another spends in the
train on the way to a neighbouring town to be present at some
event there, or the time which yet another devotes to the reading of
works necessary for the preparation of his article, must be regarded
as effective d u t y ; supposing, in brief, t h a t a complete definition of
journalistic work has been arrived at, it would still be necessary to
count all the moments of this activity in order to reconstitute the
journalist's working day.
This, however, is an impossible task. The time t h a t each
journalist devotes to his work cannot be accounted for, as conditions vary with the post and with the person, and his work is
generally done partly in the editorial offices, partly outside (in

— 102 —
the town, at courts, etc.) and partly at home. We are compelled
to confine the computation of hours to the only controllable
periods with clearly drawn limits — those which the journalist
spends in the offices of the paper. I t is these hours which will
be taken as the hours of work of the journalist in the following
brief analysis.
The foregoing remarks show how slight is the relation existing
between these hours of writing and the real professional activity
of the journalist, full knowledge of which we cannot hope to have.
All t h a t can be done is to examine how the question of hours of
presence in the editorial offices has been settled in various countries,
bearing well in mind t h a t these hours give us no indication of
the aggregate of the journalist's labours.
I n these circumstances it may well be asked what is the use
of an investigation of this kind, and what conclusions can be
reached on the basis of fragmentary and even misleading data.
In our opinion a glance over the hours of work of the journalist,
or to be more exact, over his hours of presence in the offices of
the paper, is fully justified. I t is of importance to know whether
there is a question of hours of work in journalism, whether it
constitutes a problem with which the members of the profession
have been dealing, or, on the contrary, whether it is a question
entirely without significance, which journalists have never thought
of subjecting to regulation.
I t is very difficult, for countries in which neither legislation
nor collective agreement exists, to furnish precise information
on the hours of work of journalists. I t is no secret t h a t more
often t h a n not, even in the editorial offices, no record is kept of
hours of presence, and according to circumstances the same journalist may have very short working days or very long ones. There
are, however, established customs which allow some general data
to be furnished. Below will be seen how customs, and sometimes
collective agreements, and occasionally legislation, have treated
hours of work in various countries.
What has just been said with regard to hours of work must,
however, be borne in mind, and if the journalist's working day
as expressed by the figures given here sometimes seems rather
short, it must not be forgotten that it only represents for most
grades (with the exception of sub-editors and a few grades whose
continued presence is a necessity for the paper) a part of the time
which they devote to their profession. Finally, it must be recalled
t h a t these hours are for the most part hours of the night.

— 103 —
The Australian journalists, like their colleagues in Great
Britain, attached importance to having the question of hours of
work incorporated in their collective agreement. B u t no country
possesses such minute regulations on the subject as Australia.
Three chapters are allotted to it in the agreement of January
1924, which is still in force.
The agreement makes a clear distinction between day work
and night work, and provides different weekly figures for each.
The hours of day work must not exceed forty-six in the week
for any journalist. All overtime work must be deducted from
the hours of work of one of the two following weeks, or paid at
a special rate. Work begins in an evening paper a t 9.45 a.m. at
the latest, and in a morning paper at 5.30 p.m. a t the earliest
and 6.30 p.m. a t the latest. An attendance register in a form
approved by the secretary of the Federal Arbitration Court is
kept in the editorial offices and every journalist records his arrival
and departure therein. Entries t h a t are not contested within
twenty-four hours are considered as valid. The attendance register
is open to control by any member of the staff, by the general
secretary of the Association of Journalists and by any member
of the Association authorised by the secretary of t h e Court of
Arbitration.
The time between arrival and departure is taken as work time,
excluding the time taken for meals. The employer has the faculty
of interrupting the work, but the contract surrounds this practice
with various safeguards. The period of interruption may not
be less t h a n three hours (in order to prevent the employer from
interrupting work at every instant and to ensure t h a t the periods
of interruption are not too short to be made use of by the person
concerned). Furthermore, the journalist must be warned at
least one hour in advance. Finally, these interruptions may only
take effect at certain times in the day (Article 3, § 2).
In Austria the Act of 11 February 1920 relating to the status
of journalists contains no provision concerning hours of work.
On the other hand, the collective agreement in force in the
Viennese Press has several Articles on the subject. I t stipulates
t h a t " the regular hours of work, whose maximum and allocation
must be fixed in accordance with the usual practices of the paper
and its real needs, must not exceed forty-two in the week for
newspapers appearing twice in the day and for newspapers appear-

— 104 —
ing once in the morning, and thirty-six hours for midday and
evening papers appearing only once a day " (Article 16).
The hours of work must be indicated in the individual contracts.
All work done outside the agreed hours is regarded as overtime
work and must be paid at a special rate. The authors of the
agreement were aware of the fact t h a t the work of the journalist,
by its very nature, eludes any strict time limitation. Nevertheless, they felt obliged to deal with this question in the agreement
to remedy abuses in certain undertakings which did not scruple
to keep the journalists ten and twelve hours and even more at
the writing desk.
I n Belgium the hours of work are not subject to regulations.
They vary greatly according to the paper and the job, but the
commonest working day seems to be of six hours.
I n Brazil there are no regulations governing hours of work.
In morning papers the writers and reporters go to the editorial
offices at 2 p.m. and at 6 p.m. to receive instructions concerning
their work. From 2 p.m. till about 8 p.m. shifts of day writers
prepare the first news. At 9 o'clock the night writers arrive,
and they finish their work at about 1 a.m. Generally speaking
the daily hours of work do not exceed six.
The Bulgarian journalists also are not governed by any regulations concerning hours of work. In practice the hours hardly
ever exceed five or six in the day.
Czechoslovak journalists come within the scope of the Act of
1918 relating to hours of work. Their normal day is therefore of
eight hours, but more often than not circumstances do not require
such a long period of presence in the editorial offices, and the
hours of work are shorter than those fixed by the law.
The collective agreement of the Prager Presse lays down t h a t
they may not exceed seven in the day, which may be divided
into not more than two parts.
I n France there is no regulation of the hours of work of
journalists and they are subject to urdimited variations. Many
papers do not even calculate the number of the hours of presence
or of effective work.

— 105 —
I n Germany there is at present only one example of regulations
governing the hours of work in the profession of journahsm, and
t h a t is furnished by the Union of the Labour Press which, in its
agreement concluded more than twenty years ago with the newspapers of the Social-Democratic Party, fixed the daily hours a t
the editorial offices a t a maximum of six.
The journalists who are not included in this agreement are
endeavouring to extend the advantages of the eight-hour day to
their profession, but the nature of their work, the methods of
editorial offices, and the psychological habits of all concerned
constitute a serious obstacle to these efforts.
I n Great Britain the duration of work is not governed by
law. Only the collective agreements which apply to the big
London papers and to the news agencies have fixed its extent.
They provide for a working week of five and a half days, each
of eight hours, t h a t is, a total of forty-four hours including meal
times, for day writers and photographic operators. Generally
speaking, the hours of work of reporters must not exceed fortyfour in the week unless they are obliged to work out of town.
Hungarian journalists do not benefit from any regulations
concerning hours of work. They do not think t h a t hours can
be subject to rigid prescriptions, and, moreover, do not complain
of their own hours of work.
I n Italy the journalists have not thought it necessary to seek
explicit regulations concerning hours of work. They do not hold
t h a t such regulation would be possible in a profession in which
the time devoted to work is spent in differing surroundings and
varies not only with the place and with the undertaking, b u t
also with the individual and the kind of work entrusted to him.
Hence the collective agreement in force merely declares t h a t the
management of the paper shall establish a time-table if it thinks
it necessary.
Neither Japan nor Latvia has any regulations concerning
hours of work in journalism. I t is impossible even to furnish
information concerning the working day, which varies considerably.
The Luxemburg journalists are subject to the Act of 31 October
1919 regulating the hours of work of employees. I n virtue of

— 106 —
section 6 of this Act, the normal working day is of eight hours.
Overtime work is in principle paid a t a higher rate than normal
work. As a great part of the work is done a t home, it is rarely
t h a t a journalist spends the legal eight hours at the editorial
offices. In practice the hours of presence hardly ever exceed six.
The hours of work are not governed by regulations in the
Netherlands, and no general custom has been established in this
domain.
There are no regulations in Poland. I t is true, however, t h a t
some of the clauses of the Bill concerning journalists which was
placed before the Diet deal with hours of work, and under the
terms of this Bill individual or collective agreements governing
the relations between the publisher and the journalist must specify
the number of hours of work t h a t the journalist is obliged t o
furnish. The normal duration of work, according to the draft, is
six hours.
The collective agreement a t present in force in Warsaw does
not mention the point.
I n Portugal and Rumania there is no regulation of hours of
work in journalism, and they vary greatly according to the post
and to circumstances.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom the Decree of 25 September
1926, which determines the status of journalists, has nothing to
say with regard to hours of work.
The hours of work of journalists are not governed by regulations
in Spain, and they vary considerably. In some cases journalists
are only present a t the editorial offices two or three hours a day,
and the rest of their work is done at home, but in others, their
hours of presence exceed eight in the day. They usually work
from 6 t o 9 p.m. and from 10.30 p.m. to 2 or 3 a.m. in the editorial
offices of papers appearing in the morning ; and from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. and from 2 to 7 p.m. in the offices of the evening papers.
I n Sweden, in the absence of legal restriction of hours of work,
the model contract adopted by the Association of Publishers
and the Association of Journalists contains a clause by which
the hours are fixed at seven or eight in the day in normal times.
Little work is done at home.

— 107 —
The Swiss journalists do not appear to attach importance
to fixed hours of work. At all events, the agreement concluded
in 1923 by their association and the Association of Newspaper
Publishers specifies t h a t " presence a t the editorial offices during
strictly prescribed hours cannot be requested unless it is required
in the interest of the paper " (Article 11, § 1). I t adds : " When
a Press writer is compelled t o be present in editorial offices during
prescribed hours, he is entitled to an indemnity for the work done
for the paper out of office hours " (Article 11, § 3). These provisions perhaps reveal a tendency among Swiss journalists to resist
the industrialisation of newspapers and to preserve a certain
amount of liberty in the employment of their time.
I n the United States the working day, which does not form
the subject of any regulations, varies from six to ten hours according to the kind of paper and other circumstances.
The Labour Code of the U.S.S.R. (sections 94 and 95) establishes
an eight-hour day for all salaried workers. I n addition, an Order
of the Labour Commissariat dated 11 March 1925 contains certain
precise stipulations with regard to journalists.
I n virtue of this Order, journalists working for daily or weekly
papers enjoy the eight-hour day. The hours of work are six for
journalists belonging to magazines, or to official or semi-official
papers not for public sale.
I t does not seem t h a t these measures are strictly carried out
with regard to daily and weekly papers. At least, this is what
a trade union author x gives one to understand when he writes :
" The organisation of work is still far from perfection in our editorial
offices. The hours of work can only be regulated with difficulty.
I n the present conditions dominating the existence of the periodical
Press (daily and weekly papers) the regulation of work in editorial
offices is only a pleasant dream. I n fact, not only is the work
of this class of employees not subject to regulation, but, what
is more, it is often not possible to calculate its exact duration" The author thinks t h a t the eight-hour day " is not enforceable
a t the present time ".
On the other hand, the six-hour day is, as a rule, satisfactorily
observed in magazines not appearing more than once a month.
1

V. DEMBO : Troudovie prava rabotnikov litteratury.

Moscow, 1926.

— 108 —
The foregoing remarks will have made it clear that, in spite
of the difficulties which may be encountered in attempting to
measure the duration of journalistic work and to enclose it within
rigid limits, many collective agreements contain detailed clauses
on this point. Their object was to prevent abuses threatened
by the tendency of certain papers to require their staffs to be
present for some specified length of time in the editorial offices,
a tendency which the evolution of the modern Press seems to
accentuate. As the activity of the journalist is seldom restricted
to the work done in the editorial offices, and the hours spent
there are generally not the only ones which he devotes to his
profession, it was natural enough for measures to be taken to
ensure t h a t the regular hours of work in the office or on reporting
duty did not exceed certain limits.
The draft agreement which the International Federation of
Journalists drew up in March 1927 included the principle of a
detailed regulation of hours of work.

NIGHT WORK

Many newspapers, perhaps the majority, appear in the morning,
which means t h a t their staffs must work mainly at night. I n
numerous editorial offices the bulk of the work is done by artificial
light. The journalists who belong to these papers are thus exposed
to all the drawbacks of night work : danger to health, disturbance
of family life, etc. When they are employed on papers which
appear in several editions, some in the morning and others in the
evening, there is a temptation to lay day and night tasks upon
them which are apt to be beyond their strength, unless the undertaking is large enough to be able to organise some kind of rotation
as do the big news agencies which work without interruption
night and day, and resort to the system of three shifts of eight
hours each.
I t is not at all surprising t h a t attempts should have been
made to regulate the duration and the methods of night work
as day work has been regulated. There are, however, numerous
countries in which there are no regulations on the subject and
where everything is left to custom and to individual arrangements.
Below will be found a brief statement of the situation in various
countries.

— 109 —
The Australian collective agreement contains a clause relating
to night work. By the terms of this clause, the working week
must not exceed forty hours spread over five nights for journalists
ordinarily employed on night work. These journalists must be
freed from all work from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The maximum of
forty hours does not apply to the Sunday edition of daily evening
papers. The maximum in this case is forty-six hours (Article 36).
The agreement defines night work as work the greater part
of which must be done between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The day on which a journalist takes the weekly half holiday
granted by the agreement, the four hours' work which he can be
called upon to furnish must be done in the morning or the afternoon,
unless the half-holiday immediately precedes or follows the full
day's holiday which is also granted ; in this case only, the four
hours may be worked at night between 7 p.m. and midnight
(Articles 3c and 9).
The Austrian journalists have obtained certain regulations
governing night work in their collective agreement a t present in
force. These regulations aim at preventing the employment of
the same journalists on day and night work. They lay down
t h a t collaborators who are regularly employed on night work
and whose services are thus prolonged beyond 12.30 a.m. must
not be. employed on the following evening before the ordinary
hours of work, except on Mondays and days which follow the rest
days of the undertaking.
Only the members of the night editorial staff who do not begin
work before 10.30 p.m. are excluded from this provision. They
may not be employed on any work before 12.30 p.m., again excepting Mondays and days which follow the rest days of the undertaking
(Article 16, § 4).
If very important events have compelled journalists to work
beyond the agreed times on several days in one week, they must
l>e given compensation in the form of rest in proportion to the
additional time worked (Article 16, § 5).
Night work is not governed by regulations in Belgium,
Bulgaria, and Canada.

Brazil,

In Czechoslovakia, there are no legal provisions applicable
to the night work of journalists. This work, which is performed
more or less according to the needs of various papers, is passed

— 110 —
over in silence in the collective agreement as far as its duration
is concerned. On the other hand, the agreements generally
provide, as does t h a t of the Prager Presse, an additional holiday
of one week for journalists on the night staff.
There are no regulations in France. Night work is current
practice. The night journalistic staff generally work from 6 p.m.
to 2 a.m. with a break of an hour and a half or two hours for
dinner. I n addition, there is always someone present up to
4 a.m.
I n Germany, night work is not covered by any regulations in
the national collective agreement, which deals neither with its
duration nor with rates of payment. Only the regional agreements
respecting rates of payment mention night work, and then it is
for the purpose of fixing its remuneration, which is higher than
t h a t for day work, generally b y 50 per cent.
I n Great Britain, the night work of journalists, which is not
subject to any legal restriction, is very common. Custom requires
t h a t the hours of work for the night staff shall be about forty in
the week. The collective agreement concluded in March 1921 by
the Newspaper Proprietors' Association and the National Union
of Journalists, and which relates to the big London papers, fixes
the weekly hours of work for the night staff a t five and a half
nights of seven hours each, including time taken for meals.
Hungary and India have no regulations concerning night
work in journalism, and conditions in these countries are too
varied to be described.
I n Italy, night work, which is subject to no regulations with
regard to its duration, is paid at a higher rate than day work.
I n Japan and Latvia, there is a complete absence of regulations.
I n Luxemburg, night work, without being prohibited, is unknown
in journalism, as the newspapers nearly all appear between 11 a.m.
and 12.30 p.m. The two papers appearing in the evening on the
days when the Chamber of Deputies is sitting, leave the press
at 6.30 p.m. Only one paper has a morning edition, but printing

— Ill —
finishes at 9 p.m. so t h a t nothing but the distribution is done
in the morning.
I n the Netherlands there are no regulations.
I n Poland there are no legal regulations, but the Bill at present
in preparation- provides t h a t journalists employed after midnight
shall be free until the following evening. The collective agreement concluded by the Association of Warsaw Journalists only
mentions night work for the purpose of fixing its remuneration,
which is higher than t h a t for day work. According to the terms
of this agreement, only work done after 11 p.m. is considered
as night work.
I n Portugal, night work, which is fairly common, is not the
subject of any regulations.
The night work of Rumanian journalists is also subject to no
regulation. The collective agreement of the minority Press of
Transylvania is silent on this point.
In the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom, there are no regulations.
The Decree of September 1926 contains no provisions relating
to night work.
No difference is made
work. Both are paid a t
hand, the night work of
work (five pesetas a week

in Spain between night work and day
one rate in journalism. On the other
printers is paid a little more t h a n day
on an average).

I n Sweden, the model contract adopted by the Press Federation and the Society of Publishers contains no clauses on night
work, which is executed in the following way :
On the morning papers the work of a journalist is generally
divided into two parts, one part being accomplished in the day
time (from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., for example), and the other a t
night time (from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., for example). I n most of
these papers, it is usual to work only five nights a week. There are
always one or two journalists who do nothing but night work
(from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., for example). According to the terms
of the standard contract, the salary of journalists attached t o
a morning paper is higher than t h a t of the staff of other papers.

— 112 —
Switzerland possesses no regulations on night work in journalism.
I n the United States, a great deal of editorial work is done at
night. There are no regulations on the subject.
I n the U.S.S.B., there are no provisions governing the night
work of journalists. I n the majority of cases such work is paid
a t rates 50 per cent, higher t h a n the day rates.
From this cursory examination, it will be seen that, though
in many countries night work is in no way distinguished from
day work, and journalists are at the mercy in this respect to a
certain arbitrariness moderated here and there by custom, in
other countries the Press organisations have endeavoured to
secure t h a t night work shall be treated differently from day work.
Three methods have been employed for this purpose : the establishment of shorter periods than for day work ; higher payment ;
the granting of special rest time to members of the staff employed
on night work.
These three methods tend to assure the night staff of compensation for work entailing obvious disadvantages and to encourage
the employers to reduce night work to a minimum.
Some agreements, in addition, endeavour t o secure adequate
daily rest time by preventing, for example, a journalist who has
worked far into the night from being required to restart work early
in the morning.
The draft collective agreement published by the International
Federation of Journalists recommended special regulations for
night work with regard to both remuneration and duration.

WEEKLY REST

Weekly rest, which has taken firm root, and which has been
sanctioned by law in most professions, is still an open question in
journalism in several countries. There was a time when the modern
conception of the daily newspaper seemed to make journalism a
profession apart, to which established usages in the matter of
rest could not be applied. Journalists have had to fight a long
time to get the necessity of a weekly rest day admitted. I n some
countries they have not yet succeeded, and, although usages
may have been established here and there in this respect, they

— 113 —
are not sanctioned and generalised by any collective agreement
or by any law. In other countries, it is only very recently t h a t
journalists have secured the extension to their profession of the
protection which legislation has long accorded to other callings. I t
must, moreover, be added t h a t even in countries where this legal
protection exists there is no certainty t h a t it is fully efficacious.
Control is difficult. I t is not without trouble t h a t the daily papers
which do not possess a large staff organise a system of shifts t h a t
allows a part of this staff to take its days of rest. Specialisation,
which is the rule in the modern Press, increases these difficulties
still more, and hardly anywhere but in the countries in which
custom or law prohibit the publication of papers one day a week
can one be sure t h a t the weekly rest is observed in all editorial
offices.
The situation in the different countries with regard to weekly
rest is the following :
Australian journalists have had interesting clauses incorporated
in their collective agreement on the subject of weekly rest. The
agreement lays down the general rule t h a t every journalist must
enjoy one and a half days' liberty a week. The half-day must not
begin later t h a n 1 p.m. (Chapter 3, Article a, § 2).
For journalists on the night staff the rest time amounts to two
nights a week (ibid., Article b).
The day on which a journalist takes his half-day off, he may not
be required to furnish more than four hours' work.
Instead of the weekly half-holiday a journalist may be granted
an entire day every fortnight (ibid., Article c, § 9).
Finally, if the weekly holiday of a day and a half cannot be given
to a journalist, it must be paid at a rate 50 per cent, higher than
the ordinary rate (ibid., § 10).
In Austria, weekly rest forms the subject of special provisions
of the collective agreement of the Viennese Press. Article 16 lays
down t h a t Sunday work shall be avoided as far as possible.
All work done on Sunday or on days when the undertaking is
closed must receive special payment. Exceptions are made for
accounts of theatrical performances, sporting and artistic events,
etc., which take place on Sunday.
The general Act on weekly rest, which establishes the five and
a half day week, requires all the undertakings in the country to
cease work a t 2 p.m. on Saturday. As this system was not applic8

— 114 —
able to newspapers which have an edition appearing early on
Sunday morning, a stipulation has been made in the collective
contract, with the consent of the Government, t h a t every journalist should be entitled to a half-day a week, in addition to Sunday.
No one may renounce this half-day, which begins at 2 p.m. A
system of rotation is established in each department by agreement
among the staff for the purpose of choosing time for the weekly
half-holiday.
Belgian journalists as a rule are not given any weekly rest.
Certain newspapers, however, endeavour to give it them by
granting their staff one day's leave in the week when they have to
work on Sunday.
I n Brazil, measures concerning weekly rest depend on the
States, and often even on the municipalities. They vary considerably from place to place. In the federal capital and in several
States, Sunday work is formally prohibited.
There are no legal provisions concerning weekly rest in Bulgaria.
I t is, however, with rare exceptions, satisfactorily observed in
journalism.
I n Czechoslovakia, the Act of 1918 on the eight-hour day and
the forty-eight-hour week guarantees one day's holiday a week
to journalists. Newspapers do not appear on Monday morning,
and this assures journalists of at least thirty-six hours' rest. The
Saturday half-holiday has not been adopted in Czechoslovak
journalism.
I n France, on 9 and 11 July 1925 respectively, the Chamber
and the Senate voted an Act which extended the provisions of
the legislation concerning weekly rest to " the personnel employed
on editorial work in newspaper undertakings or news agencies ".
This Act, which satisfied the demand repeatedly formulated by
the Association of Journalists, is the first event of a legal order
affecting the working conditions of journalists in France.
The Act of 13 July 1906 relating to weekly rest, which the
vote of the two Chambers extended to journalists, forbids the
employment for more than six days in the week of " the same
employee or workman ". I t prescribes t h a t " weekly rest must
have a minimum duration of twenty-four consecutive hours "

— 115 —
(section 32), and t h a t " weekly rest must be given on Sunday "
(section 33). Simultaneous rest is the rule ; the system of rotation
is only allowed exceptionally by prefectorial authorisation (section 34). Consultation between associations of employers and
workmen is envisaged for the establishment of regimes of exception
which have received prefectorial authorisation.
In virtue of the Decree of 24 August 1906, the heads of undertakings who, in consequence of exceptions provided for in the
law, or of subsequent derogations, give weekly rest otherwise
than by granting a full day's leave on Sunday, must indicate,
by means of a notice, the days and hours of the rest time of their
personnel.
I t is difficult to know to what extent the law is observed in
journalism and whether there is adequate supervision for its
enforcement.
In Germany before the conclusion of the national agreement,
certain regional agreements allowed the principle of weekly rest.
An example is the agreement for East Prussia (July 1920) which,
without clearly laying down the obligation to grant rest, implicitly
admitted its existence by providing higher rates of salary for
work done on Sundays and holidays. Another example is the
agreement for the Bavarian Press (June 1921), which declares
t h a t every journalist obliged to work on Sunday shall be given
an afternoon in the week in compensation.
Since the conclusion of the national collective agreement the
question of weekly rest has been governed by clear regulations
throughout German journalism. Article 8 of the agreement
states t h a t " every journalist must be granted an uninterrupted
rest of twenty-four hours in the week. When, in exceptional
circumstances, this rest cannot be granted a different allocation
of rest time may be resorted to ".
I n Great Britain, the collective agreement established by the
National Union of Journalists provides for one and a half days'
rest a week for day workers and one and a half nights' rest for
night workers. The rest of half a night is granted in -the form
of one full night every fortnight, or two full nights every four
weeks, at the discretion of the management. The principle of
the half-holiday is not to modify the practice of granting a full
day's leave in compensation for the long hours worked on Saturday
for publications appearing on Sunday.

— 116 —
Hungarian journalists are not mentioned in the legislation
concerning weekly rest. However, the Decree of 18 November
1921, which establishes Sunday rest in trade and industry, and
which in consequence prevents the printing of newspapers on
Sunday, indirectly procures a weekly holiday for journalists.
The weekly rest of Italian journalists is ensured by the Royal
Decree of 23 J u n e 1923, which lays down t h a t " all daily newspapers must omit one issue of every edition each week, so t h a t
no edition appears more than six times a week " (section 1).
From 1 p.m. on Sunday to midday on Monday, no newspaper,
not even a daily paper, may be published either in an ordinary
edition or a special edition (section 6).
A Royal Decree of 7 October 1923, modifying the preceding
Decree provides that " in no printing works shall the work of
printing any kind of periodicals be begun between 6 a.m. on
Sunday and 6 a.m. on Monday ".
I n Latvia, on the other hand, there are no regulations concerning
the weekly rest of journalists.
I n Luxemburg, in virtue of section 9 of the Act of 31 October
1919, employees must be granted a weekly rest of thirty-eight
consecutive hours. This rest time must coincide with Sunday
as far as possible. Of all the Luxemburg dailies, only one has
a Sunday edition, and this is printed on Saturday evening ; in
consequence it does not in any way militate against the enforcement of the Act. If the editors of important political papers are
often at their posts on Sunday afternoon, they enjoy, in compensation, a certain amount of latitude as regards their Monday duty.
I n the Netherlands, there are no legal provisions concerning
the weekly rest of journalists, but generally speaking, they have
Sunday to themselves.
The Bill at present under discussion in the Polish Diet provides
t h a t every journalist shall be entitled to rest on Sunday. For
the moment, the question is not subject to regulations, and the
collective agreement concluded by the Association of Warsaw
Journalists makes no allusion to it.
There is no law in Portugal applicable to the weekly rest of
journalists. The majority of them demand t h a t Sunday shall

— 117 —
be recognised as a rest day throughout the profession. All the
daily papers of Oporto and several of those a t Lisbon, especially
the evening papers, have already adopted this system.
Rumanian journalists come within the scope of the Act of
18 J u n e 1925 concerning rest on Sundays and holidays. This
Act stipulates t h a t the employees of industrial and commercial
establishments shall be given twenty-four consecutive hours' rest
on Sundays and holidays. A certain number of exceptions to
this rule are envisaged, but section 10 expressly declares t h a t
the editorial staffs of newspapers are covered by the provisions
of the law. Journalists who are obliged to work on a holiday
are entitled, in compensation, to take their time off on a work-day
according t o a system of rotation to be established by common
accord between employers and employees.
In Spain, an Order of 1919 prohibits newspapers from appearing
on Sunday evening and Monday morning. This measure ensures
weekly rest to Spanish journalists. The guarantee of Sunday
rest is indeed (leaving the question of salaries out of account)
the only change which has occurred since 1914 in the working
conditions of journalists.
On several occasions a number of publishers have endeavoured
to secure the abrogation of these legal provisions. Each time
their efforts raised such opposition t h a t the Government, a t the
request of the delegations of the journalists, renounced any intention of modifying the new state of affairs. I t was to resist a
threatened danger of this kind that the Professional Group of
Madrid Journalists was created at the end of 1926.
In Sweden, in the absence of legal provisions applicable to
journalists, weekly rest is amply ensured to them by custom,
and by a clause in the model contract established by the Association of Newspaper Proprietors and the Association of Journalists.
Under the terms of this contract, rest time amounting to thirtysix consecutive hours must be granted every week to the various
newspaper workers.
The agreement on conditions of employment concluded in
1923 by the Swiss Press Association provides t h a t all Sunday
work shall be compensated by suitable rest granted in the week
(Article 11, § 2).

— 118 —
When a journalist has had t o do overtime work, he is entitled,
in addition to special remuneration, to an afternoon off (Article 11,
§3).
I n the United States, the weekly rest of journalists is left t o
the discretion of the newspaper publishers, but it is a fairly general
practice.
The Labour Code of the U.S.S.B. declares (section 109) t h a t
every worker is entitled to forty-two consecutive hours' rest a
week.
In order t o allow of the application of this measure to the
Press, newspapers do not appear on Monday.
Thus the usages established in different countries have a
distinct tendency to ensure one day's rest a week to journalists,
and furthermore to make this day Sunday. These usages are,
however, rather unstable and sometimes the requirements of the
publication prevail against them. Therefore journalists who
possess collective contracts have not thought it idle t o incorporate
in them the obligation to give weekly rest, and endeavour to
obtain t h a t it shall be permanently given on Sunday, or at least
t h a t it shall not be split up. The rest provided for is of at least
twenty-four hours and if possible, a day and a half. One contract,
t h a t of the Austrian journalists, has even provided against the
risk of excessive work which the employers may perhaps be tempted
to impose on their staff before and after the fixed rest day. Finally,
in two cases the journalists concerned have attached importance
to stipulating t h a t the institution of weekly rest does not do away
with the obligation to grant special leave in compensation for
specially fatiguing work.
In some countries weekly rest is ensured to journalists by
a law which may go as far as prohibiting, as it does in Italy, the
publication of newspapers on Sunday and Monday morning,
even in a special edition. Obviously only a measure of this kind
can guarantee Sunday rest to all journalists.
ANNUAL LEAVE

Of all the intellectual professions, very few are as exhausting
as journalism. Such information as is available on the subject,
scanty as it is, suffices to indicate what the establishment of
good statistics of morbidity and mortality in journalism and

— 119 —
their comparison with the statistics of other professions would
disclose. A journalist must have a constitution of iron. The
time of his work, which is done in great part at night, the conditions
in which the work is done, and among these conditions especially
the rush imposed by the high speed of newspaper work, are all
causes of fatigue. We know to what extent the journalist is
threatened by premature old age. At forty years of age, a
journalist who has not taken care of himself, and who does not
possess a particularly sound constitution, may find himself in a
difficult position in the labour market. The night shifts, the
intensity of the work, and various other causes, may very easily
have undermined his energy even at that age.
There is only one remedy to this state of affairs. The methods
of work cannot change ; they are bound up with the very nature
of the newspaper. The only remedy is to allow a journalist to
recuperate from time to time the strength which he loses in his
exhausting activities.
After the limitation of the hours of work, the regulation of
the methods of night work, and the institution and the strict
observance of weekly rest, the obtainment of adequate holidays
is a question of vital importance for the journalist. No one has
more need than he of bodily and mental rest from time to time.
I t is only on this condition t h a t he can satisfy the requirements
of an arduous calling and avoid the overwork which threatens
to make him old before his time.
This judicious determination of the hours of work and rest,
vitally important for him at the present time, will become more
and more necessary in the future, as the industrial character of
the newspaper becomes more marked, compelling the labour of
the mind to follow the movement of the machine and to adopt
the processes of intensive production.
A rapid examination will now be made of the manner in which
various countries have settled the question of annual leave in
journalism.
The collective agreement of Australian journalists contains
rather detailed regulations concerning annual leave. I t provides
(Chapter 14) t h a t every journalist regularly employed shall be
entitled to three weeks' holiday on full pay.
When holidays begin on Monday and the employee has worked
the preceding Sunday, they must be taken as beginning on Tuesday.

— 120 —
If a journalist resigns his post before the completion of one
year's service, he is not entitled to any leave. If it is the employer
who breaks the contract, and if he does so after six months' service,
the journalist is entitled to leave in proportion to the length of
his services.
Sick leave also receives special treatment in the collective
agreement, which provides t h a t every journalist shall be entitled
to a certain amount of sick leave with pay, under the following
conditions :
(1) If he has less than six months' service, he is entitled to
one week with full pay, one week with half pay, and a
third week with quarter pay.
(2) After six months' service, he may take four weeks with
full pay, four weeks with half pay, and four weeks with
quarter pay.
Absences due to sick leave are added up for the year and must
not be considered separately.
The Austrian journalists are certainly the most privileged as
regards holidays, which with them are subject to double regulation,
legal and contractual.
The Act of 11 February 1920 relating to journalists, to start
with, granted them conditions which their colleagues in many
countries could envy. Section 3 of the Act, in fact, provided
t h a t a journalist's holidays should amount to at least one month
in the year, and to at least one and a half months after ten years'
service with the paper.
The Organisation of the Viennese Press succeeded in improving
these conditions still further by means of the collective agreement of March 1923. A small change was introduced which is
of great practical importance. Under the terms of the agreement, the ten years of service which give the right to one and a
half months' leave are not to be taken as continuous service in
the same undertaking, but relate to the entire journalistic activity
of the employee, even if it is accomplished in several successive
posts (Article 17).
Furthermore, a journalist employed on night work is entitled
to an additional week's leave in the year.
According to the provisions of the agreement, it is forbidden
to substitute a pecuniary allowance for leave, except in respect
of night workers whose additional leave of one week may be replaced

— 121 —
by an indemnity, when the employees concerned have already
taken their fortnight's leave, and exceptional circumstances
require it (Article 17).
I n case of illness, every journalist who has accomplished five
years' service in the same undertaking is entitled to four months'
leave with full pay, and an additional month on the same conditions
for each year of service above five, up to a maximum of twelve
months (Article 17, § 8).
The annual leave of Belgian journalists sometimes amounts
to four weeks. There are, however, many who do not even have
a fortnight's leave a year. There is no law dealing with the question.
I n Brazil, on 30 October 1926, an Act came into force granting
all manual and non-manual workers a fortnight's leave in the
year after one year's service in the same undertaking. The Act,
which applies to journalists as well as to industrial workers, was
strongly opposed in certain employers' circles, which insistently
demanded its repeal ; but in view of the attitude of all the labourers'
and employees' organisations, it is probable t h a t it will be maintained in force.
Bulgarian journalists generally obtain one month's leave in
the year. This custom is not sanctioned by any law.
I n Czechoslovakia, the Hungarian Press Act of 1914 in force
in Slovakia and in Ruthenia contains no provision concerning
holidays. I t is the general Act of 1925 relating to the working
conditions of employees t h a t is applicable to journalists in these
regions. The Act declares t h a t six days' annual leave shall be
granted after one year's service, seven days after ten years, and
eight days after fifteen years.
The Austrian Act of 1910, which is in force in Bohemia, and
which is applicable to journalists, assures employees of more
favourable conditions. By the terms of this Act, annual leave
amounts to one week after six months' service, two weeks after
five years' service, and three weeks after fifteen years' service.
I n practice, leave granted to journalists is much longer. After
two or three years' service, it is not rare for them to obtain one
month's leave and even more. The collective agreement of the

— 122 —
Prager Presse stipulates t h a t one month's leave shall be given
after one year's service in the case of day workers, and five weeks
in the case of night workers.
For particularly urgent work, the journalist receives in exchange
for his right to holidays an indemnity equal to his salary ; but
this practice, to which the organisations of journalists are opposed,
tends to disappear.
I t is customary in France to give journalists paid holidays
which range from two weeks to one month annually. The matter
is not dealt with in regulations ; nor is t h a t of sick leave, which
for the moment is left to the discretion of the directors — influenced by usage nevertheless. Thus journalists suffering from illness
generally continue t o receive their pay during a number of months
t h a t varies with the resources of the paper and the goodwill of
its director, as well as with t h e professional and personal situation
of the employee. I n an important paper sick leave may extend
to four, five, and even six months.
I n Germany the system of paid annual leave, although not
sanctioned by any law, is very common in journalism. For many
years it has formed the subject of special stipulations in the regional
collective agreements. For example, the agreements of November
1924 for Central Germany and for the Bavarian Press assured
journalists of a fortnight's holiday after one year's service and
three weeks' holiday after three years \
Since the signature of the national collective agreement in
1926, the question of holidays has been dealt with in a uniform
way throughout German territory.
I n virtue of Article I X of the agreement, every journalist is
entitled to annual leave of two weeks after six months' service,
three weeks during the second and third years, and four weeks
thereafter. If it is not possible to replace a journalist by his
colleagues because a newspaper only employs one journalist, the
period of leave must nevertheless be at least two weeks.
I t should be observed t h a t the periods fixed by the agreement
are only minimum periods, and they are often exceeded in practice.
The contract of the National Association of the German Press
contains no clause respecting sick leave, but, on the other hand,
1
The latter contract even established the obligation on the part of the paper
t o grant its writers a fortnight's holiday after every period of imprisonment served
for offences against the Press legislation.

— 123 —
the agreement concluded by the Union of the Labour Press declares
t h a t a journalist is entitled to three months' paid sick leave.
Although the system of annual leave is fairly general in Great
Britain in the journalistic world, it is sanctioned only by the
agreement of March 1921, whose application is limited to the big
London papers. This agreement lays down t h a t the members
of the editorial staff shall be entitled to at least three weeks' leave,
to be taken between 1 May and 31 October, in addition to two
days' leave for Christmas and one day for Good Friday. As
regards the sporting and financial papers, the agreement adds
t h a t the time for leave is to be fixed by common accord between
the management and the staff.
I n the provinces where no regulations are applicable, leave
amounts to a fortnight, on an average. I t only rises to three
weeks or a month in rare cases. Hence, in spite of the established
custom of ceasing work on certain general holidays and of interrupting the publication of the paper on these occasions for one or
two days, as is done nearly everywhere at Christmas, the English
journalists are in this respect among the least favoured of the
members of the profession who have the advantage of collective
contracts. They ardently desire an improvement in this state of
affairs.
The Hungarian Press Act of 1924 contains no clause on holidays,
but it is customary to give journalists one month's annual leave.
Sick leave also is only subject to custom.
The collective agreement of Italian journalists prescribes
t h a t every journalist in receipt of fixed payment, even if he has
been engaged by special contract, is entitled to one month's leave
a year, to be taken preferably from June to October, according
to the requirements of the service (Article 14).
I n case of illness, a journalist is entitled to three months' leave
with full pay, and three months with half pay.
The Act of 31 October 1919 on the working conditions of employees assures Luxemburg journalists of a paid holiday of ten
days after three years' service, and of twenty days after five
years (section 6). The holidays granted to journalists are generally
longer than those to which they are entitled under the terms
of the Act. As regards sick leave, the Act of 1919 lays down

• — 124 —

t h a t the post of an employee who has fallen ill shall be reserved
for him for three months with full pay.
The Luxemburg employers make no difficulty about granting
the requisite leave.
In the Netherlands there are no legal provisions concerning
journalists' holidays, but it may be said t h a t the custom of granting
two or three weeks' paid holiday is universal in the profession.
I n Poland the Bill at present before the Diet provides t h a t
every permanent journalist shall be entitled to one month's leave
after one year's service. After ten years' service the period of
leave shall be six weeks, and journalists on the night staff shall
be entitled to two weeks' additional leave.
Pending approval of this Bill, holidays are fixed by collective
agreements. The agreement established by the Association of
Warsaw Journalists and the Warsaw publishing compames provides
for conditions in conformity with those of the Bill. I t is specified
t h a t the date of the annual leave shall be fixed by the editor, and
t h a t absence on account of military service or illness shall not
count as annual leave.
There is no regulation of the annual leave of journalists in
Portugal. The custom is established of granting ten days a year
to reporters, fifteen to twenty days to ordinary journalists, and
thirty days t o editors and, in general, t o all persons having a certain
amount of responsibility.
There are no legal regulations in Rumania on the subject of
holidays, but the collective agreement of the minority Press of
•Transylvania establishes the right of all journalists to four weeks'
paid leave a year. In the rest of the country only usages are in
existence. Generally speaking, journalists get three to four
weeks' leave a year.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom the Decree of 25 September
1926 prescribes t h a t every journalist employed for more than a
year in the same office is entitled to one month's annual leave.
After ten years' service in the same undertaking the leave is
increased to one and a half months (section 3).

— 125 —

In the case of illness, duly confirmed, the journalist is entitled
to three months' leave with full pay, and three months with half
pay.
During the illness or the leave of the journalist, his colleagues
on the editorial staff must do his work without special indemnity
(section 18).
In Spain there are no regulations. The custom is, however,
to grant two weeks' leave to journalists. I t is also usual to grant
paid sick leave, but as there are no regulations in existence, its
duration is left to circumstances.
In Sweden the holidays fixed by the model contract recommended by the Association of Publishers and the Federation
of the Press are of one month.
Also by the terms of the contract, every journalist is entitled,
in case of illness, to one month's leave with full pay, and two
months with two-thirds pay.
In Swiss journalism, the agreement of 1923 on the conditions
of employment lays down that annual leave must be at least of
two weeks for a journalist employed on a paper appearing six
times a week, and of three weeks in all other cases.
The replacement of a journalist on leave is a matter for the
publishing house.
I n the United States the journalists, as a rule, are in the enjoyment of annual leave, but its duration is subject to infinite variation
according to the paper and to the job.
Although the system
of leave is common enough, it is rare t h a t the general holidays
are observed in journalism.
In the U.S.S.R. the Labour Code (section 114) lays down
as a general rule that every wage earner shall be entitled to two
weeks' annual leave without any reduction in his wages.
I t will be evident from this short survey t h a t the principle
of holidays is usually admitted in journalism in the various countries.
Custom has extended its application ; collective agreements
and legislation have sanctioned it. There is no cause for astonishment in the fairly satisfactory state of affairs in this matter ;

— 126 —
journalists enjoy the privilege which has always belonged to
brain workers. In fact it must be observed t h a t in the countries
in which they come within the scope of an Act on employees, or
even on manual workers, as is the case in the U.S.S.R., their
theoretical situation (the word "theoretical" must be insisted
upon, because it is very probable t h a t in practice they are often
treated more generously than the law requires) is inferior to t h a t
which is established elsewhere by mere custom. This privilege
is, however, reduced by the administrative and industrial character
of the modern newspaper, and if journalists are better treated
than manual workers and employees as regards holidays, they
are less well treated in this respect than certain other paid intellectual workers, professors, for example.
Custom has done much for journalists' holidays ; collective
agreements have done more. They have given to newspaper
workers all t h a t security which precise regulations afford, and,
in a general way, have increased the length of holidays granted.
The International Federation of Journalists, in drawing u p
its draft model agreement in 1927, thought fit to incorporate in
it the principle of holidays which is found in all the national agreements. The model agreement states :
Every journalist after one year's service in the undertaking, or after t e n
years' work in the profession, is entitled to one month's leave a year.
After ten years in the same undertaking the journalist is entitled to one and
a half months' leave.
Leave must normally be taken during the months of July, August, and
September ; the choice of dates between these limits is left to journalists in the
order of their seniority in the undertaking. Leave may not be taken a t another
time of the year except in virtue of a special agreement.

The stipulated period of a month is one of the longest to be
found anywhere. I t is the period fixed by the principal collective
agreements and by the Yugoslav law. The International Federation of Journalists insisted on introducing into this provision
the principle which it has at heart, namely, the principle of the rights
conferred by previous professional activity, which is found in t h e
provisions of the Austrian agreements relating to leave. The
right to a period of leave is acquired in the draft of the International Federation of Journalists, not only after one year's
service, but immediately, if the journalist has ten years of professional activity in other undertakings to his credit.
Even with this improvement, the model agreement of t h e
International Federation of Journalists remains inferior to t h e

-

127 —

Austrian agreement — the most favourable of all — which grants
immediately to all journalists with ten years' activity to their credit
the holiday of a month and a half which the project of the International Federation gives only after ten years' service in the same
undertaking. I n this we may note the concern of the International Federation to propose intermediate solutions applicable
in a great number of countries, without seeking to secure at one
stroke the most favourable conditions obtained by countries in
the vanguard of journalistic organisation.
The International Federation has incorporated in its draft
agreement one clause which is found in only one national agreement ; the Italian. I t relates to the facilities which a journalist
should have of taking his holidays at the best time of the year.
SALARIES

I t is in the domain of salaries that the difficulty which journalism
in many countries has experienced, and is still experiencing, made
itself most felt. For a long time all the efforts of journalists'
organisations had to be employed in remedying this situation,
and in many countries it is still the principal, if not the only,
subject of the preoccupations of the members of the profession.
I t is very difficult to obtain precise information with regard
to the salaries of journalists in the various countries. As with
regard to hours of work, so with regard to salaries, the greatest
diversity reigns. Everything depends on the nature of the post
and the aptitudes of the journalist ; salaries varying by 100 per
cent, can frequently be found in the same class of work. To the
difficulties of distinguishing the categories of posts, of comparing
functions which are often widely different as regards the task
imposed, the hours of work and the responsibilities incurred, is
added the purely material difficulty of obtaining information
relating to the amount of individual salaries. These difficulties
are attenuated in the countries in which salaries have been fixed
by collective agreements, though these agreements indicate only
minimum salaries, and it is not easy to discover to what extent
the salaries paid differ from the minima.
To the extent t h a t the information received allows, the figures.
between which the salaries paid to the two or three principal
categories of journalists fluctuate will be indicated in the following
pages, with a mention, for the sake of comparison, of the wages
of skilled printers, and in the absence of statistics concerning

— 128 —
them, the wages of the manual workers of another industry \
The rates of pay for overtime work will also be given as far as
possible, and especially the rates for Sunday work. An attempt
will be made, in addition, to indicate the changes which the salaries
of journalists have undergone since 1914 in relation to the cost
of living, and to draw attention to the advantages which journalists
have been able to obtain to compensate for the possible insufficiency
of their emoluments (railway tickets at reduced prices, rebates
on the cost of books necessary for their work, etc.). . I t is evident
that, in addition to the expenditure on clothes which journalists
must often incur on account of the profession itself (which obliges
them to maintain a certain standard of appearance), the purchase
of books and periodicals required for the purpose of keeping au
courant with events, threatens to become a heavy charge. Happily
some undertakings do not hesitate to allow large sums for the
constitution of libraries, which are also supplied by means of
free and exchange copies. Further, the associations of journalists
endeavour to constitute libraries for the use of their members.
These few advantages do not alter the fact t h a t salaries are
so low in certain countries t h a t journalists are sometimes obliged
to engage in accessory occupations, or even to consider journalism
as a spare-time profession which only serves to complete the larger
income t h a t they derive from other sources. There are many,
too, who are compelled to work for several papers, none of which
pays them a living wage. This situation is not without serious
disadvantages as much from the point of view of the labour market,
as from the point of view of retiring pensions where these are in
question.
1
An important observation must be made on the subject of this comparison.
The wages of the manual workers for which figures are given should be interpreted
with prudence ; they are not fully comparable with those of journalists. They
are calculated for the most p a r t from the time rates fixed by the collective agreements. Established on the base of the forty-eight hour week, they do not exactly
represent the earnings of a workman who quite possibly does not work regularly
•during the whole of the 192 hours which are theoretically assigned to his month.
These approximate wages are only indicated to allow the reader to obtain
a n idea of the real value of the emoluments of journalists, expressed in national
currencies which differ greatly one from another. These emoluments would be
liable, without this comparison, to be without any significance.
I n consequence, no a t t e m p t is made to justify unfavourable judgments on
one or other category of workers b y these figures. I t must be remembered t h a t
for countries in which the wages of manual workers show a large increase on the
pre-war figures, the latter were often very low, and their subsequent rise is not
a t all disproportionate to the rise in the cost of living. Rather is the contrary
t r u e . The rise in wages, moreover, was the result of continuous efforts on the
p a r t of the manual workers associated in strong professional organisations.

— 129 —
I t is important to state clearly a t this point what will and
what will not be found in this section on salaries.
There will be found data, varying in amplitude for different
countries, but allowing an approximate idea to be gained of the
evolution of the salaries of journalists in the course of the last
few years in a given country, and their value in comparison with
the salaries of certain other intellectual or manual professions.
There will not be found anything which enables a comparison
to be made between the salaries of journalists in different countries.
For each country salaries are given in the national currency ;
there is no indication of the cost of living which it would have
been necessary to establish to determine rates of real salaries on
a basis which would permit of international comparison.
The only comparison of an international kind which is possible
from the information given here relates to the more or less rapid
and substantial progress accomplished here and there. I t would,
however, be impossible to discover in the following date the elements for an international comparison of the level of existence of
journalists \
The salaries of Australian journalists have for many years
been fixed b y agreement. As early as 1914 an agreement was
in existence which fixed the salaries of the various professional
grades in the morning and evening papers of five important towns.
At the present time the two agreements in force determine
in great detail the salaries of all categories of metropolitan and
provincial journalists, from the editor to photographers and
beginners. Linage rates are also minutely regulated for the
various groups of outside contributors.
Below are given the minimum weekly rates for ordinary journalists fixed by the agreement of 1924, which is still in force, and
covers the metropolitan dailies of New South Wales and Victoria.
The division of journalists into three categories, according to
their experience and ability, should be noted.

Seniors
Ordinary journalists (generals)..
Juniors

Morning papers
£
s.
d.
10
12
6
9
5
0
6
12
6

Evening papers
£
s.
d.
10
0
0
8
12
0
5
19
0

1
Annexed to the present survey (p. 215) will be found, however, an approxim a t e table showing the purchasing power of various national currencies with
regard to a number of foodstuffs. The table will allow a comparison of this kind
to be drawn in a very rough way.

9

— 130 —
I n other States these rates are reduced by 5 to 20 per cent.
I n order to prevent certain publishers from seeking to diminish
the salaries of their staffs by giving too many posts to juniors,
the agreement provides t h a t three-fifths of the journalists shall
be seniors, not more t h a n one-fifth juniors, and the rest ordinary
journalists (generals).
Beginners (cadets) (they are so called during the first three
years of service) are paid as follows :
First year
Second year
Third year

£1
2
3

10
15
15

0 per week
0 „
„
0 „

Linage work is paid at 2%d. or 3d. a line if it is done by the
regular staff of the paper, and at 2d. or 2%d. if it is done by outside
contributors. The outside contributors are paid every fortnight.
Journalists who do photographs receive at least 5s. for each
negative ; all the materials necessary for taking and developing
photographs are provided by the proprietors.
Expenses incurred on duty, either locally or in travelling,
are refunded by the paper. Parliamentary reporters receive
refreshment expenses for meals which they have to take away
from home.
All these rates have been slightly changed since 1924 in consequence of fluctuations in the cost of living. I n this connection
an interesting clause of the 1924 agreement provides t h a t every
year, at the end of November, the index number of the cost of
living, published by the Federal Statistician, shall be ascertained.
Whenever the changes in the index number amount to 11 points,
the basic rates fixed by the agreement must be increased or
decreased in accordance with a detailed scale annexed to the
agreement.
I n 1926 the salaries of journalists had been changed to the
following :
Seniors
Ordinary journalists (generals). .
Juniors

Morning papers
£
s.
d.
10
16
5
9
9
0
6
16
6

Evening papers
£
s.
d.
10
4
0
8
16
0
6
3
0

The weekly wages of a hand compositor were then £6 2s. and
of a machine compositor £6 15s. The curve described by salaries
since 1914 has been similar to the cost-of-living curve. While
slightly unfavourable for the seniors, it has been favourable for
the juniors and the ordinary journalists, as may be seen by compar-

— 131 —
ing the salary rates fixed by the agreement of 1914 which, as
regards Melbourne, were as follows :

Seniors
Ordinary journalists (generals). .
Juniors
'.

Morning papers
£
s.
d.
7
0
0
5
10
0
4
0
0

Evening papers
£
s.
d.
6
0
0
5
0
0
3
10
0

From the 1926 figures quoted above, it will be seen t h a t the
increase was 54.6 per cent, as regards seniors, 71.8 per cent, as
regards ordinary journalists and 70.6 per cent, as regards juniors.
The cost-of-living index number fluctuated between 158 and 162 in
1926. The increase had therefore been about 5 per cent, lower for
the seniors, and 10 per cent, higher for the juniors than the increase
in the cost of living. On the whole, noteworthy results have been
obtained by the Australian journalists as far as salaries are concerned ; thanks to their collective agreement, they have been
able to keep remuneration abreast of the cost of living.
I n Austria, there are special provisions relating to salaries in
the Act of 1921 on journalists and in the collective agreement of the
Viennese Press.
The agreement contains detailed clauses on the various kinds of
remuneration — fixed salaries, payments by the line and by the
article, on occupational expenses and the date of payment. I t
provides t h a t every person who has been regularly employed at a
fixed salary in an editorial office for one year shall be entitled t o
the minimum salary specified in an appendix to the collective
agreement.
Every journalist employed on a daily paper, or even on a
weekly or a monthly organ is paid a fixed salary. The collective ,
agreement of the Viennese Press fixes a minimum monthly salary
as follows, for journalists employed on daily papers :
Employed on papers appearing twice a day or on papers
appearing once a day, in the morning
Employed on papers appearing once a day, a t noon
or in the evening

450 schillings
365

„
1

The salary of an editorial stenographer is as follows :
Employed on papers appearing twice a day or papers
appearing once a day, in the morning

353 schillings

Employed on papers appearing once a day, a t noon
or in the evening

240

1

p . 15.

„

For the definition of editorial stenographer, cf. "The Training of Journalists",

— 132 —
After five years' service editorial stenographers are entitled to
the salary of a journalist.
These rates, which are only minima, are, in practice, considerably exceeded, and it is not rare to find journalists of Vienna in
receipt of a monthly salary of 800 to 900 schillings.
I t frequently happens t h a t a journalist obtains special fees for
articles which he writes in addition to doing his ordinary work.
Two methods of payment are then available ; the journalist receives
either a lump sum once a month for his articles, or special payment
for each of them. The special payment is, under the terms of the
collective agreement, equal to t h a t of the outside collaborators
(see below).
I n the weekly papers appearing on Mondays which have adhered
to the collective agreement of 1923 the minimum salary is equal to
one-third of t h a t applicable to the morning dailies. I t is not fixed
at one-seventh of this minimum because a part of the editorial
work of the Monday papers is done on Sunday and another part is
done during the week.
The hours worked on a rest day are paid at twice the ordinary
rates. A special allowance for night work is also provided for.
Besides the permanent journalists with fixed salaries, there are
some regular collaborators who are paid by the job. They receive
a fee for every article required of them, even if the article is not
subsequently printed in the paper, and they must be paid for every
enquiry with which they are entrusted, although, for reasons beyond
their control, some enquiries may not be brought to a conclusion.
The terms fixed by the collective agreement for the remuneration
of these collaborators vary from 10 to 12 schillings an article, and
" from 500 to 1,000 crowns a line. Leading articles, literary articles
and accounts of theatrical or artistic events must not be paid by
the line, but by the article.
In order to render competition impossible between the professional and the casual outside contributor, the " copy " furnished
by the latter must be paid at the same rates as those applicable
to the regular collaborators.
An important clause of the collective agreement requires t h a t
collaborators paid by the article or by the line shall be in receipt
of a monthly salary at least equal to the minimum salary of the
permanent journalists, even if the total sum actually due to them
for articles supplied does not attain t o this minimum. I t is thus
to the advantage of publishers to furnish their staffs with adequate

— 133 —
work, and the latter are assured of a living although, for one reason
or another, the paper may not provide them with sufficient employment.
When a journalist or a regular collaborator incurs expenditure
in performing his duties he receives either a monthly indemnity in
a lump sum, the amount of which is determined in agreement with
the management, or the refund of his expenses, if they are occasional
outlays, and are not continuously incurred from the beginning t o
the end of the month. Furthermore, when a journalist or a collaborator is sent abroad he is paid, in addition to his ordinary salary,
allowances calculated on the basis of the cost of living in the country
to which he is going.
These provisions taken together make the Austrian journalist
one the most privileged members of the profession as far as salaries
are concerned. His colleagues in many countries could envy the
amount of his monthly salary. And the advantages which he has
managed to obtain do not stop there. Under the terms of the
collective agreement (Article 27) every journalist receives on
15 December a s a " Christmas Box " a sum equal to his emoluments
for the month, and on the occasion of his annual holidays he
receives a similar sum. I n other words, he receives fourteen
months' salary in the year. For the purpose of calculating the
emoluments of these supplementary months, account is taken not
only of the monthly salary proper but also of the sums agreed upon
for the remuneration of special articles and for the refund of out-ofpocket expenses. To the holiday gratuity must further be added
a railway allowance which the journalist gets at the beginning of
his holidays and which amounts to 12 per cent, of the total earnings
for the month in the case of newspapers having an agreement with
the railway companies by which they are granted a reduction of
50 per cent, on passenger fares, and 18 per cent, in the case of other
papers.
The regular collaborators paid by the article or by the line
enjoy the same gratuities a t Christmas and at holiday time and the
same travelling allowances as the journalists in receipt of fixed
salaries. The gratuities for the supplementary months are calculated from the average earnings of the preceding six months.
Finally, to all these advantages must be added the so-called
rent allowance, a kind of lodging allowance, payable quarterly, and
whose amount is fixed by agreement between the publisher and
the journalist.

— 134 —
During the first years after the war Belgian journalism passed
through troubled times. Nothing is more significant in this
connection than the resolution passed in July 1920 by the Federal
Congress of the Belgian Press demanding t h a t the wage of a good
printer's hand should be taken as the basis for journalists' salaries.
At the beginning of 1921, when the index number of the cost of
living fluctuated between 385 and 410 (1914 = 100) salaries in
journalism were practically at the pre-war level. They varied
between 150 and 500 francs, and, in the Flemish Press, the publishers
paid certain members of their staffs commencing salaries of 75 francs
a month. The journalists of the capital were better treated t h a n
those in the provinces ; some papers, notably the Socialist organs,
had granted substantial increases, but the general position was
lamentable. I n an important Brussels paper an employee of
long standing was paid a salary of 11.50 francs a day, whereas a
printer earned at least 17.50 francs 1.
The journalists associated in the Professional Union of the
Belgian Press thereupon undertook an active campaign for the
improvement of their economic situation. Negotiations were
opened with the newspaper directors, who, for the most part,
recognised t h a t their staffs deserved better t r e a t m e n t 2 . They
agreed that the considerable increase in the cost of paper and
ink could not continue to be invoked to justify small salaries
leaving the members of their staffs in veritable distress, especially
as the wages of printers had been raised, thanks to the collective
agreement and to the establishment of sliding scales. Promises
were made, and a certain number of papers carried them out.
The Professional Union of the Belgian Press drew up a scale which
allowed a minimum of 600 francs to beginners and 750 francs
to employees with two years' service ; these rates were adopted
here and there. The Belgian Federation of Directors of Provincial
Newspapers, at the instance of the Professionnal Union, established
a scale providing minimum rates of 400 to 700 francs. About
fifteen newspapers at Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, and Charleroi
accepted the scale.
There was no change in the situation in 1922, apart from one
piece of good fortune for journalists : two Brussels newspapers
1
Le Journaliste, Bulletin of the Professional Groups of the Belgian Press,
March 1921.
2
Certain directors, however, refused to come to any agreement ; some even
considered as contrary to professional dignity the form, prudent though it was,
of t h e proceedings of t h e Professional Union, which was desirous of avoiding t h e
least suspicion of " t r a d e unionism".

— 135 —
adopted the thirteen-month system which had been inaugurated
in December 1919 by an Antwerp newspaper, subsequently adapted
to certain English and French papers, and generahsed and
standardised in Austrian and Italian journalism.
In spite of some few increases granted since 1921, salaries in
1923 were far from corre ponding to the cost of living, and the
economic situation of the Belgian journalists continued to be
deplorable. The Professional Union insisted on fresh negotiations
with the directors, feeling certain t h a t the latter could not remain
indifferent to the unhappy lot of their staffs. " There is not
one ", it wrote, " who would assert t h a t with the index number
a t 420 in Brussels and 390 elsewhere in Belgium, it would be
possible for the editorial staffs to live decently and to support
their families on salaries amounting to less than 250 per cent, of
the 1914 figures " \
Friendly representations were multiplied. Many times they succeeded in bettering the position of individuals, but they were not
able to bring about general measures for the improvement of salaries.
The Socialist journalists, in close touch with their directors,
and in full agreement with them in principle as regards trade
union policy and questions of salaries, had the benefit throughout
this difficult period of a salary scheme much more coherent
and supple t h a n those of their colleagues in other papers.
In 1923, the Association of Socialist Journalists established a
scale similar to the one drawn up by the Professional Union in
1921, but it had the advantage of being adopted by the whole
of the Socialist Press. This scale fixed the salary of a beginner
at 600 francs, and of a journalist of three years' standing at
750 francs. I t also provided for six annual increments of 500
francs, which brought the journalist's salary to 1,000 francs a
month from the seventh year. Six optional increments, also of
500 francs, carried the remuneration of a capable writer with
initiative to 15,000 francs. This maximum was later increased
to 17,000 francs in the Socialist Press.
The scale thus fixed was valid for a cost-of-living index number
between 250 and 400. As soon as the index number rose above
400, a cost-of-living allowance was added to all salaries at the
rate of 15 francs a month for every rise of ten point. The Congress
of Socialist Journalists held at Charleroi in May 1926 demanded t h a t
this monthly allowance should be increased from 15 to 25 francs.
1

Le Journaliste,

Aug. 1923.

— 136 —
The conditions of Belgian journalism, as a whole, at the end
of 1925 were subject to great variety ; while certain newspapers
in Flanders paid salaries of 500 to 600 francs to their staffs, a
newspaper in the capital was cited as paying its writers a commencing salary of 800 francs a month, as granting regular increments
and a cost-of-living allowance, and paying a departmental chief
40,000 francs a year. I t appears t h a t the salary most frequently
allowed to an experienced journalist was 700 to 800 francs a
month. I t is interesting to compare these figures with the wages
of a hand compositor who at this time was earning 764 francs
a month, while a machine compositor was paid 812 francs. The
comparison shows that most of the editorial staff were no better
paid than workers in the printing trade.
The Professional Union of the Belgian Press continued t o
conduct a vigorous campaign for the improvement of salaries.
I t endeavoured to obtain sliding scales for cost-of-living, lodging
and family allowances. The General Press Association, for its
part, had obtained certain benefits which made the economic
position of journalists a little easier, for example, 45 per cent.
reduction in the cost of railway travelling, and a certain reduction
in telephone and telegraph rates. I n spite of these privileges,
numerous journalists had to look to other work for a supplementary
income. This was particularly true of Flanders, where journalists
were known to make up the deficiency in their incomes by playing
in theatre, cinema, or dance orchestras.
At last, in December 1926, the Professional Union of the
Belgian Press determined to send a letter to all the newspaper
directors in the country drawing their attention to " the
difficult, not to say, impossible position in which most journalists find themselves owing to the constant rise in the cost
of living ". I t observed t h a t the index number had risen from
520 at the end of 1925 to 730 (735 for Brussels), and t h a t pre-war
salaries would have to be multiplied by 7 y2 to bring them abreast
of the cost of living. I n point of fact, however, as far as the
majority of the journalists were concerned, the coefficient was
below 5. Hence, the Professional Union felt justified in adding
t h a t " i n a certain commune in the Brussels district, the roadsweepers are paid wages ranging from 45 to 51 francs a day, although
there are many journalists who are not earning as much " 1.
1

Le Peuple, Brussels, 19 Dec. 1926.

— 137 —
In Brazil, salaries, which are not fixed by any collective agreement, varied in 1926 from 400 to 1,000 milreis a month as regards
journalists and reporters. An ordinary contributor was allowed
150 to 200 milreis. The salary of a manager ranged from 1,500
to 3,000 milreis.
Generally speaking, salaries have trebled since 1914, while
the index number of the cost of living has risen to 350.
I n Bulgaria the remuneration of various classes of journalists
towards the middle of 1925 was as follows :
Manager or editor
Journalist
Regularly appointed contributor
Reporter
Translator
Administrative secretary

6,000
3,500
2,500
2,500
1,500
3,000

to
to
to
to
to
to

8,000 leva
5,000
3,000
4,000
2,500
4,000

I t should be noted for the sake of comparison t h a t a bricklayer's
labourer was then earning 3,900 leva a month, and a builder's
labourer, 1,800 leva.
Railway travelling inside the country is free to journalists on
duty, and reporting expenses are paid by the employer.
I n Czechoslovakia the average salary of a journalist may be
estimated at 2,000 crowns a month. The lowest salary is 1,000
crowns, and the highest, very rarely attained, is 10,000. These
figures represent basic salaries and are generally increased by a
lodging allowance (which may be as much as 20 per cent, of the
fixed salary) and, when appropriate, a family allowance of from
100 to 200 crowns a month for each child supported. A journalist
who is the father of one child thus earns about 2,500 crowns a
month \
I t is instructive to compare this salary with the wages of a
machine compositor which are approximately 1,200 crowns a
month.
The ratio between the salaries of journalists and the wages
of printers has practically remained what it was before the war.
In view of the cost of living, whose index number was 950 in January
1
The custom prevails in Czechoslovak offices of granting an additional month's
salary as a Christmas box. Journalists are among the beneficiaries of this
custom and it is not rare for a newspaper to pay fourteen or fifteen months' salary
in the year. The collective agreement of the Prager Presse provides t h a t a month's
salary shall be paid a t the end of each month and, further, on 15 March, 15 July,
and 15 September.

— 138 —
1926, the remuneration of journalists, which has, generally speaking,
increased tenfold, is also approximately a t the 1914 level.
Reporting expenses, both a t home and abroad, are paid by
the paper.
Journalists are granted a reduction of 50 per cent, and more
on the price of railway tickets, and enjoy privileged rates on the
tramway systems.
On presentation of a certificate delivered by their employers,
they receive a discount, not exceeding 25 per cent., from
booksellers.
Among the questions which most preoccupy French journalists
must be included, together with the instability of the profession
(which they would like to remedy by means of insurance funds
and adequate indemnities on the termination of employment),
the serious problem of salaries. The French journalists are not
in a very happy position in this connection. Their lot has,
it is true, improved a little thanks to the persevermg efforts of
their professional organisations ; among the foremost of them is
the Association of Journalists, which has already obtained some
successes in this field.
Towards the middle of 1925, the position as regards the remuneration of journalists was the following :
I t was impossible to indicate even approximately the magnitude
of the salary of an editor, as it might vary from 2,000 to 10,000
francs a month. A good sub-editor earned 1,200 to 2,500 francs ;
more often than not his salary was 2,000 francs. The head of
the news department earned 1,500 to 2,000 francs a month, and
the other heads of departments were paid on the same scale.
The ordinary contributors (for news concerning prefectures, academies, ministries, theatres, sports, etc.) were often paid low fees,
sometimes as little as 200 francs a month, and never more
than 1,000. They made a living wage by working for several
papers.
Reporters were paid 800 to 1,500 francs a month \
At t h a t time the wages of a hand compositor or a machine
compositor amounted to 912 francs a month ; an unskilled workman
earned 784 francs. A secondary schoolmaster was paid 1,250
1
The outside contributors and many journalists working in editorial offices,
whom big papers continued to pay by the line, received 40 to 50 centimes in the
summer of 1925 for a line of text, and about 100 francs for an article.

— 139 —
to 1,750 francs a month and an elementary master 1,060 francs.
I t is well known t h a t these salaries in the teaching profession
were not regarded as adequate, but it appears t h a t in most cases
the salaries of journalists were lower still.
Finally, if we examine the extent to which journalists' salaries
had risen since 1914, it will be found t h a t the rise reached 100 to
150 per cent, at the middle of 1925, while the cost-of-living index
number was 4 1 0 ( 1 9 1 4 = 100). That is to say, most of the salaries
were worth only about half as much as before the war.
The average salary of an ordinary journalist remained in the
neighbourhood of 1,000 francs — but it was frequently less —
until November 1926, when the Association of Journalists persuaded
the Parisian directors, after numerous attempts, to agree t h a t
the minimum monthly salary should be fixed at 1,200 francs for
every journalist who had been attached for two years to the
editorial staff of a newspaper and who was working full time.
Two other demands of the Association, viz. an immediate increase
of 25 per cent, on all salaries and the establishment of a sliding
scale allowing of the automatic adjustment of salaries to the cost
of living, were not accepted by the directors. Increases nevertheless took place in many papers, notably at Lille, where the
Association of Journalists has a very alert and active branch.
They are far, however, from bringing the salaries, which vary
from 1,200 t o 1,500 francs, t o the level of the cost of living. On an
average, on the basis of the 1914 figures, the salary coefficient
fluctuates between 2.5 and 3, while the cost of living coefficient
is more t h a n 5, in spite of the fall experienced since 1926. In
July 1927, the epoch a t which the journalists' salaries h a d already
reached their present level — a journalist's salary varying between
1,200 and 1,500 francs — a secondary school teacher was in receipt
of 2,150 to 3,150 francs a month at Paris, and an elementary
teacher 1,000 to 1,500, including various cost-of-living allowances.
The monthly wages of a qualified printer amounted a t this time
to 1,350 francs.
I t will be seen from a comparison, as much with the salaries
paid to their colleagues in other intellectual professions, as with
the wages of workers in the printing trade, t h a t the material
position of journalists is far from being what it was before the
war. The fact t h a t a considerable part of the journalist's income
must be devoted to his professional work makes the situation all
the worse. I t is not easy to estimate the expenditure represented
by the purchase of the books and magazines required by the

— 140 —
work, but it may be taken that for a specialist in foreign policy,
or in economics, who has to read foreign newspapers, magazines
and books, this expenditure may amount to several hundred
francs a month. Reporting expenses, on the other hand, are
refunded. I t even happens in some cases t h a t if the reporter is
in receipt of a very inadequate salary, his expenses are generously
assessed and he receives, not a mere refund, but what may be
described as a tacit allowance for work done in difficult and tiring
conditions. This rule, however, is not general, and some papers,
on the contrary, keep a very tight control over travelling expenses.
In the total absence of statistics relating to journalism it is
not feasible to give an exact description of the curve described
by salaries in Germany since 1914. At t h a t time there were no
agreements, no schedules, and the salaries of journalists were
fixed individually according to the resources of the paper, the
thousand and one shades of difference in the nature of the work,
the personality of the journalist, and other circumstances. After
the war, however, the system of agreements governing rates of
payment began to spread ; these agreements allow the evolution
of salaries in recent years to be followed to a certain extent.
An investigation of this kind no longer offers anything but
retrospective interest. Nevertheless it may not be entirely
without utility. Among other lessons which it conveys, it shows
what services were rendered to German journalists by the principles
of professional organisation which they set themselves to apply,
and to what degree their associations enabled them to support
the severe trials which awaited them. Thanks to these organisations, to the practical methods of realising their aims which they
had adopted, to the administrative organs with which they were
endowed, and to the agreements which they had been able to
prepare with the publishers' associations, it was possible for
German journalists to come to understandings with the publishers
as the economic crisis developed, to settle with them the means
of adapting themselves to the crisis, and to preserve the newspaper
industry from complete disorganisation. If these efforts were
at one time vain — when the crisis assumed catastrophic proportions — if the desire of maintaining order in the economics
of journalism was frustrated, and a system which could no longer
adapt itself to the extreme rapidity of events had to be dropped,
at any rate, as soon as the paroxysm of the crisis had passed, the
task could be begun again without delay, and the situation restored.

— 141 —
We know how much intellectual workers suffered during the
great economic crisis in the countries which were hard hit. The
manual workers with their robust organisations and their collective
agreements were often seriously affected, but the sufferings of
the unorganised intellectuals, abandoned to futile struggles and
most frequently to the abnegation of isolation, were even more
acute.
In many countries the difference which existed before the
crisis between the wages of the manual workers and the salaries
of the intellectuals rapidly diminished in the course of the crisis ;
it was often abolished, and sometimes even inverted.
Whereas,
however, manual workers, by means of their trade union activity,
obtained adjustments of wages, very often the earnings of the
intellectuals remained what they were before the war, and they
were reduced to pitiable difficulties owing to the inexorable rise
of the cost of living.
German journalists, thanks to the precautions taken by the
professional organisation, succeeded for some time in standing
firm in the crisis, as is well shown by the following examples,
which, without claiming to give a complete picture of the situation,
indicate its general character clearly enough. (It was naturally
not possible to take account of all t h e circumstances and all the
facts ; it is hardly necessary to mention t h a t there were exceptions
and contradictory details.)
The agreement for rates of payment concluded in July 1920
by the Union of Newspaper Publishers and the Press Association
of East Prussia fixed as follows the minimum monthly salary
of a journalist after three years' service :
A. In towns
B . I n towns
C. I n towns
D . I n towns
E . I n towns

of
of
of
of
of

less t h a n 5,000 inhabitants
5,000 to 15,000 inhabitants
15,000 to 25,000 inhabitants
25,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
more t h a n 100,000 inhabitants

Marks
600
700
800
900
1,000

At t h a t time a printer earned from 900 to 1,000 marks a month
according to the district.
As the economic conditions changed fairly rapidly, the East
Prussian contract provided for the periodic adjustment of salaries.
I n fulfilment of this provision it was decided by common accord
in April 1921 to increase the salaries previously fixed by 30 per
cent., and a further increase of 60 per cent, of the original salaries
took effect in October 1921. By this last agreement, which was

— 142 —
concluded on 13 September 1921, it was furthermore decided t h a t
a family allowance should be paid at the rate of 200 marks a
month for one child, with a further 100 marks for each additional
child u p to the age of sixteen years.
At the moment at which the second of these increases took
place the wages of a printer had risen from 1,000 marks to about
1,500 marks, an increase of 50 per cent. Thus, thanks to the
adjustments effected according to the procedure provided for in the
collective agreement, the salaries of journalists had increased by
a percentage a little higher than t h a t for manual workers in the
printing trade.
Another example of adjustments of salaries is to be found
in the agreement concluded in 1921 by the Bavarian Association
of Publishers and the Federation of the Bavarian Press. On
9 J u n e 1921 a scale of salaries was fixed by these two organisations.
I n this scale the towns of Bavaria were divided into four categories,
and for each of these categories the monthly salary of a journalist
having wide responsibilities, a qualified journalist, an assistant
journalist, and a reporter were fixed. On 28 September" of the
same year a supplementary agreement was concluded by which
salaries were increased by 25 per cent, and 30 per cent, according
to the locality ; these increases were equivalent to those effected
in E a s t Prussia.
From this time the financial situation of the country became
rapidly worse. Salaries could no longer keep pace with the rise
in prices caused by the fall of the mark, and the agreement for
rates of payment could not be maintained in force. A return
was made to the pre-war system, the fixing of salaries on an individual basis. Times were very hard for journalists ; it happened in
many regions t h a t their salaries descended below those of printers.
As soon as the worst of the crisis was over, the system of salary
scales was reverted to. In November 1924 the agreement established by the Press Federation of Central Germany fixed t h e
basic rates of salaries payable to journalists, whether they had
family charges or not, in five categories of towns, as well as t h e
increments payable at the end of three and six years of service.
Under these scales a journalist of average ability and having
family charges earned, after three years' service, 330 marks a
month in a large town and 210 marks in a small one.
At the same time a hand compositor in the printing trade
earned 180 marks, and a machine compositor 184 marks per
month.

— 143 —
I t is therefore clear t h a t after the inflation and the re-establishment of the gold mark, the difference between the remuneration
of journalists and t h a t of printers considerably increased.
I n December 1925, in the large towns, the monthly salary
of a good writer varied from 600 to 1,000 marks ; in the small
and medium-sized towns it was only 200 to 500 marks, and the
latter sum was hardly ever earned in the provinces by anyone
but editors and managing directors. The monthly salary most
frequently met with seems to have been 350 to 450 marks at the
end of 1925, for a qualified writer. A hand compositor then
earned 192 marks a month and a machine compositor 230 marks.
These figures show t h a t the wages of a printer had remained
almost stat onary since the end of 1924, while the salary of a
journalist had greatly increased. I t was in fact almost double
the wages of a printer. Journalists had on the whole succeeded
in harmonising their earnings with the increase in the cost of
living.
At present the situation is as follows :
The various agreements concluded in J a n u a r y 1926 by the
National Association of the German Press and the Newspaper
Industry Employers' Association do not quote any figures for
salaries ; they restrict themselves to laying down the general
principles which should govern their determination, leaving t h e
determination itself to the district agreements for rates of payment.
The rules of the Commission of Collaboration created by the two
associations, state t h a t among the tasks of the Commission shall
be the following.
To supervise the establishment and the enforcement, in all
districts of binding agreements relating to salaries based
on the principle t h a t the emoluments of journalists and
permanent contributors must correspond, to the extent
allowed by the financial capacity of the publishers as
governed by economic conditions, to the particular social
rank, determined by his intellectual status, of the journalist
or the permanent contributor ;
To take steps which shall, in view of the differences in the district
scales of payment, provide the bases for fixing the emoluments of journalists who, exclusively or mainly, work
for a newspaper publishing house elsewhere than at its
headquarters ;

— 144 —
To establish the guiding principles relative to journalistic and
accessory work ;
To institute an office for assessment and conciliation to provide
for the contingency of the special district organs of the two
bodies failing to come to an understanding.
(Article 2, paragraphs 9, 10, 11, and 12.)
The agreement on normal service, signed in January 1926,
furthermore provides t h a t :
A journalist must receive a fixed salary ;
The emoluments agreed upon must be granted from the moment
the agreement comes into force, if they are payable at the
end of a fixed term ; and the monthly salary must be paid
at the latest on the last day of the month.
A journalist is entitled to the refund of out-of-pocket expenses
occasioned by his employment. An agreement should be
concluded as to the manner in which the refund is to be
made.
(Article 3, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4.)
I n this way all details concerning the amount of the salaries
are left to the district agreements for rates of payment. The four
agreements of this kind in force, those for the North-West German
Press, the Westphalian Press, the Bavarian Press, and the Silesian
Press, as a matter of fact, fixed the salaries of journalists according
to their place of work and the category of their post. They were
concluded or recast at different dates, and they fixed minimum
rates as follows :
I. The Westphalian scale, dated 1 September 1925, fixed rates
starting from 360 marks a month for the lower category and
for localities of the second rank, and rising to 410 marks for
. journalists with three years' experience, and to 500 marks
for special editors in important towns.
I I . The Bavarian scale, revised on 1 J a n u a r y 1927, established
monthly salaries ranging from 315 marks t o 515 marks, and
even 575 marks at Munich.
I I I . The Silesian scale, dated June 1927, fixed salaries ranging
from 198 marks for a bachelor beginning in a small locality,
to 528 marks in a large town for a journalist who had been
in the profession for twelve years.
IV. Finally, the North-West German scale, revised on 3 November 1927, provided minimum salaries ranging from 300 to

— 145 —
400 marks a month for an unmarried writer (the preceding
scale dated 6 November 1926 fixed the rates at 275 to
350 marks).
The agreement concluded by the Union of the Labour Press and
the newspapers of the Social-Democratic P a r t y fixed the salary of
novices at 300 marks with annual increments of 15 marks and a
maximum of 450 marks. These are minimum figures and in
practice the average salary fluctuates between 400 and 600 marks
a month.
I n Berlin there is no agreement for rates of payment. However,
by agreement between publishers the salary of a journalist may
not be less than 440 marks a month. This figure also is largely
exceeded in practice, and the salaries of the Berlin journalists are
as a rule from 500 to 600 marks.
I t follows from these figures t h a t the average salary of a qualified writer at the present time in Germany must be sought a little
above the rates of the collective contracts, t h a t is to say, in the
neighbourhood of 450 marks.
At the end of 1927 the monthly wages of a hand compositor
were 206 marks, and of a machine compositor 247.20 marks.
The remuneration of the manual and brain workers of the
newspaper has thus experienced a slight increase since 1925 (a
clear indication of this is found in the changes in the rates mentioned in the North-West German agreement quoted above).
The German journalists, however, are not fully satisfied. The
increases quoted are only average figures, and it is evident t h a t
many newspaper workers are in a very precarious position, far
below the average. I n localities without agreements for rates
of payment salaries are very low. The National Association of
the German Press recalls t h a t one of the tasks of the Commission
of Collaboration, created in conjunction with the Employers'
Association, was to facilitate the conclusion of agreements for
rates of payment which would establish salaries allowing of a
suitable level of existence. Yet, it is no secret t h a t side by side
with privileged salaries there are others paid to journalists which
do not exceed 200 or 300 marks a month \
The National Association strongly desires t o take up the
question of salaries again with the publishers, and to establish
a regime more in harmony with present circumstances.
1
Die deutsche Presse, Organ des Reichsverbandes der deutschen Presse, 27 Aug.
1927, p . 469.

10

— 146 —

I n Great Britain the salaries of journalists are fixed by the
various collective agreements concluded by the National Union of
Journalists. The agreements are applicable to four main groups
of journalists : the London journalists and reporters, the provincial
journalists and reporters, the journalists and reporters of the news
agencies, and the photographers and photographic printers. To
the London and provincial journalists must be added an intermediate group which is covered by a special agreement ; this group
comprises the staffs of the London offices of the provincial papers.
Lastly, in addition to the journalists in receipt of a fixed salary,
the agreements deal with contributors paid by the line or by the
article, for whom they fix the rates of payment.
The minimum salaries of the London journalists are fixed by
the collective agreement concluded in 1921 between the Newspaper
Proprietors' Association and the National Union of Journalists.
This agreement lays down in principle that no qualified reporter or
sub-editor with three years' experience shall be employed, at a
salary of less than nine guineas a week, except on sporting or
financial papers, when the salary must be at least eight guineas
a week, or on technical papers, when it must be eight guineas
for a journalist doing responsible work and six guineas for an
ordinary journalist or a reporter.
The minimum salaries of provincial journalists are fixed by
the agreement of 1921 between the Newspaper Society and the
National Union of Journalists. I t applies to all the members
of the union who have reached the age of twenty-three years
and who have at least three years' experience. The minimum
salaries are £4 7s. 6d. a week for London weeklies, £5 3s. Od. for
dailies appearing in towns of less than 100,000 inhabitants,
£5 8s. 6d. in towns of 100,000 to 250,000 inhabitants, and £5 15s. Od.
in towns of more than 250,000 inhabitants. On 26 May 1924 a
supplementary agreement modified this agreement by extending
to four years the length of service entitling an employee to the
salaries laid down, and raising the qualifying age for the full scale
to twenty-four years. Up to the age of twenty-four years a
young journalist was entitled, after one year's service, to a certain
percentage of the full scale. The supplementary agreement
fixed this percentage at 50 for journalists of twenty years of age,
at 60 for those of twenty-one years, at 75 for those of twenty-two
years, and at 85 for those of twenty-three years. A youth beginning his journalistic career was to receive 25 per cent, of the minimum
salary established for persons of twenty-four years of age.

— 147 —
The members of the London staffs of provincial papers are
in receipt of a minimum salary of seven guineas a week, which
rises to eight guineas after two years' service.
The salaries of photographers, those auxiliaries of the journalist, were fixed by the agreements of 1921 applying to the London
journalists and by a special agreement concluded in 1922. They
range from four guineas (for improvers) to eight guineas after
four years' service in a photographic agency.
The scale established by the Institute of Journalists has higher
minima. They vary from £5 a week for fully qualified journalists
working on the smaller papers, to £14 for journalists with ten
years' service in the larger papers. The salary of a fully qualified
journalist in a paper of average circulation is fixed at £8 a week
after three years' service. Unfortunately this scale is not incorporated in any agreement at the present time as the publishers 1
associations have not accepted it.
I t is not without interest to observe t h a t the rates in force
in London in the general printing trade (higher rates are paid
in newspaper printing offices) allow £4 9s. Od. a week to a hand
compositor and £4 16s. Od. to a machine compositor 1 . I t is thus
evident that the remuneration of a journalist or a reporter in London is double the wages of a printer 2, whereas in the small provincial towns the minimum salaries of journalists are very close
to the earnings of the workers in the printing trade.
I t may be said, speaking generally, that journalists' salaries
have doubled since 1914. As the cost-of-living index number is
only about 175 (1914 = 100), it is obvious t h a t in the course of
the last twelve years English journalists have substantially improved their financial status. Notwithstanding this, they are not
fully satisfied. For instance, the striking difference between the
minimum salaries of the capital and those obtaining in the provinces
gives rise to vigorous protests. During the twentieth Assembly
of the National Union in April 1927, a resolution was adopted
instructing the executive committee of the Union to take steps
with a view to a readjustment of salaries in the most important
journalistic centres in which the working conditions are at the
present time similar to those of the capital. The injustice of
clauses which, while allowing a minimum of nine guineas to the
1

Cf. International Labour Review, Vol. X V I I , No. i, April 1928, p. 589.
On the assumption t h a t the wages indicated are not increased by overtime
payments.
2

— 148 —
capital, allow only £5 15s. Od. to Manchester, a journalistic centre
of first class importance a t the present time, was pointed out.
The collective agreements concluded by the Union of Journalists, as we have said, do not only deal with the salaries of journalists continuously employed in the offices of the paper, but
they also fix the rate of remuneration of outside contributors.
For example, an agreement of 31 August 1920 concluded by the
Union of Journalists and the Newspaper Proprietors' Association
provides t h a t any article sent in by an outside contributor shall
be paid a t the following rates : u p to 60 words, a t least 2s. 6d. ;
after the first 60 words, 2%d. for every eight words. These
rates apply t o articles on general subjects, and do not concern
financial or sporting news or other special matter.
Another agreement, dated 21 April 1920, fixes the rates of
payment for telegrams and telephone messages ; in accordance
with this agreement telephone messages must be paid for as
follows : 5s. up to 200 words, 7s. from 200 to 300 words, 9s. from
300 t o 400 words, and Is. 6d. for every additional 100 words.
The telephone and telegraph charges are paid by the employers.
The collective agreements also deal with work done a t other
times t h a n the ordinary hours and the ordinary days of work.
The agreement of March 1921 for the London dailies fixes payment
for work done on Saturday afternoon and evening in getting out
a newspaper which appears before 6 a.m. on Sunday a t two guineas.
If the paper appears after 6 a.m., and the working day begins
after Saturday midnight, the remuneration is increased to three
guineas, about twice the amount allowed for a normal working
day.
The collective agreement concluded on 31 March 1922 between
the National Union of Journalists and the Press Association,
fixing the minimum salaries of reporters and journalists employed
in news agencies, does not provide for any special rates of payment
in respect of overtime work, whether it is done in the week or on
Sunday, except in the case of parliamentary work done out of
normal hours, when the rates of pay are slightly increased.
Lastly, certain collective agreements provide for special allowances to cover reporting expenses. The agreement concluded in
J u l y 1924 between the National Union of Journalists and the
Association of Press Photographic Agencies stipulates t h a t the
expenses incurred by reporters on duty in London shall be refunded.
When the engagement makes it necessary for the operator to leave
the capital, he is paid a special allowance of 25s. a day if he has

— 149 —
to spend a night out of town, and 12s. 6d. a day if he does not.
For engagements abroad the amount of the special allowance must
be agreed upon by the employee and the management. The
collective agreement established in March 1922 by the National
Union of Journalists and the Press Association, establishing
regulations governing the work of the employees of the news
agencies, also provides for a special allowance of 25s. a day for
an out-of-town engagement which obliges the reporter to sleep
away from home, and 12s. 6d. for a day-time engagement.
Among the expenses which may be incumbent on journalists
as the direct consequence of their profession, the purchase of
books and periodicals sometimes entails considerable outlay. I t
is true, however, t h a t certain papers make an effort to place
libraries at the disposal of their staff.
In Greece, in August 1927, the monthly salary of an ordinary
journalist or of a reporter varied from 1,500 t o 3,000 drachmas,
and t h a t of an editor from 4,000 to 10,000 drachmas ; an outside
contributor was paid 100 to 150 drachmas for an article.
Reporting expenses, and usually all out-of-pocket expenses,
are borne by the paper, which also procures the books and periodicals required by the staff.
In Hungary the monthly salaries of journalists vary from
400 to 600 pengo x, but there are some of less than 200. A journalist with large responsibüities sometimes earns 800, and in rare
cases even as much as 1,000 or 1,200 pengo. In a certain number
of undertakings special gratuities are added to these salaries.
The most usual form for the gratuity to take is the payment of
an additional month's salary at Christmas. One house in Budapest
also allows a gratuity of a month's salary at the time for annual
leave.
We have already seen that in 1917 the Independent Organisation of Journalists concluded a collective agreement with the
Association of Publishers, and t h a t it was denounced by the
employers after the fall of the Communist regime. I n virtue of this
agreement the salaries of journalists had been increased on the
termination of the war by 25-30 per cent, on the 1914 figures.
After the annulment of the agreement salaries did not keep up
with the rise in prices due to the growing worthlessness of the
1

I n the spring of 1928, 100 pengo were worth 90 gold francs (£3 12s. Od.).

— 150 —

currency. The ratio between the remuneration of a journalist
and the wages of the workers in the printing trade was altered
to the advantage of the latter, and a t the present time the real
salaries of journalists are still about 30 per cent, below the prewar standard.
I t may again be of interest to indicate, for the purposes of
comparison, the scales of pay for manual workers in the printing
trade and for secondary-school teachers.
The collective agreement establishing the rates of payment
for printers fixes amounts varying from 40 to 99 pengo a week,
or 160 to 396 pengo a month ; to these sums must be added payments for overtime work.
The salaries of secondary-school masters range from 150 to
500 pengo a month ; in addition they receive a quarterly lodging
allowance.
The reporting expenses of journalists, whether incurred at
home or abroad, are as a general rule met by the paper.
On the other hand, the journalists do not enjoy any privileges
as far as the purchase of books and periodicals is concerned. Only
publishers of newspapers who are at the same time publishers
of books allow their staffs a discount of 10 to 20 per cent, on the
price of their publications.
I n Italy, notwithstanding the existence of the collective agreement, salaries are not fixed for all journalists. The agreement
does no more than establish the obligation to grant an allowance
at the end of the year. This practice is known as the thirteenmonth system, and has already been met with in the Austrian
contract. The Italian agreement also establishes the principles
of quinquennial increments amounting to one month's salary
(Article 15), and extra pay for the journalist engaged for day
work who is transferred to night work. But it mentions no figures
and leaves the actual salaries to be determined by the individual
contracts.
This is what happens in practice. Salaries of Italian journalists
are fixed by means of unfettered negotiations, and are proportional
to the financial means of the various undertakings. I t is therefore very difficult to ascertain the average salary, and conditions
change with the paper and with the district. I n any case, however,
a clear distinction must be made between Northern Italy as far
as Rome, and Southern Italy ; salaries are much lower in the
South than in the North.

— 151 —
If it is necessary to quote figures, 1,200 lire can be taken as
an average monthly salary in the North and at Rome, and 800 lire
as the average in the southern half of the peninsula.
For the purposes of comparison it may be stated t h a t at the
middle and at the end of 1927 a hand compositor at Rome earned
704 lire, and a machine compositor 820 lire a month.
All journalists attached to the editorial offices of a newspaper
are in receipt of a fixed salary. Only outside contributors are
paid by the article or by the line. Provincial correspondents
are paid by the line.
Out-of-pocket expenses, reporting or others, are refunded as
they are incurred, on the presentation of the vouchers. If travelling on duty involves visits of some length, newspapers grant
a daily allowance in addition to refunding expenses.
Although no effort has been made in the collective agreement
to unify salaries and fix them definitely, the former Press Federation paid the greatest attention to the successive rises in the salary
scale, and settled the principles applicable to them with the Union
of Publishers. I t was decided to resort to regular additions
corresponding to the rise in the cost-of-living index number as
established by the Chamber of Commerce, and in consequence
of this procedure the monthly salary of a journalist, which was
250 lire in 1914, rose to about 1,200 lire in 1927. The increase
on the first figure is almost 400 per cent, and corresponds fairly
well with the rise in the cost-of-living, the index number having
mounted from 100 in 1914 to 540 in August 1927. The salary
position revealed by these figures, on the whole a favourable one,
explains to a certain extent why the need of fixing rates of
salaries in the collective agreement has not made itself felt. Itahan
journalists, however, who have gained and incorporated in their
agreement such remarkable successes in other fields, would like to
see the question of salaries settled in a similar manner, and are
anxious t h a t the established customs should be sanctioned by
the provisions of collective agreements.
The resolutions adopted by the local syndicates often deal
with this matter. A recent resolution of the Palermo syndicate 1
expressed the satisfaction of the Sicilian journalists on learning
t h a t the directors of the National Syndicate were resolved " to
p u t an end to the shameful spectacle still offered by certain under 1
Dated 30 March 1928 ; cf. Bolletino
giornalisti, 30 Aprii 1928.

del Sindacato

nazionale

fascista

dei

— 152 —
takings in some of the southern districts " and hoped t h a t " this
problem, which is bound up with the dignity and the prestige of
the Sicilian journalists and which is, moreover, subordinated to
the principles of the Labour Charter " would be solved in a fitting
manner.
I n Latvia the minimum salary of a journalist in November
1927 was 240 lats 1 , b u t this figure was often exceeded in practice.
At this period a hand compositor earned 196 lats a month, and a
machine compositor 270 lats.
I n Luxemburg, in the three big dailies, the custom of making
the salaries of journalists conform to those of the civil servants
has become established. Difficulties are found, however, in
equating the various categories of journalists and officials. As
a general rule, journalists in these three papers who possess
university degrees are paid at the same rates as secondary-school
teachers. For one of the papers this equality is even fixed by
contract. I n J u n e 1927 a secondary-school master with no
children was paid a minimum of 2,080 francs a month, while in
the papers referred to, a journalist without a university education
received 1,000 to 1,300 francs.
I n the smaller daily papers salaries are much less ; they are
often as little as half of those just mentioned, and give rise to
lively protests among the journalists' organisations.
If these rates are compared with the wages of a skilled printer,
which at t h a t time were in the neighbourhood of 1,300 francs a
month, it will be realised t h a t only the editorial staffs of papers
t h a t have granted their employees equality of treatment with the
Government servants are in receipt of a salary adapted to the
present economic conditions. Other salaries, although they have
considerably increased since 1914, have not followed the ascending
curve of the cost of living. The wages of the printing workers,
protected by a powerful trade union, have hugged this curve
much closer.
Luxemburg reporters are seldom sent on long journeys, but
when travelling is necessary, the expenses involved are amply
covered by their paper. The purchase of periodicals and books
does not represent a large outlay for the journalist as he can
generally find all he wants in the editorial office.
1

One lat = 1 gold franc (9 3 / 4 d.).

— 153 —
I n the Netherlands a scale established by common accord
between the Association of Journalists and newspaper publishers
provides three classes of salaries for each of the three classes of
districts into which the country is divided. These salaries varied
from 100 to 450 florins a month in 1926, when a hand compositor
earned 140 florins, a machine compositor 156 florins, and an
unskilled worker in the printing trade 112 florins a month.
The salaries of journalists have increased by 50 to 100 per cent.
since 1914, and, taking one with the other, have followed the rise
in the cost of living, the index number of which was 177 at the
end of 1925.
I n Poland the salary rates, at least in Warsaw, are fixed by the
agreement concluded in June 1924 by the Association of Journalists
and the publishing houses of the capital.
By the terms of this agreement journalists with a certain
amount of responsibility receive 600 zloty, and qualified assistants
400 zloty a month.
If the salaries paid in May 1925 are compared with the wages
t h a t printers were then earning, it will be noticed t h a t there was
very little difference between them. Actually, a hand compositor
earned 402 zloty, a machine compositor 560 zloty per month, and
the difference was all t o the advantage of the printers in the
provinces, where journalists are not so well paid as they are in the
capital.
Before the war the salary of a responsible journalist at Warsaw
was 200 to 250 roubles, which on a gold basis is equal to 550 to
650 zloty. I n spite of the inflation of the cost of living, salaries
of journalists have thus remained almost stationary, while those
of the printers have doubled.
The outside contributors of the Warsaw papers are paid by
the line, according to rates fixed by their collective agreement,
which prescribes t h a t the payment for a line of text must be at
least half the selling price of the paper.
I n a Portuguese paper a qualified journalist has a monthly
salary of 300 t o 1,000 escudos 1. The higher sum is hardly reached
by anyone b u t editors who, in a big paper, earn as much as 1,500
escudos. The earnings of a reporter vary from 200 to 500 escudos,
while hand and machine compositors are paid 480 escudos a month.
1

The outside collaborators receive on an average 25 escudos per article-

— 154 —
From 1914 to 1925 the salaries of journalists increased by
2,000 per cent., with the exception, however, of editors, for whom
the increase amounted to only 1,000 per cent. During the same
period the index number of the cost of living rose by 3,700 per
cent.
I n Rumania journalists in regular employment receive a fixed
Salary payable once a fortnight. Except in the Transylvanian
Press there is no minimum salary recognised by newspaper
publishers.
I t may be said that, as a general rule, a responsible journalist
in a big daily receives 10,000 to 15,000 lei a month, while a reporter
gets barely 6,000 ; the editor of a big paper may get as much
as 25,000 lei, but editors of political papers are not paid more
than 8,000 to 10,000 lei.
Comparisons are furnished by college professors who begin
at 5,000 lei a month and rise to a maximum of 11,000 lei, university
professors who receive a commencing salary of 7,000 lei, and
printing trade workers who get 4,000 to 5,000 lei a month.
If the cost of living is taken into account it will be seen t h a t
salaries of journalists have fallen considerably since 1914. The
wages of the printing workers are in quite a different position ;
the printers, who are associated in a powerful trade union, fix the
minimum salaries of the profession every three months, in agreement with the employers.
The minority Press of Transylvania is in a special position as
a result of its collective agreement, which includes a salary scale.
By the terms of the agreement, monthly salaries as from
1 October 1925 were to be as follows :
Beginners
Ordinary journalists
Journalists with seven years' experience

5,200 to 6,040 lei
8,500 lei
9,000 lei

Married journalists receive a supplement of 750 lei a month,
to which is added another supplement of 350 lei for each child
supported. I t will be seen t h a t the rates do not differ greatly
from those in force in the rest of the country. On the other
hand, the Transylvanian agreement contains a clause which
constitutes an important guarantee. In accordance with this
clause the cost-of-living index number adopted by the publishers
and by the printing workers' trade union is ascertained at the
end of each quarter, and reductions or increases in salary proportional to the changes in the index number are effected.

— 155 —
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom the important Decree of
December 1926 does no more than make it compulsory to include
the amount of the monthly salary among the three points which
must be found in the individual contracts. I t does not prescribe
any minimum rate, and leaves the actual salaries to be determined
by individual agreements between publishers and journalists.
Spanish journalists are unquestionably among the worst off of
any as far as salaries are concerned. The efforts of the professional
associations have not succeeded in achieving any standardisation of salaries and they are left to the discretion of employers.
They have always been remarkably low, but their inadequacy
has become more pronounced in consequence of the rise in the
cost of living. At the end of 1926, while the price index number
had risen by 90 per cent, from the 1914 level, the earnings of
journalists, which were already poor before the war, had increased
only by 30 per cent.
At the present time, an editor gets 500 to 750 pesetas a month,
b u t the salary of an ordinary journalist fluctuates between 200
and 300 pesetas. Some newspapers in the capital, it is true,
allow 400 to 500 pesetas to an ordinary journalist, and 1,250 pesetas
t o an editor, and one paper even allows its staff to share in the
profits. B u t these are only isolated cases. I n July 1927 a reporter
in Madrid earned on an average 175 pesetas a month, and there
were many journalists who did not get as much as 150 pesetas 1.
At this period a good compositor was paid at least 350 pesetas a
month. The workers in the printing trade, however, are perfectly
organised, and have collective agreements and wages scales which
are strictly applied.
All the figures relate to Madrid ; in the provinces, the situation
is still more lamentable, and most of the newspaper men are obliged
to practice another calling side by side with journalism, or even
treat journalism as a spare-time profession and engage in a better
paid one.
Reporting expenses are often met by the journalists who,
however, get reduced rates and even free tickets from the railway
companies, through the intermediary of the newspaper.
The papers spend very little on the purchase of books or periodicals. The journalists are obliged to procure, at their own expense,
publications which the paper does not receive free or in exchange.
1
The remuneration of outside contributors varied between 10 and 75 pesetas
per article. Most frequently it ranged from 20 to 50 pesetas.

— 156 —
I n Sweden the model contract elaborated by the Association
of Newspaper Publishers and the Association of Journalists distinguishes seven classes of districts, and fixes for each of these classes,
according t o the age of the employee, remuneration in respect
of (a) night work, and generally speaking, work done in getting
out the morning papers, and (b) day work in general and work
done in getting out the evening papers. The following table
indicates these minimum salaries, which in small papers are the
normal salaries, but which are often considerably exceeded in the
big dailies :
Increment aftei
Class
of
district

Commencing salary
(22 years
of age)

3 years

6 years

9 years

Minimum age
25 years

28 years

31 years

Maximum
Salary

4,500
4,100

700
600

900
800

900
800

7,000
6,300

4,300
3,900

600
500

850
800

850
800

6,600
6,000

••••i;

4,100
3,700

600
500

800
750

800
750

6,300
5,700

'•••i;

3,900
3,600

500
400

800
700

800
700

6,000
5,400

3,700
3,400

500
400

750
650

750
650

5,700
5,100

3,600
3,200

400
400

700
600

700
600

5,400
4,800

3,400
3,100

400
300

650
550

650
550

5,100
4,500

H:••••i:

•-i:
•-i:
,...!•

The minimum monthly salaries thus vary from 258 crowns
in the case of a journalist twenty-two years of age in a small town,
to 583 crowns in the case of a journalist thirty-one years of age
employed on a morning paper in a big town.
These figures may be compared with the wages of a hand
compositor, who earns 242 crowns a month, and of a machine
compositor, who earns 266 crowns.
On the whole, the remuneration of journalists has risen since
1914 ; this may be said, perhaps, not only of the nominal salary
but also of the real salary, t h a t is the salary adjusted to the rise

— 157 —
in the cost of living. In any case their percentage increase is at
least equal to t h a t of the wages of printers over the same period.
When a journalist is given reporting work away from home,
he is entitled to an additional daily allowance t h a t varies between
20 and 30 crowns, excluding travelling expenses, which are
chargeable to the employer. No scales of allowances have been
fixed for reporting work done abroad.
The expenditure t h a t journalists may incur on the purchase
of books and periodicals necessary for their work varies considerably
from one establishment to another.
Certain papers leave all
this expenditure to be borne by their staff, while others devote
substantial sums to maintaining a library.
In Switzerland, the agreement of 1919, relating to the salaries
of journalists, concluded between the Swiss Association of Newspaper Publishers and the Press Association, fixes the minimum
salaries for three classes of newspapers in each of three classes of
districts. I t only applies to the German-Swiss Press ; it was to
be completed by an agreement applying to French Switzerland,
but this has not yet been signed.
By the terms of this agreement the fixed salary of a journalist
must be equal to the basic salary of 1 July 1915, increased by at
least 30 per cent. In cases where the salary was reduced in consequence of the war, the basic figure must be t h a t in force on 1 July
1914.
The salary thus obtained must not be less t h a n 415 francs a
month for a paper appearing less than six times a week, 540 francs
for a paper appearing at least six times a week or belonging to
a town of medium size, and 665 francs for a paper in a large town.
The classification established for rates of payment in the printing
trade serves as a basis for the division of the districts into categories. The journalists' scales have so far remained unchanged.
I t is interesting to compare them with the monthly wages of
printers, which were, at the end of 1927, 435 francs for a hand
compositor, and 520 francs for a machine compositor.
Another agreement, signed in 1919 and relating t o independent
journalists, stipulates t h a t the linage rates must correspond to the
financial means of the paper, but in no case shall they be less
than 8 centimes a line. For specially ordered articles the minimum
rate is 12 centimes and it is doubled if the paper acquires the
exclusive right to publish the article requested. I n the case
of important articles necessitating uninterrupted work, payment

— 158 —
by the line may be replaced by payment by the day, and this
must not be less than 25 francs.
Lastly, a stipulation similar to one in the Austrian agreement
lays down t h a t when an outside contributor is regularly employed
by a paper, it shall guarantee him, for the second year of collaboration, emoluments amounting to three-quarters of those paid
during the preceding year, even if the amounts actually due in
payment for lines furnished do not attain to this sum.
Reporting and other out-of-pocket expenses are refunded
on the basis of expenditure actually incurred. The cost of purchasing books or periodicals necessary for professional work, is
borne only by the outside collaborators ; the journalists attached
to the paper are exempt.
With regard t o the changes which salaries have undergone
since 1914, it has already been shown that, in accordance with
the agreement of 1919, they should produce a minimum increase
of 30 per cent. The increase has often been greater and in the
most favourable cases corresponds to the rise in the cost of living,
the index number of which at present fluctuates about 160 (1914 =
100).
I n no country is there such diversity in journalists' salaries
as in the United States. Some are extremely high; one big paper
does not hesitate to pay as much as $50,000 a year to a highly
qualified writer. In the little towns, on the contrary, it is not
rare to see salaries of $100 a month. I t may be said t h a t at the
end of 1925 the most usual salary for a journalist was $200, while
a hand compositor earned $172 and a machine compositor $180.
I t is estimated t h a t since 1914 the salaries of journalists have
increased by about 30 per cent. The cost-of-living index number
having mounted from 100 to about 180, newspaper workers are
far from being in such a good economic position as they were in
1914.
On the whole, the newspapers defray the travelling and reporting
expenses, and all the big periodicals place libraries at the disposal
of their staff, thus relieving them to a certain extent from the
necessity of buying books.
We have already seen t h a t few journalists in Uruguay live
solely by their profession. More often t h a n not journalism is
a spare time profession, or at least one which compels the journalist
to look to another calling for the balance of his income. This

— 159 —
will be made clear by t h e figures given below. These figures
are preceded b y a few statistics relating t o t h e pay of various
classes of workers and the cost of living, so t h a t an idea may be
acquired of t h e real value of journalists' salaries.
The lowest salary paid by t h e Government t o its officials is
50 pesos a month ; this is the salary of an office boy. A member
of Parliament receives a monthly allowance of 360 pesos ; a doctor,
even a t the outset of his career, earns a t least 300 pesos a month.
Lastly, in t h e printing trade a good machine compositor is paid
140 pesos a month.
A professional worker with a family can scarcely find a residence
for less than 40 or 50 pesos a month, and for this rent he would
have to be satisfied with a very modest flat. At the lowest estimate
he would require a further 100 pesos t o be able t o live, and this
figure is taken on t h e assumption t h a t his children are few and
t h a t he is very economical.
Compare these figures with t h e salaries of journalists : a n
editor is paid 200-300 pesos, a political editor less than 200, a n d
a first-rate journalist 100-180 pesos a month. These are all
exceptional figures, moreover.
The usual salary of an ordinary journalist a t Montevideo
varies between 40 and 80 pesos ; some salaries are even lower ;
as little as 20 pesos is paid t o t h e youths who write the sporting
pages.
I n the U.S.S.R. t h e Press Section of t h e Syndicate of Polygraphic Workers undertook an enquiry in January 1926 into
the income and the family budgets of journalists 1.
The enquiry covered 350 journalists (117 a t Moscow, 36 a t
Leningrad, 59 in t h e big towns of t h e Ukraine, etc.) among t h e
26,000 in the country. I t enabled the following monthly averages
to be determined as representing t h e family budgets of various
classes of journalists :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1

Editor
Journalist, sub-editor and manager
Technical writer
Literary contributor
Proof-reader
Technical secretary

Vopossy

Truda,

Nos.

8-9,

1926 ; a n d

:

Chemovetz
Roubles *
261.44
221.74
196.15
209.58
167.87
150.57

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR O F F I C E

Industrial and Labour Information, Vol. X X I , No. 7.
2
A chernovetz rouble is worth about half a pre-war rouble, which a t p a r
is 2.66 gold francs, 0.51 United States dollars, and approximately 2 shillings.

— 160 —
I n the aggregate it is estimated that the total salary of the
head of a family is equivalent to 84 per cent, of his expenditure.
The percentage is low (57 per cent.) among technical writers,
and high (93 per cent.) among literary contributors.
I t should
be added t h a t the total salary referred to includes income derived
from work other t h a n journalism proper, and representing about
20 per cent, of the total.
The salaries of journalists are fixed by collective agreement,
which establishes the basic rates ; these rates are multiplied by
the coefficients allotted to each class.
A new salary scale
comprising twenty-seven rates is in preparation.
The foregoing remarks will have revealed the striking disproportion t h a t existed at one moment in nearly all countries, and
t h a t still exists in many places, between salaries, which remained
almost stationary, and the cost of living, which often rose to
considerable heights. The resulting grave difficulties were overcome more or less rapidly and more or less completely according
to the general economic conditions obtaining in the various countries, b u t still more in proportion to the degree of organisation
reached by the profession. I n the most favourable cases, thanks
to the journalists' organisations, it was possible to give prompt
attention to the situation, to adopt remedial measures, and to
carry them out on a general scale.
The salary of a journalist is frequently a complex aggregate
into which several variable factors enter ; b u t here, as in other
matters affecting the profession, the effort toward standardisation
and stabilisation, to which we have already had occasion several
times to refer, can be perceived.
For instance, speaking generally, it can be said t h a t the practice
of paying a fixed salary to professional journalists is becoming
more and more common. I n their opinion this method of payment
offers such advantages t h a t they desire to see it completely substituted for payment by article, and above all, for payment by the
line. The latter is a system which makes for insecurity in the
profession. I t also gives rise to serious difficulties in fixing compensation for dismissal or payment for holidays. Hence, newspaper men are glad to see t h a t the system of fixed salaries is no
longer reserved for certain classes of journalists such as editors,
sub-editors, heads of news departments, etc., but is extending
to most of the other classes in the profession.

— 161 —
This tendency to suppress payment by results, or at least to
introduce order into the system and to make it resemble the
fixed salary system as closely as possible, is a salient feature of
a number of collective agreements. The Austrian agreement,
for instance, guarantees a minimum annual remuneration to all
outside contributors paid by the job, even if the number of articles
published by the paper does not warrant this remuneration. The
same tendency is evident in the clauses of such agreements as
those in force in Great Britain and Switzerland, which systematise
the work of occasional contributors by requiring the employer
to treat them — provided t h a t certain conditions are observed —
as permanent contributors.
The trend towards systématisation is to be found in other
aspects of the salary problem ; the date of payment, automatic
increments, and the periodic adjustment of rates, for instance.
I t is towards this last point that, following upon their success in
getting the principle of a detailed regulation of salaries included
in their agreements, journalists are directing their efforts. They
aim at securing what at present exists only in one or two countries, namely, the adjustment of salaries without undue delay to
fluctuations in the cost of living.

11

V
THE LABOUR MARKET
UNEMPLOYMENT

The unemployment problem assumes a peculiar character in
journalism.
Without going into the details of a very complicated and
delicate problem, it may be said t h a t unemployment in most
professions is usually due, directly or indirectly, to one of two
causes : (1) an excessive influx of new recruits, or (2) economic
depression ; t h a t is to say, it is due to a surplus labour supply or
to an inadequate consumption of products.
Sometimes it is the haphazard invasion of the profession by
a host of beginners t h a t violently upsets the labour market ; in
t h a t event, either unemployment is rife among the new arrivals,
who find all the posts filled, or it engulfs the veterans of the profession who, perhaps, lose the favour of the employers or the
readers, preference being given to the new contingents ready to
obey their call. This phenomenon, familiar in industry, tends
nowadays to diminish owing t o apprenticeship and the efforts
made to recruit professions systematically. According to some,
reports, however, it is widespread among brain workers. The
legal, medical, and engineering professions in many countries are
suffering from serious unemployment, attributed to excess of
recruits.
Sometimes it is an economic depression t h a t disorganises
production and drives multitudes of workers into the streets.
Like most other intellectual professions, journalism is affected
indirectly by economic difficulties. I t suffers greatly from the
after-effects of the financial embarrassment in which papers may
be involved. A slump has only to make its appearance in trade,
drying up the source of advertisements, on which the Press fives
to a great extent, the price of paper and ink has only to rise, and
the very existence of a newspaper is threatened. The weakest
papers from the financial point of view collapse. Papers of long
standing, and to all appearances firmly established, disappeared

— 163 —

for this reason a few years ago. I n such circumstances the whole
staff of the paper is suddenly thrown out of employment. I t
is true t h a t the big newspaper Press is strong enough to overcome
crises of this kind, which are not fatal as a rule except to new
ventures or to partisan sheets with slight financial resources.
Unemployment resulting from economic crises, infrequent though
it may be, is none the less existent in journalism.
The case is different with unemployment resulting from a
superfluity of recruits ; in contrast t o the other intellectual professions, it may be considered as extremely rare in journalism for
the time being. In this respect the existence of special schools
is undoubtedly of some service to the profession. One does not
become a journalist as one becomes a barrister or a doctor. Between the candidate for journalism and the place sought after there
is not t h a t screen, which the school may be said to be, through
which the features of the profession appear only in blurred outline.
The young man whose inclinations lead him to the medical profession concerns himself much more with the details of the university education which will open the doors of the profession to him,
than with the probable condition of the profession when his studies
are ended. The long years of study would, moreover, make the
calculation of the prospects offered by the career an uncertain
process. Hence numbers of youths rush with their eyes closed
into courses of study which lead them to professions t h a t are
already overcrowded, and in which they can make a living only
with difficulty.
This does not occur, as a rule, in journalism, where there is
nothing to conceal the state of the labour market from those" who
desire to enter the profession. To put it bluntly, one gets into
journalism only if one finds a job \ There are no journalists
without experience of journalism, but there are doctors who have
1
We have already shown (p. 16) t h a t English journalists, without being
able a t the moment to point to overcrowding in the profession, call attention to
the danger in this connection which may arise from private schools of journalism,
which threaten to throw too many would-be journalists on the market.
I n the United States, the only country in which the system of schools of
journalism is working on a large scale, a great deal of unemployment is reported.
I t is true t h a t it is not the pupils of these schools who are affected, because a great
number of them are engaged before their studies are terminated ; it is rather
the persons who have received no special training, and who are confronted with
the serious competition of the trained men, who suffer.
I t must not be concluded from the foregoing remarks t h a t the fear of overcrowding the profession must necessarily lead to the abandonment of schools of
journalism. These schools could very well adjust their activities to the needs of
the profession. Indeed, it is possible t h a t this system is desirable for preparatory
schools of other professions, provided t h a t it is applied with foresight and prudence.

— 164 —
no practice, and chemists who have never earned their Uving by
chemistry. I t follows t h a t to a much greater extent than in the
other professional careers, admission to journalism is regulated by
the demand for recruits ; this does not mean t h a t the pressure
exercised by the supply of candidates (young men who have completed their higher education and who prefer this profession to
another, or members of another profession who are desirous of
changing their vocation) has absolutely no effect. But it is no
more than the pressure of people who do not yet belong to the
profession, and who would like to enter it ; it is not the crushing and
demoralising weight of unemployment overwhelming young men
a t the beginning of their career.
While journalism suffers less than any other profession from
overcrowding due to a glut of recruits, and while it suffers no more
than the other professions from economic crises afflicting the general
community, it suffers from one special cause of unemployment
associated with circumstances peculiar to the profession.
I t was remarked in the Introduction t h a t though journalism
may be considered as a trade intended to furnish a livelihood to
those who practise it, it is also possessed of a certain ideal character which gives it exceptional features. The journalist is not
merely a wage earner ; he is as a rule a man of opinions and convictions, and employs them in his work. Whereas in many other
professions political opinions and religious convictions may be
quite unconnected with the work to be done, it does not matter
whether one is a Conservative or a Radical for the purpose of
making watches, or nursing the sick, or building bridges — the
opinions and convictions of a journalist are more often than not
one of the necessary elements of his trade. I t is true, as we have
already seen, t h a t there is a tendency towards the creation of big
Press undertakings dealing exclusively in news. They are already
in existence in many countries, and the papers holding definite
opinions are perhaps destined to yield ground to them. In the
majority of countries, however, these papers have fully maintained
their position, and many periodicals not calling themselves political
papers, but considered to belong to the newspaper Press, are none
the less under the influence of some policy or other, which is supported by their employees in all ranks of the editorial staff.
A journalist's opinions are, then, closely allied with the practice
of his profession. But men do not change their opinions as, for
example, in industry they submit to the changes in a manufacturing
process. The attachment which every man has t o his own con-

— 165 —
victions and the respect which everyone has or should have for
the opinions of others, confer on journalism an unquestionable
right to esteem, although, at the same time, they expose it to a
certain danger. Upheavals in the realm of ideas have disastrous
effects on the livelihood of journalists — much more so t h a n
economic upheavals. Sometimes the movement of opinions is
limited in scope, in which circumstances it may assume one of
two forms : either changes in public opinion in the country, and
a certain alienation of sympathy on the part of the people, will
cause one or two papers to wither and finally to perish ; in t h a t
case the movement is generally prolonged, and in consequence
less severe ; or a paper will change hands, and alter its policy,
with the result t h a t its staff are thrown out of employment. At
other times the upheaval is of catastrophic proportions, as, for
example, when a change in the form of government overthrows
the entire Press of a country. There have been striking examples
of this during the course of the last decade. Governments placed
in power by revolutionary movements have been led to adopt,
as methods of warfare, measures fatal to whole sections of the
Press. In Russia, for example, large numbers of papers were
suppressed during the Revolution, and in Italy, in the course of
a few days at the end of 1926, some fifteen papers (among which
were many of considerable influence), were suspended by decrees
of the prefects.
Journalism is thus liable to a form of unemployment unknown
in other professions. Sometimes it is possible to find palliatives ;
we have already seen x how in some countries journalists insure
themselves against violent changes of opinions which may affect
a single paper. Sometimes, however, the upheaval cannot be
mitigated ; when all the papers belonging to a given school of
thought in a country are affected, there is no course open to the
unemployed journalists but to change their profession.
As to the extent of unemployment in journalism, it is almost
impossible to measure. The International Labour Office was
not surprised to receive, in most cases, vague replies on this point
from the persons and organisations to which its enquiries were
addressed. In many countries, in fact, there is no means of
discovering the number of unemployed journalists. This number
is, moreover, in all probability subject to considerable variation.
In several countries only very approximate methods are available,
1

Cf. "Termination of Services", p . 77.

— 166 —
such as the lists of situations vacant which certain associations
send to those of their members who ask for them. The number
of such lists sent out is not an absolutely sure criterion ; first,
because they are sent only to members of the association, and
afford no indication, unless by analogy, of the extent of unemployment among non-members ; secondly, because a number of the
unemployed journalists belonging to the association may try to
find work by their own efforts, without resorting to the list ;
and thirdly, because many of those who receive the list are not
out of work, but are merely looking for a better post.
As a rule, and in the majority of countries, unemployment
does not seem to give serious cause for concern ; it appears only
very spasmodically. I n Great Britain, however, it is thought
t h a t a certain seasonal regularity has been discovered in the
fluctuations of journalistic unemployment. An increase in unemployment seems to be noticeable from September onwards, and
after having reached its culminating point in November and
December, it appears to diminish in January.
Although it is very difficult to judge of the extent of unemployment generally, it has been possible in some countries to establish
certain figures.
I n Australia at the end of 1925 the Association of Journalists
reported 25 unemployed members out of a total of 1,933, or 1.29
per cent.
I n Czechoslovakia the normal percentage of unemployed among
the members of the profession throughout the entire country
varies between one and two \
The German Press Association reported a serious situation in
1923 ; at one moment the number of unemployed rose to 450, but
it subsequently diminished. At the end of 1925 the list of situations vacant, which the Association publishes twice a week, was
sent to 175 members out of a total of about 3,300 ; this proportion
corresponds to 5.3 per cent, of unemployed. I n November 1927,
the Association was sending its list to 235 persons ; it estimates
that some 20 journalists who were in employment should be
deducted from this number, leaving about 215 unemployed among
t h e 3,600 members of the association, i.e. 6 per cent. The older
1
On 1 March 1928 there were some 10 unemployed among more than 1,000
journalists.

— 167 —
journalists form the majority of the unemployed. Their situation
is a critical one : whereas young journalists find other posts fairly
easily, it is not so easy for persons who are past middle age to
find new employers, and the Association has observed in fact
t h a t difficulties in obtaining fresh employment are encountered
by journalists of forty years and over.
Although unemployment among journalists does not reach
disquieting proportions in Great Britain, it is nevertheless a source
of anxiety to them. I t is feared particularly t h a t the amalgamation of newspapers and the establishment of Press " t r u s t s " , which
is proceeding more actively there than anywhere else in Europe,
will aggravate the dangers of unemployment in the future. The
development of " trusts " generally leads to reductions of staff.
The growth of big combines tends towards a " stereotyping " of
the contents of the various papers acquired, and a consequent
shrinkage of the opportunities of employment for the journalist.
The results of this process would seem to cause more anxiety •
among British journalists than changes in the political complexion
of newspapers, which are somewhat rare in Great Britain. For
the moment, unemployment amounts to no more than 3.62 per
cent., according to information derived from the accounts of the
unemployment fund of the National Union of Journalists, which
in April 1927 showed 170 unemployed among the 4,700 members
of the Union.
As in Germany, it is the middle-aged unemployed who are a
cause of concern to English journalists, because of the difficulties
encountered in finding new work for them.
I n five countries journalists appear to be devoting special
attention to unemployment. I n France, Japan, and the United
States, it is constantly stated t h a t a number of journalists are
unemployed, although precise figures cannot be quoted. In
Hungary and Rumania, unemployment has reached grave proportions. In Hungary, where the Press is in a very critical position,
and where three influential papers, of which one was founded more
than half a century ago, disappeared within the space of a year,
it is calculated t h a t at the climax of the crisis in 1925 the proportion of unemployed among the journalists of the capital was as
high as 18 or even 20 per cent. Journalists, as a matter of fact,
were not the only persons to suffer from this crisis, for it affected
all brain workers, including officials. The crisis is now less serious,

— 168 —
particularly as a result of the stabilisation of the currency. Several
newspapers have disappeared, however, in the course of the last
few months. The papers continue t o contend with serious difficulties, among the foremost of which is the rise in the price of
paper.
I n other countries little or no unemployment is reported.
I n Austria, for instance, it may be said to be non-existent, notwithstanding the difficulties of the economic situation. For
several years a high degree of stability has been observed in the
Austrian newspaper undertakings, a condition which is attributed
primarily t o the fact t h a t the regime established by legislation
and collective agreement makes dismissal so expensive for the
publishers t h a t they do not resort to it except for weighty reasons.
I n Switzerland, in spite of the pressure exercised by the many
people who want to get into journalism, unemployment is insignificant ; the candidates keep to their own profession until a situation
becomes vacant in a newspaper. This method of entering a
profession, as we observed above, does not disturb the equilibrium
of the labour market.

METHODS OF F I N D I N G EMPLOYMENT

I n some countries, in which little unemployment is to be found,
the need of employment agencies is not keenly felt. In others,
where the organisation of such agencies appears to be necessary, and
where the official labour exchanges do not cater for journalists or
only achieve inadequate results, failing thorough knowledge and
experience of the journalistic profession, the journalists themselves
have taken the matter in hand by making use of their professional
organisations and trying to find work for their unemployed
colleagues.
I n Australia the labour exchanges do not deal with journalists.
I t is the journalists' organisations — the Australian Journalists'
Association and the Provincial Press Association — which have
taken up the business of finding work for their members. The
secretaries of the local branches of these associations collect information concerning vacancies and communicate it to members who
are out of work.

— 169 —
I n Austria, journalists themselves have undertaken the work
of finding posts for their unemployed colleagues. The Organisation of the Viennese Press has a free employment department
which looks for posts, not only in Austrian or foreign journalism,
but even in other professions if need be.
I n Belgium there are neither public nor private offices primarily
devoted to finding work for journalists.
The Belgian Press Association, however, possesses a department whose function is to give information as to the qualifications
of journalists seeking employment to managers in search of
employees. I n view of the small number of journalists unemployed in Belgium this department has not much to do.
Brazil and Bulgaria possess no official or private institution
whose duty is to place journalists in employment. I n Bulgaria,
the Association of Sofia Journalists and the Union of Provincial
Journalists occasionally endeavour to find positions for their
colleagues who are without work.
I n Canada there are only private employment agencies for
journalists.
I n Czechoslovakia there are neither public nor private offices
specially engaged in finding employment for journalists.
The Press associations, and particularly the Syndicate of
Czechoslovak Journalists, keep a list of their unemployed members, and endeavour to place them in employment.
In France, in the absence of public or private institutions
specially devoted to finding work for journalists, some of the Press
associations endeavour to secure situations for their unemployed
members.
During the period of serious unemployment from which Germany
suffered in 1923, the public employment agencies undertook the
task of finding posts for journalists. Efforts of this kind requiring,
as they do, great technical experience of the profession and a certain
familiarity with its psychology, were unfortunately not very
successful. There are no private employment agencies for journalists.

— 170 —
The National Association of the German Press created an
employment agency for journalists, including outside contributors
and translators, at the time of its foundation in 1910. During the
crisis of 1923 this department was organised on new lines, and was
actively engaged in finding situations for the journalists who had
been thrown out of work by reductions in the staff of hundreds of
periodicals or by their total disappearance. The number of the
unemployed, as we have already seen, rose at one moment to
450, and, as it could not place them in journalistic posts, the Association organised courses to facilitate their transfer to other professions. Banking, industry, and trade recruited a good number
of journalists, of whom the majority returned to their old profession after the crisis had subsided.
At the present time the Association publishes a bi-weekly list
of situations reported vacant by the affiliated local associations.
I n 1926, by this means, it drew the attention of its unemployed
members to 434 vacant posts, an average of about eight posts a
week. During the first five months of 1927 the weekly average
rose t o ten.
In 1926 no more than 47 members of the Association were
found employment by means of the list. This means t h a t only
about 10 per cent, of the situations vacant could be filled. The
Association is endeavouring to increase the proportion b y improving
the organisation of its information department ; by establishing
closer collaboration between the local organisations and the central
Association ; and by urging employers t o reserve some posts, if not
in the editorial offices proper of the paper, at least in some other
department, for middle-aged journalists who have given the best
years of their life to the profession. These steps are justified by the
fact t h a t 50 per cent, of the unemployed cannot get fresh work
owing t o their age.
Among the aims of the National Commission of Collaboration,
founded by the Newspaper Industry Employers' Association and
the National Association of the German Press, is the creation of
institutions to combat unemployment and facilitate the filling of
vacancies. The first step in this direction was the establishment
by the local Commissions of Collaboration, created in accordance
with the constitution and rules of the National Commission, of a
periodical list of unemployed persons in the respective districts.
This list, which is communicated to the employers, helps to find
work for unemployed journalists.

— 171 —
Journalists in Great Britain who are looking for work could
apply to the local exchanges of the Ministry of Labour, but no case
is known in which a situation has been found through the intermediary of these exchanges.
The appointments boards of the universities and the schools of
journalism help students who are seeking employment. This is
also one of the tasks of the University of London Committee on
Journalism, which helps the students taking the journalistic
course, instituted in 1919 by the Senate of the University.
Lastly, the principal associations of journalists endeavour to
find work for their members, and a large number of posts have been
secured by them in the course of the last twenty-five years. The
National Union of Journalists, for instance, publishes a list of
vacant posts which it sends to its members on request.
I n Greece there is no institution to deal with unemployed journalists, whether public or private offices, or Press associations.
I n Hungary, the secretariat of the Journalists' Association
includes among its functions the finding of posts for its unemployed
members. I t is the only employment agency available for journalists.
I n Italy, P a r t X X I I I of the Labour Charter provides t h a t the
task of finding employment shall be performed in each profession
solely by the joint employment agencies instituted in connection
with the syndicates. I n conformity with these provisions, offices,
with which both publishers and journalists collaborate, have
been organised in connection with the regional syndicates. I n
applying to these offices publishers are bound to give the preference
to journalists registered with the Fascist Syndicate.
No kind of institution for placing journalists in employment
is known in Latvia or Luxemburg.
I n the Grand Duchy the
need for such institutions has not been felt.
I n the Netherlands, in the absence of public or private employment institutions available for journalists, the Association of
Dutch Journalists tries to find places for its members when occasion
arises.

— 172 —
There are no employment agencies for journalists in Poland.
I n Portugal, in the total absence of institutions to which journalists could resort, the Association of Journalists undertakes
the work, in times of difficulty, of placing its unemployed members
in situations, and even does so for professional journalists who
do not belong to the Association.
Rumania does not possess any public or private employment
agency for journalists.
The Press associations do not as a rule deal with the question.
Spanish journalists are entitled to apply to the labour exchanges
when they are looking for work, but, as the employers do not
make use of these institutions when they are recruiting staff, the
journalists refrain from registering with them.
Posts are thus
offered and sought individually.
I n Sweden the public labour exchanges are open to journalists,
who do not however resort to them as a rule.
The Association of Newspaper Publishers, on the one hand,
and the Association of Swedish Journalists together with the Press
Association on the other, have instituted a joint employment
agency known as the Press Employment Office, which has not
been very active hitherto. Swedish journalists desire to see
this institution reorganised, and are of the opinion t h a t employers
and employees should be compelled to apply to it in case of need.
Switzerland has no private employment agencies for journalists,
and the official institutions are not concerned with the matter.
On the other hand, the Swiss Press Association has organised an
employment department with which the many persons who desire
to take up journalism register their names, but which rarely has
to deal with unemployed persons. As a matter of fact, publishers
seldom have recourse to this institution.
The United States have no agencies specially intended for
journalists, who, if occasion should arise, may apply to the public
or private employment offices for workers in general.

— 173 —

I n the U.S.S.R. none b u t the Government employment
agencies are allowed to exist, but situations are not necessarily
sought through their intermediary.
I t will be clear from the foregoing remarks t h a t the methods
of finding employment for journalists leave much to be desired.
The institution of employment agencies on a systematic basis
would be of the greatest advantage. I t would first of all enable
the extent of unemployment to be gauged, — unemployment
is certainly far more prevalent in most countries than is imagined
— and, secondly, it would tend to counteract the sense of insecurity
which is weighing heavily on journalism. Many associations of
journalists, while stating t h a t there is little unemployment in
the profession, point out the anxiety which the lack of security
and the prospect of finding himself suddenly without work cause
to the journalist. Well-organised employment agencies would
certainly contribute towards reassuring the members of the
profession.

VI
PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS
To the anxiety which the possibility of an abrupt termination
of employment may cause among journalists must be added the
apprehensions created by the possibility of an illness or an accident
which would reduce them and their families to distress, or to say
the least, would put them in a very difficult position. The salary
of an ordinary journalist seldom allows him to save enough t o
provide for his future. He is, like so many other workers, at the
mercy of a chance event t h a t would deprive him temporarily or
permanently of his ability to work. B u t while in many countries
endeavours are made to an increasing extent to safeguard t h e
wage earners in trade and industry against the risks to which
they are exposed, the journalist, more often than not, is left t o
his own resources. He is generally excluded from the scope of
the laws on compulsory insurance, either because he is a professional worker or because his salary exceeds a certain maximum
figure fixed by law. Yet the fact t h a t he is a professional worker
does not save him from being defenceless against the risks which
confront other workers, and his salary, little higher than the
maximum named in the insurance laws, barely suffices to keep
him alive and to meet his professional expenses. The profession
compels him, in fact, to keep up appearances to a certain extent,
and to buy books and periodicals so t h a t he may be constantly
well informed as regards current events.
I n most cases then, journalists have h a d to protect themselves.
by their own devices against the risks t h a t threaten them. In
some countries they secure the co-operation of employers for the
constitution of insurance funds, either as a result of the legislation
in force or by the insertion of special clauses in collective agreements.
Sometimes the Government subsidises these funds ; it does so in
Great Britain, in conformity with the general health insurance
scheme. Sometimes the employers alone bear the insurance
charges, either because it is compulsory upon them to do so, as is.

— 175 -^

the case in Bulgaria with regard t o accident insurance, or because
there is a provision to this effect in the collective agreement, which
is the case in Austria.
The various provident and insurance systems in each country
for t h e benefit of journalists are summarised below.
I n Australia there is no provident institution for the benefit of
journalists, who have to be satisfied with the provisions of the
collective agreement guaranteeing them paid leave in case of
illness \
I t was however decided a t a conference held at the end of 1926
t h a t publishers should pay compensation to a journalist injured in
an accident, and to the next of kin of a journalist meeting with a
fatal accident, while in employment.
Austrian journalists, whose status is noteworthy from all points
of view, enjoy a comprehensive insurance scheme which is perhaps
without equal in the profession. A whole network of insurances,
covering the risks of illness, accident, old age, invalidity, death,
and unemployment, has been established either by legislation or
through the initiative of the journalists themselves. The terms of
these insurances, remarkable enough for Austrian journalists in
general, are even more so for those of the capital, thanks to the very
generous provisions of the collective agreement of the Viennese
Press. The advantages offered by the Austrian institutions may
be briefly summarised as follows, according to risk.
Unemployment. — The risk of unemployment has been met in
various ways by Austrian journalists, but first and foremost by
the many safeguards with which they have managed to surround
dismissal.
We have already seen 2 t h a t the collective agreement of the
Viennese Press laid upon publishers the obligation to pay heavy
compensation in such a case. This compensation, in the case of
journalists with more than eight years' service, may reach two
years' salary, including the salary of the period of notice, and it
is still higher in the case of changes in the editorial policy of the
paper.
Thanks to this compensation, journalists thrown out of work
are sure of their daily bread for a fairly long time, and are thus able
1
1

Cf. "Annual Leave", p. 119.
Cf. "Termination of Services", p. 80.

— 176 —
t o look for new work without being harassed by anxiety. Further,
any who are still unemployed after having exhausted all the compensation guaranteed by the agreement, are entitled to the weekly
benefit provided by the general unemployment system for out-ofwork wage earners, fed by contributions of employees 1 , employers,
the Government, and the municipalities.
Finally, the Organisation of the Viennese Press grants assistance
or loans to its members in case of unemployment.
Sickness. — The Austrian collective agreement provides t h a t
in case of sickness the journalist with more t h a n five years' service
shall continue to be paid his full salary for four months. For each
additional period of five years' service the paid leave is increased
by one month, up to a maximum of twelve (Article 17).
Austrian journalists are also covered by the compulsory sickness
insurance system instituted by legislation. Prior to 1 July 1927
the journalists' insurance institutions were a certain number of
approved funds ; among them was t h a t of the Concordia Association, with which most of the members of the profession were
registered.
After the passing of the Act on the insurance of employees, of
29 December 1926, which came into force on 1 J a n u a r y 1927, the
Austrian Journalists' Pension Institute, founded five years earlier,
became the sickness insurance institution with the title of the
" Press Insurance Institute ".
The insurance provides medical and dental treatment, medicaments, treatment in sanatoria, etc., a daily allowance not exceeding 7.50 schillings, and grants to journalists' wives who are
confined. The Institute is also concerned with the prevention of
diseases, and displays a certain amount of activity with this end
in view.
Accidents. — If he meets with an accident in the course of duty,
the journalist receives from the Insurance Institute the refund of
his medical expenses and a temporary allowance, which is increased by 150 per cent, if the attendance of a nurse is necessary, and
which is converted into a permanent pension if the disablement
persists.
Death. — When a journalist dies, the paper pays his widow,
under the terms of Article 12 of the collective agreement, a sum
1
We shall see later the changes eSected by the agreement in the distribution
of insurance charges.

— 177 —
equal to the amount which the journalist would have received in
case of dismissal 1 .
The Insurance Institute, in addition, provides a funeral grant
and pays the widow a monthly pension equal to half of t h a t which
the journaKst would have received if at the time of his death he
was entitled to an old-age pension. The pension allowed to each
orphan is equal to 12 per cent, of the widow's pension.
As the payment of these various grants and pensions may be
subject to some delay, the Organisation of the Viennese Press has
taken steps to enable it to come to the aid of the family of a deceased
journalist immediately. In every case of death a special contribution of at least 3 schillings is levied on the members of the Organisation, and the yield is paid to the next of kin of the journalist. In
order t h a t the required sum may be available without delay, each
new member of the Organisation pays three contributions in
advance into a special fund, and this procedure enables a sum of
about 2,600 schillings to be paid to the family of the deceased man
within twenty-four hours. The family is thus able to wait in
greater tranquillity for the sums t h a t are due from the insurance
system and from the employer, t o secure which the Organisation
of the Viennese Press undertakes the necessary formalities.
Old Age and Invalidity. — By the terms of the Act on the
insurance of employees, every journalist is entitled to pensions for
invalidity and old age. The basic pension for invalidity is equal
to 35 per cent, of the salary of the insured person ; this proportion
increases with the number of contributions paid. The old-age
pension is payable to the insured person from the age of sixty (fiftyfive years for women) if he has made 120 monthly payments.
The basic pension is equal to 35 per cent, of the salary of the insured
person, and increases in proportion to the contributions paid.
I t is not difficult for an Austrian journalist to become entitled to
a pension amounting to 60 per cent, of his salary.
The Act at first admitted to the insurance scheme only persons •
having a monthly salary not exceeding 400 schillings, and this
provision excluded many journalists ; but the Organisation of
the Viennese Press succeeded in getting the maximum raised to
800 schillings. I t is thus possible for many journalists to earn
retiring pensions of 500 to 600 schillings a month.
1
T h a t is t o say, the salary for the period of notice, plus the indemnity for
dismissal. (Cf. above, p. 80.)

12

— 178 —
The Organisation of the Viennese Press is now endeavouring
to bring about the creation of a special fund for salaries above
800 schillings. I t also hopes to get independent journalists
(outside contributors) admitted to the insurance scheme.
At
present they are excluded.
Belgian journalists have no sickness or unemployment insurance
institutions. They do, however, benefit from a system of oldage pensions and life insurance, instituted by an Act of 10 March
1925.
Old-Age and Premature Death. — The Act of 1925 establishes
compulsory insurance for old age and death in the case of employees of both sexes whose annual remuneration does not exceed
15,000 francs. The contribution amounts to 10 per cent, of the
salary, 5 per cent, being paid by the employer and 5 per cent.
by the employee. In the case of insured persons whose annual
remuneration does not exceed 6,000 francs, the contribution is
only 8 per cent., of which 5 per cent, is paid by the employer.
Every insured person is entitled to an old-age pension from the
age of sixty-five if a man, and sixty if a woman. If an insured
pensioner dies, his widow receives an annuity equal to a certain
proportion of the husband's pension. This proportion varies
with the age of the man a t t h e time of his death. To the annuity
is added a monthly allowance for each child of less than 18 years
of age.
In Brazil there is no general provident scheme for journalists.
The Press associations and some of the big papers have established
funds which grant benefits in case of illness, accident, unemployment, and death. About 80 per cent, of the journalists belong
to these various funds, but as salaries are low, and contributions
are small in consequence, these institutions can only grant inconsiderable benefits.
Bulgarian journalists in regular employment are liable to the
compulsory general insurance instituted by an Act of 6 March
1924, which covers the risks of accident, illness, invalidity, maternity, and old age.
Accidents. — The Act declares t h a t every insured person
who is the victim of an accident during, or in connection with,
his work shall be treated, until cured, a t the expense of the public

— 179 —
insurance fund, which will even provide the necessary surgical
appliances. During treatment he receives, in addition, a cash
benefit for every working day lost, and varying from 12 leva for
a daily salary of less than 15 leva t o 30 leva for a salary exceeding
61 leva. To this is added 1 leva for every child maintained by
the insured person. If the victim is afflicted with total disability
to work, he is paid an annual pension varying from 3,600 leva for
a daily salary of less than 15 leva to 9,000 leva for a daily salary
exceeding 61 leva. I n the event of the death of an insured person
who is in receipt of an annuity in consequence of an accident,
his widow obtains a pension equal to 40 per cent., and each of
her children a pension equal to 30 per cent., of t h a t of the deceased.
If the death is caused by accident, the survivor's pension is equal
to t h a t of a person suffering from total disability.
The costs of accident insurance are borne entirely by the
employers. Every year the costs are divided among the employers
in accordance with the number of their employees, the amount
of salaries paid, and the degree of professional risk in their establishments.
Sickness and Maternity. — In case of sickness, the insured
person may be treated at the expense of the insurance fund for
nine months in the course of a year. I n addition, for each working
day lost he receives an allowance equal to t h a t provided for in
the case of accident.
Pregnant women are entitled to obstetrical and medical assistance, and t o the sickness allowance, for six weeks before and six
weeks after childbirth.
The cost of the insurance is covered by contributions paid
by the insured persons, the employers, and the Government. The
employers and employees each pay from 1.50 to 4 leva a week,
according to the class of the insured person. (The class is determined by the salary, as in the case of the accident insurance).
The Government adds a grant equal to half the total of all the
contributions.
Old Age and Invalidity. — I n the case of invalidity due to a
cause other than an accident, the insured person receives a pension
ranging from 1,500 to 6,000 leva, according to his class.
From the age of sixty he is entitled to an old-age pension equal
t o the invalidity pension, plus 1 leva per annum for each week,
beyond the 156 weeks provided for in the Act, in respect of which
he has paid contributions.

— 180 —
The contributions of the employers, the insured persons, and
the Government, are the same as those for sickness insurance.
I n addition to the Social Insurance Fund, the Association of
Sofia Journalists has its own fund for unemployment, sickness,
etc., and this will begin to provide pensions in the year 1930.
Czechoslovak journalists benefit from several social insurance
laws 1. The regime established by these various laws is indicated
below.
Sickness. — Journalists had their own sickness insurance
scheme in 1883. The Act promulgated in t h a t year procured
for insured persons, in consideration of a contribution, half of
which was payable by the employer, and amounting to 5 per cent.
of their salaries, a benefit of two-thirds of the basic salary, for
fifty-two weeks. A new Act passed on 9 October 1924, and
which came into force on 1 July 1926, reorganised the insurance
scheme.
The Act of 1924 relates to sickness, old-age, and invalidity
insurance. Persons who benefit from the old-age and invalidity
insurance scheme for private employees, instituted by the Act
of 1906, are excluded from its scope so far as these two risks are
concerned. This is precisely the position of the journalists, who
are thus covered by the Act of 1924 only as regards sickness.
This Act groups the insured persons in ten classes according
to their salaries. The benefits are :
(a) Free medical and pharmaceutical assistance for a period
not exceeding one year for the insured person and the
members of his family ;
(b) A sickness allowance of 2.70 to 24 crowns a day, according
to the class of the insured person, for a period not exceeding
one year ;
(c) Obstetrical aid for insured women ;
(d) An allowance, equal to the sickness allowance, for six
weeks before and six weeks after childbirth ;
(e) An allowance, equal to half the sickness allowance and
payable for twelve weeks after childbirth, for mothers
who nurse their children ;
(f) A funeral grant equal to thirty times the daily salary
of the insured person.
1
The Syndicate of Czechoslovak Journalists accepts as members only those
journalists who are insured in conformity with the legal provisions in force.

— 181 —
The sickness insurance institution may increase the scale of
benefits if its means allow. The daily allowance, for example,
may be increased by 30 per cent, for persons supporting a large
family.
The contributions are fixed by the insurance institution. I n
normal times, they may not exceed 5 per cent, of the salary of
the insured person, and half must be paid by the employer \
Invalidity, Old Age, and Death. — Journalists are subject,
as we have seen, to the Act of 1906, concerning old-age and invalidity
pensions for private employees, which was amended on 5 February
1920. This Act divides the insured persons into classes according
to their salaries, and they are liable to contributions ranging from
6 to 90 crowns a month. Two-thirds are payable by the employers
in the case of the first four classes, and half in the case of the
other classes.
The annual pensions, which were increased by 300 per cent.
by the Act of 12 August 1921, are at least 2,400 crowns in the
case of old age or complete disability, a t least 1,200 crowns for
an insured person's widow, and at least 600 crowns for an insured
person's orphan.
I n addition to the retiring pensions guaranteed by the Act,
there are others which the Association of Czechoslovak Journalists
pays to some of its members. I n consequence of the depreciation
of the crown, these pensions are as a matter of fact inconsiderable
and only serve to supplement those granted by the law.
Lastly, a number of big papers allow pensions to their editorial
staffs.
The entire system of journalists' pensions will possibly be
reorganised shortly. A Bill has been prepared and will doubtless
be submitted to Parliament in the autumn of 1928.
This Bill provides for a retiring pension (which may amount
to as much as 42,000 crowns a year) for all journalists who have
completed thirty-five years' service, or who have reached the age
of sixty. Invalidity pensions are also contemplated.
Czechoslovak journalists regard the introduction of this Bill
with satisfaction.
Unemployment. — The sickness, invalidity, and old-age insurance schemes are compulsory. Unemployment insurance, on
the other hand, is optional. The Act of 19 July 1921, which
instituted it, provides, in accordance with the Ghent system, for
I n journalism, the employer often bears the entire cost of the contribution.

— 182 —
Government contributions towards the costs of the unemployment
benefits paid out of the associations' funds. To obtain this State
assistance, amounting t o 50 per cent, of the benefit paid t o the
unemployed persons, the professional associations must comply
with certain conditions.
The Syndicate of Czechoslovak Journalists grants its unemployed members relief supplementary to the governmental
allowance.
The monthly allowances amount to about 600 crowns (of
which the Government provides half) in the case of unmarried
journalists, and about 900 crowns (of which the Government
provides one-third) in the case of married journalists.
Until J a n u a r y 1928, French journalists were not covered by
any general provident scheme. Since then, however, a general
old-age pension institution has been in existence ; it will be considered later. As regards other risks — accidents and illness — the
professional associations are endeavouring to set u p mutual-aid
funds which come into play in serious cases.
Sickness and Accidents. — The journalists' associations help
their destitute members so far as they are able. Some associations
succeed in getting their sick members into nursing homes and
in procuring free surgical treatment for them. The insurance
of journalists against accidents occurring in the execution of their
duties is far from general in the newspaper world.
Unemployment. — There is no real institute for assistance
in case of unemployment. The Association of Journalists has
a small relief fund maintained by gifts.
Death. — A certain number of journalists' associations grant
relief to the next of kin of their members. Thus the Marseilles
Press Association, on the death of a member, makes a grant of
1,000 francs to his family.
Apart from this, there are funds in some big Paris papers
(which will be dealt with in connection with retiring pensions)
to provide journalists' widows with a pension equal to half of
t h a t to which the husband was entitled, provided t h a t there is
not more than ten years' difference between the ages of the husband
and wife. If the difference in age exceeds ten years, the pension
is reduced by a percentage.
Old-Age Pensions. — Even before the establishment of the
National Fund, referred to below, there were in existence a number

— 183 —
of pension funds organised by journalists' associations (Paris
journalists, Republican journalists, parliamentary journalists,
Paris news writers, sub-editors, etc.). These funds, constituted
by the proceeds of specially authorised lotteries (Press bonds,
etc.), grant small pensions ranging from 600 to 1,200 francs a
year to their needy members. Most of the holders combine these
pensions with a restricted amount of professional work.
I t must be added t h a t the Act of 1 April 1898 grants to mutualaid societies, which comply with certain conditions and which
thereupon call themselves " approved societies ", a Government
subsidy paid from the funds annually provided for this purpose
in the budget of the Ministry of the Interior. A number of funds
belonging to journalistic organisations have applied to be included
in the scope of the Act, e.g. the Marseilles Journalists' Fund,
whose purpose is to provide its members with old-age pensions.
Finally, t h e staffs of a number of big Paris papers have formed
incorporated societies which have established pension funds
deriving their income from employers' contributions and deductions
from salaries.
One of these funds, open to the editorial staff, the administrative
staff, and t h e workmen, employed on the newspaper, provides
its members with old-age pensions calculated from the salary
of t h e five best years in respect of which the member has paid
contributions. The pensions vary from 27 per cent, of the average
salary after fifteen years' service, to 45 per cent, after twenty-five
years' service. For every additional year's service the pension
is increased by one-tenth. The contributions paid by the insured
persons are equal to 6 per cent, of their salary, and the employers
add a like contribution. If he pays a contribution of 8 per cent.
of his salary, a member assures for his wife an annuity in the
case of his death.
The system adopted by t h e institution just mentioned has
doubtless served as a model for the General Fund which the French
journalists' organisations, notably the Association of Journalists,
have obtained after long negotiations with t h e employers' associations. During the first months of 1927 a mixed committee,
composed of five representatives of the National Federation of
French Newspapers (the employers' organisation) and five representatives of the professional associations of journalists, discussed
the draft constitution and rules of a general pension fund. The
draft was examined by specialists, and the final touches were
added at the beginning of December.

— 184 —
The F u n d thus constituted assembles in one vast incorporated
society the editorial staff of all the French newspapers adhering
to the Fund. The old-age pensions which it will grant, equalling
40 per cent, of the average remuneration earned by the insured
persons during their five best years, will be payable after thirty
years' contributions and from the age of sixty years.
A pension proportional to the contributions will be payable
after twenty years' contributions. As a transitional measure
for journaMsts who had not reached sixty years of age on 1 January
1928 (the date of the inception of the Fund), thirty years' practice
in the profession are taken as equivalent t o thirty years' contributions.
The income of the Fund is derived from equal contributions
by t h e editorial staff and the publisher, each amounting to 5 per
cent, of the salary of the insured person. In consideration of
an additional contribution of 2 per cent, of the salary, the pension
may revert in part to the widow.
Finally, by a provision of fundamental importance, which
the journalists were very desirous of obtaining, and which alone
could assure the existence of the General Fund, the right to the
pension follows the journalist for the whole of his career from
paper to paper, on the condition, naturally, t h a t all the papers
are members of the Fund.
German journalists have a number of provident institutions,
some of which are maintained by their association alone, and
others with the help of the employers. Certain of the institutions
are optional in character ; the most important is of fairly recent
creation (it dates from January 1926) and is compulsory. In
the short description of these institutions which follows, they
are classified according to the nature of the risks covered.
Sickness and Accidents. — German journalists are practically
excluded from the scope of the legislation on sickness and accident
insurance, which does not apply to employees earning more than
2,700 marks a year.
The National Association of the German Press, on the other
hand, has instituted mutual-aid funds on a district basis from
which grants for medical and surgical treatment are made, and
daily sickness allowances are paid. A proposal is under consideration for the creation of a central organisation to co-ordinate
the work of the district funds, and the 1928 Assembly of the
Association will have the matter before it for decision.

— 185 —

Unemployment. — The system of unemployment benefit at
present in force in Germany, which is based on compulsory contributions from workers and employers, does not apply to persons
earning more than 2,700 marks a year. Journalists are thus
practically excluded from its scope.
Old Age, Invalidity and Death. — German journalists have
for many years had mutual-aid funds, and in some cases these
funds have been able to grant substantial benefits to their members. As an example, one may take the insurance institution
which the Union of the Labour Press possesses jointly with the
officials of the independent unions and of the Social-Democratic
Party. This institution grants pensions to widows and orphans
of journalists as well as to newspaper men who are invalids or
have reached the age of sixty-five years. The provident funds
founded in some half-dozen big newspaper firms must also be
mentioned. Together with the funds of the Union of the Labour
Press, they have been deemed worthy, by reason of their importance, to exist by the side of the general insurance system of the
German press.
This system which was declared obligatory in June of 1926
by the National Labour Administration, except for the members
of the few funds mentioned above, forms the subject of special
provisions in the collective agreements of J a n u a r y 1926, and of
a long series of agreements concluded at the same time between
the two national associations combined in the German Press
Collaboration Commission, and between this Commission and
three big insurance societies.
The agreement relating to normal service stipulates as follows
(Article 11) :
Every journalist shall be bound to insure himself, through the intermediary
of t h e insurance institution of the National Commission of Collaboration of the
German Press, with the insurance companies appointed for the purpose and on
the terms agreed upon between the institution and the insurance companies.
Journalists shall be liable to compulsory insurance from the age of twentyfive years and after one year's work in the profession. All receiving monthly
salaries up to a maximum of 2,000 marks shall the liable to compulsory insurance.
The publisher shall be responsible for effecting the insurance ; the journalist shall
be a privileged insured person.
The publisher shall be bound : (i) to pay a sum equal to 5 per cent, of the
monthly salary of t h e journalist t o the insurance institution as his share of the
premium ; (ii) to deduct from the monthly salary of the journalist a similar sum
as the share of the contribution chargeable to the latter and to pay it to the same
institution. If the journalist leaves the publisher's service, the latter shall be
bound to make over to him the rights devolving upon him in virtue of the insurance
contract. When an insured journalist enters the employment of another publisher
who is also a member of the insurance scheme, he shall continue to be in enjoyment
of t h e insurance in the measure provided for in these special provisions.

— 186 —
The institution founded by the two Press associations — the
Newspaper Industry Employers' Association and the National
Association of the German Press — is essentially only a regulating
and intermediary organ between the insured journalists and the
private companies with which the insurance is effected. As it was
in a position t o conduct the negotiations with all the authority
conferred by the imposing number of policies to be concluded under
its auspices, the insurance institution obtained extremely favourable conditions.
The journalists have the choice of two forms of insurance.
Either they are guaranteed payment of a capital sum when they
have reached the age of sixty-five years (in case of death before
this age the sum is paid to their survivors) and a pension (which
does not annul the right t o the capital sum at the proper time)
in case of permanent invalidity amounting to at least one third
of their working capacity ; or the insurance provides old-age
pensions payable from the age of sixty-five years (fifty-five years
in certain cases) and pensions for widows and orphans amounting to
50 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively of the pension payable to
the insured person, as well as invalidity pensions proportional to
the total amount of contributions paid.
A special fund of the insurance institution constituted
special contributions of employers (equal to 2 % per cent, of
salaries of the insured persons) is intended to supplement
inadequate pensions of journalists who became members of
institutions when they were over forty years of age.

by
the
the
the

Another temporary fund guarantees, without previous contributions and as a transitional measure, means of support to persons
of more t h a n sixty-eight years of age.
I n case of unemployment the insured journalist may suspend
payment of his contributions for one year without losing any of his
rights.
The system established allows a journalist who joins the insurance institution at the age of twenty-five years to acquire a pension
payable at sixty or sixty-five years and equal to about half his
salary.
The institution comprised 3,232 members on 1 October 1927.
I t collects contributions amounting to about 200,000 marks every
month. The special fund for insured persons of more than forty
years of age, known as the 2 % per cent, fund, received about
500,000 marks in 1927.

— 187 —
I t should be mentioned that, in addition to the benefits indicated above, the agreement of J a n u a r y 1926 provides t h a t if a
journalist dies, the pubhsher must pay his salary t o the next of
kin for a t least four months.
I n Great Britain the law concerning compulsory health insurance
and unemployment insurance contains limiting clauses, relating
to the income of the insured person, which practically exclude
journalists from their scope. I t will, however, be seen presently
t h a t the National Health Insurance Act, which encourages optional
insurance, confers substantial benefits on them.
British journalists have several provident institutions, among
which must be mentioned the Provident Fund, the Aid Fund,
and the Orphan Fund, all in connection with the Institute of
Journalists, the Newspaper Press Fund, and various funds of the
National Union of Journalists. These institutions are self-supporting, except certain funds such as the Sick Fund of the National
Union of Journalists and the Provident F u n d of the Institute of
Journalists, which act as approved societies within the meaning
of the Health Insurance Act, and which in this capacity enjoy
certain advantages mentioned below.
The risks covered by these various institutions are briefly
explained below.
Sickness. — All the funds enumerated above, with the exception
of the Orphan Fund, insure against sickness. They derive their
income from the general contributions of their members and from
voluntary contributions. The Sick F u n d of the National Union
of Journalists and the Provident F u n d of the Institute of Journalists
whose organisation is of a special character in consequence of the
Health Insurance Act which governs their activities, are in a
category apart. This Act, which received the Royal Assent on
10 December 1911, makes all wage earners whose annual remuneration does not exceed £250 Hable to compulsory insurance. For
persons whose remuneration is above this maximum insurance is
optional, but benefits from Government assistance. Insured
persons may choose the institution with which they desire to
insure. When an institution has satisfied certain conditions
imposed by the Act (obligation to refrain from seeking profits,
control of members, etc.) it is called an "approved society". Its
organisation and its activities are then subject to Government
regulation, and it receives Governmental grants.

— 188 —
Members'
are uniformly
amounts, the
respectively.
benefits.

contributions, fixed independently of salary rates,
lOd. a week for men, and 9d. for women. Of these
employers are required to contribute 5d. and 4d.
The Government pays two-ninths of the cost of

Benefits in case of sickness are 15s. a week for men, and 12s.
for women, beginning with the fourth day of illness and for a
duration of twenty-six weeks. If the illness turns to permanent
disability the insured person receives 7s. 6d. a week. The right to
benefit is acquired after the payment of 104 weekly contributions.
If the means of the society permit, the Act authorises the payment
of benefits additional to the statutory amounts.
Apart from the two institutions mentioned, there are, as we
have seen, various funds t h a t are not subject to the Health Insurance Act. One of these is the Newspaper Press Fund, to which
any journalist may belong on payment of £15 15s. in one or several
instalments. The right to benefit is acquired with the first instalment.
The Provident F u n d of the Institute of Journalists insures its
members against, disability (blindness,'mental breakdown, etc.).
Its grants, in conformity with the provisions of the Friendly
Societies Act, may not exceed £300, but supplements are added to
these basic benefits. The supplements granted by the Provident
Fund, which has received large gifts, recently amounted to 65 per
cent, of the basic benefits.
Accidents. — The institutions t h a t insure against illness also
insure against accidents, but, as far as the latter risk is concerned,
they have no claim upon the Government or employers' contributions.
Death. — The Provident Fund of the Institute of Journalists
insures the lives of its members for a basic sum not exceeding
£300, which is, however, often augmented by substantial supplements. When they are able to do so, the other funds grant assistance in case of death, and the Orphan Fund of the Institute
grants maintenance and education allowances to the necessitous
children of deceased journalists. The Fund is supported b y
voluntary contributions, and has amassed a capital of £35,000.
Unemployment. — The Unemployment Insurance Act of 1920,
which provides for contributions on the part of employers, workmen,
and the Government, applies only to those non-manual wage

— 189 —
earners who are in receipt of less than £250 a year ; it does not
therefore apply t o the general body of journalists 1 .
In the absence of State unemployment insurance for journalists,
the National Union of Journalists and the Institute of Journalists
grant unemployment allowances to their members. The funds
allotted to this purpose are derived from members' contributions.
Old-Age Pensions. — The Act of 8 August 1925, which came
into force on 1 J a n u a r y 1927, excludes from its scope non-manual
workers whose remuneration exceeds £250 a year. Journalists,
therefore, are practically unaffected by i t 1 .
The Newspaper Press Fund employs a part of its capital in
granting old-age pensions to a number of journalists.
I t must be added t h a t a continually increasing number of
newspaper firms take steps to provide the aged members of their
staffs with pensions, and further t h a t aged journalists who are
reduced to distress are entitled, like everyone else, to a small
pension by the terms of the Old-Age Pension Act of 1908.
Insurance questions received the attention of Hungarian journalists at an early stage. Their first mutual-aid fund was founded
in 1881. The results of their efforts, in the absence of an official
insurance scheme, to protect themselves against the risks of illness,
accidents, old age and death, are indicated below.
Sickness. — The Act of 1891 on compulsory health insurance
does not apply to journalists.
The Aid F u n d of the Association of Journalists, whose capital
before the war amounted to 340,000 gold crowns, with an annual
expenditure of about 20,000 gold crowns, was almost annihilated by
the fall of the crown.
The Journalists' Hospital and Sanatorium Union was originally
an offshoot of the Association of Journalists, but it is now an inde1
Since a certain number of journalists may, nevertheless, be covered by the
Acts relating to unemployment insurance and old-age pensions, it may be mentioned
t h a t the first of these Acts provides for an unemployment benefit of 18s. 6d per
week for twenty-six weeks in the year (plus 5s. a week for a wife and Is. for each
child) and weekly contributions of 9d. payable by the employee, lOd. payable
by the employer, and 6 s / 4 d. payable by the Government.
The second Act establishes an old-age pension of 10s. a week payable a t the
age of sixty-five, a widow's pension of 10s. a week (plus 5s. a week for the eldest
child and 3s. for each of the others), and an orphan's pension of 5s. 6d. a week.
The weekly contributions are 4%d. payable by the employer, the Government
bearing the administrative costs and making deficits good by means of varying
subsidies.

— 190 —
pendent institution. I t procures free medical, dental, and pharmaceutical treatment for its members. They numbered 692 in
1926, of whom about 450 belonged to editorial staffs. The monthly
contributions amounted to 100,000-120,000 crowns.
The Union possesses a rest home near Visegrad, where journalists may spend their holidays on reduced terms. There is free
accommodation for four persons in the home.
Accidents. — The Union grants immediate assistance to its
members who are injured in accidents.
Death. — On the death of an insured person, his next of kin
receive a funeral grant from the Hospital and Sanatorium Union,
and assistance from the Journalists' Old-Age Pension Fund.
Unemployment. — There is a t yet nothing in the way of
unemployment insurance in Hungary. The Association of Hungarian Journalists is actively engaged in seeking a satisfactory
solution of the problem.
Old-Age Pensions. — The Journalists' Old-Age Pension Fund
was founded in 1881. I n 1914 it comprised 301 members, and its
capital amounted to 3,600,000 gold crowns. At t h a t time it paid
monthly pensions of 200 crowns to 35 of its members, of 150 crowns
t o 27 journalists' widows, and of 50 crowns to 11 orphans. Unfortunately the F u n d suffered the same fate as the Aid Fund of the
Association of Journalists. I n 1924 it was in possession of only
5,200,000 paper crowns (one paper crown = 0.00725 gold francs,
or about 1 / 100 d. Although its membership rose again to 287, the
Fund could only pay insignificant pensions, hardly exceeding
6,500 paper crowns a month. Orphans were in receipt of 100
crowns a month. To rescue their aged colleagues from distress,
journalists in employment remitted t o the F u n d 1 percent, of their
pay, and this contribution served to increase the pensions to a
slight extent.
Italian journalists have for many years persistently endeavoured to obtain what is considered as an absolute necessity in
their unstable profession — an insurance system capable of giving
them some security as regards t h e future. These efforts, the first
results of which were seen in the numerous funds organised in
connection with the regional associations, have at last led to the
institution of a national fund.
Created in October 1925 by the collective agreement of t h e
former Press Federation, the National Provident Institute of

— 191 —
Italian Journalists was sanctioned by two Royal Decrees, one dated
25 March 1926, which gave it corporate status, and the other of
23 September 1926, which approved its constitution and rules. I t s
aim is to organise various forms of insurance. I t is accomplishing
its task by degrees, and uses the funds at its disposal to the best
advantage, either in assuming itself the responsibility for the
insurance or in serving as intermediary between the insured persons and other institutions. Until it has completely attained its
object by covering all risks, it will allow the local funds to continue
in existence in so far as they deal with risks not within the scope of
the Institute.
The income of the Institute is constituted :
(1) By a contribution, half of which is payable by the
employers, equal to 4 per cent, of the salary of the journalists insured (collective agreement of 1 October 1925) ;
(2) The proceeds of a duty of 20 centesimi on all receipts for
subscriptions to, or advertisements in, any of the periodicals of the country (Legislative Decree of 14 J a n u a r y
1926);
(3) 10 per cent, of the duty levied on railway tickets delivered
at special rates on the occasion of big artistic, sporting or
other events.
All the members of the National Syndicate belong, ex officio, t o
the Institute, which also accepts persons who are not registered
with the Syndicate, but to whom the collective agreement relating
to employment nevertheless applies. The Italian system of
insurance at present covers the following risks :
Unemployment. — The mutual-aid funds maintained by t h e
local syndicates generally include a special fund for the payment
of allowances to necessitous unemployed persons.
Sickness. — The collective agreement of the Italian journalists
provides t h a t in case of sickness every journalist is entitled to three
months' leave with full pay, and three months with half pay.
If the illness is due to the journalist's work, it is covered by the
general legislation on occupational diseases.
Lastly, every journalist who is in need owing to illness may
apply to the local funds, or to the National Institute, which grants
assistance varying in amount according to the state of the annual
balance sheet.
Old-Age Pensions. — Old-age pensions are granted in the following manner :

— 192 —
The National Provident Institute of Italian Journalists contracts a life insurance policy with the National Insurance Institute
in respect of every journalist belonging to the former body. On
19 December 1927 an agreement concluded between the two Institutes settled the details of these insurances. The individual
policies established on the endowment insurance system are for a
capital sum of 25,000 lire. The National Insurance Institute
undertakes to accept without medical examination all journalists
registered in the course of 1928, and to treat others in a very
liberal way.
Death and Invalidity. — By the terms of the collective agreement in force, the employer must pay the legal heirs of a deceased
journalist the indemnities which the journalist would have received
in the case of termination of services. The heirs also receive the
sums provided for in the life insurance contracted with the National
Insurance Institute.
On 21 March 1928 the executive committee of the Institute
of Journalists approved the issue of a second life policy of 25,000
lire which would be added to the first.
I n the case of permanent disability the guaranteed capital sum
is 75,000 lire.
The insurance furnishes in addition a daily allowance of 25 lire
in the case of temporary disability.
Luxemburg journalists are not included in the scope of the
Acts instituting compulsory sickness, old-age, and invalidity
insurance. These Acts contain, in fact, salary limitations, which
for all practical purposes shut out the majority of journalists.
On the other hand, about a third of the journalists of Luxemburg belong to mutual-aid funds organised by individual papers
for the benefit of their personnel. One of these papers provides
its staff with a life insurance policy of 50,000 francs, and insurance
against total disability to the amount of 100,000 francs.
Another has taken an interesting step analogous to the system
adopted in Germany. I t contracts with a private insurance
society an endowment insurance falling due at sixty, combined
with insurance against invalidity, for all its personnel, including
t h e management staff. The contributions represent 8 per cent.
of the salary, 3 per cent, being payable by the insured person
a n d 5 per cent, by the paper.
The Luxemburg Association of Independent Journalists,

— 193 —
to which, as a matter of fact, the editorial staff of the paper mentioned belong, is arranging for a similar insurance in favour of
its members.
Polish journalists are covered by the Act of 19 May 1920
relating to health insurance.
By the terms of this Act every insured person is entitled, from
the third day of illness, and during thirty-nine weeks, to benefit
amounting to 60 per cent, of his basic salary.
The contribution, the amount of which is not fixed by the
law, is payable as to 40 per cent, by the insured person and as to
60 per cent, by the employer.
Risks other than illness were not covered until recently, except
b y mutual-aid societies organised by the Journalist's Association,
and by funds instituted by a certain number of papers for the
benefit of their own staffs,
This is no longer the case. An Act of 24 November 1927,
which came into force on 1 J a n u a r y 1928, organised unemployment, invalidity, and old-age insurance for professional workers,
and journalists are included in its scope.
Unemployment. — I n the case of unemployment the insured
person is paid an allowance equalling 30 per cent, of his average
remuneration if he is unmarried and 40 per cent, if he is married.
Ten per cent, is added for each member of his family supported
by him, provided t h a t the total allowance does not exceed fourfifths of the basic salary.
Invalidity. — The invalidity pension is accorded to an insured
person who is no longer capable of practising the profession —
t h a t is to say, a person who has lost a t least half his working
capacity. I t is composed of a basic pension equal to 40 per cent.
of the basic salary and it is increased by one-sixth of one per cent.
for each month's contribution beyond the first 120 months, provided
t h a t it does not exceed three-fifths of the basic salary. For each
child under the age of eighteen years supported by the pensioner,
an allowance equal to one-tenth of the basic pension is granted,
provided t h a t the pension, including the allowance, does not
exceed the remuneration taken as the basis for the purpose of
calculating the pension.
Old-Age Pensions. — Old-age pensions are similar to the
invalidity pensions. They are payable to men at sixty-five
years of age (or sixty years if they have completed 480 monthly
13

— 194 —

payments) and to women at sixty-five years also (or fifty-five if
they have completed 420 monthly payments).
The widow of a journalist receives a pension equal to threefifths of that to which her husband would have been entitled
at the time of his death. An orphan with one parent receives
one-fifth of this pension, and an orphan with no parents, twofifths.
The contributions amount to 2 per cent, of the salary of the
insured person for unemployment insurance and 8 per cent, for
old-age and invalidity insurance. After five years the Government will, if necessary, fix new rates, without, however, exceeding
3 per cent, of the salary in the case of unemployment insurance and
10 per cent, in the case of old-age and invalidity insurance.
The contributions are divided between the employers and the
employees in the proportions indicated below, which depend on
the amount of the salary of the insured person.
Proportion of the contribution
chargeable to
Monthly pay
employer
Less than 60 zloty .
60 t o 400 zloty
400 to 800 zloty
More than 800 zloty

insured person

aU

V.
V.
7s

V.
V.
7*

The Warsaw Association, which groups about half of the
journalists of the capital, grants assistance in serious cases even
to persons who are not members.
In Portugal, there is no general insurance scheme for journalists.
The Press associations have created funds for the relief of their
members in case of sickness, unemployment, death, and imprisonment for offences against the Press legislation.
In Rumania, in default of a general provident scheme for
the benefit of journalists, the Press associations have instituted
mutual-aid funds whose scope includes sickness, death, unemployment, and old age. The Bucarest Journalists' Association and
the Rumanian Press Association have been prominent in this
work. These funds, composed of contributions from their members, afford relief varying with their means, but which does not

— 195 —
at all correspond to the cost of living. I t should be added t h a t
some of the big papers have instituted pension funds for their
staffs.
The collective agreement of the minority Press of Transylvania
stipulates t h a t the next of kin of a journalist who dies in employment shall receive from his paper, in two instalments, the amount
due in case of dismissal, and which in no case shall be less than
three months' pay.
I n the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom, journalists are in the
enjoyment of a pension system sanctioned by law. The Decree
of 25 September 1926, in addition to a chapter devoted to working
conditions (including clauses concerning sick leave and death x ),
contains a second part which establishes insurance for old age and
invalidity.
By the terms of the Decree, the Journalists' Pension Fund,
which began to operate on 1 January 1927, is placed under the
supervision of the Ministry of Social Welfare. I t provides retiring
pensions amounting, in the case of a person with thirty years'
service in the profession, to about 50 per cent, of the salary. I n
case of death, the next of kin are entitled to the full pension if
the insured person died while in employment. If he was a pensioner his widow is entitled to 20 per cent, of the retiring pension
together with an allowance of 5 per cent, for each child. I n the
case of complete disability, the insured person is entitled to a pension equal to his full salary ; in the case of partial disability, to
a pension proportional to the degree of disability.
The income of the Fund is composed of the journalists' contributions, amounting to 2 per cent, of the salary for the first ten years,
3 per cent, for the next ten years, and 4 per cent, for a third period
of ten years. Like contributions are paid by the publishers,
and annual grants are made by the Government and the Association of Yugoslav Journalists. The Fund may also receive gifts
and the proceeds of events organised in its favour.
The institute created by the Yugoslav Decree will not begin
to use its capital before 1932. Until then the funds will accumulate.
1
On the death of a journalist, his employer must pay the family the [salary
in respect of the period of notice, agreed upon between them, for the termination
of services.
If the journalist dies as the result of an accident happening in the course of
duty, this sum must be doubled (section 10).

— 196 —
Spanish journalists are not covered by any general provident
scheme. The Press associations, however, have managed to
organise mutual-aid funds for the benefit of their members. The
great majority of journalists belong to these associations, among
the most important of which are the Madrid Press Association
and the Barcelona Journalists' Association. The latter has
organised a free medical and pharmaceutical department, and
makes grants varying from 500 to 1,000 pesetas to the next of
kin of its members in the event of death.
At the present time there is no old-age pension scheme, but
the Spanish Press Federation, which groups most of the journalists'
associations of the country, is planning the creation of a national
fund (Montepío nacional de periodistas) which will provide the
aged members of the profession with retiring pensions.
The scheme already mentioned for the regulation by law of
conditions of employment in the Press, prepared by the National
Assembly, which is encountering a certain amount of opposition
among journalists, provides for the institution of provident funds.
These funds, which would be obligatory and controlled by the
Government, would be constituted by the contributions of the
journalists and by a levy on the net profits of newspapers.
I n default of a general and official insurance scheme, Swedish
journalists have three provident funds.
Sickness and Accidents. — The members of the Association of
Swedish Journalists in the case of illness or accident are in receipt
of relief from the provident fund of their association.
I n connection with the Press Association, there is another
fund, the "Norstedt and Söners F u n d " which represents the proceeds of a gift, and which is intended to "help journalists in need".
Unemployment. — Every member of the Association of Journalists who is without work may ask the Provident Fund of the
Association for a grant, the amount of which is fixed by the Council
of the Association in conformity with the following rules : the
unemployed journalist may receive a monthly allowance equal to
50 per cent, of his last salary. This allowance is paid during
three months if he has been a member of the Association for five
years. If he has been a member for less than five years, be receives
only 33 l / 3 per cent, of his salary, and if he has been a member for
only a year, he receives a single lump sum of 300 crowns.

— 197 —
Death. — The Swedish Press Pension Fund, of which an account
is given below, establishes insurance policies in favour of widows
and orphans, but only an insignificant number of Swedish journalists
have subscribed to these policies.
Old-Age Pensions. — I n 1874, the question of old-age pensions
was discussed in the Press Association. I n 1882, the constitution
and rules of the Swedish Press Pension Fund were adopted, and
before long the capital of the F u n d amounted to more than 600,000
crowns, while 20,000 crowns were paid out in pensions to about
50 persons. Anyone who was employed in a newspaper, even
in the managerial department, could be a member of the Fund.
I n 1905 an attempt was made to reorganise the F u n d on the
basis of co-operation between the Press Association, the Association of Swedish JournaUsts, and the Association of Newspaper
Publishers ; but it was only in 1922 t h a t an agreement was reached,
in accordance with which the journalists' and publishers' organisations recommended their members to participate in the Pension
Fund. The Fund is maintained by equal contributions from
employers and employees (the latter's share may not exceed 5 per
cent, of their salary) and pays pensions not exceeding 50 per cent.
of the salary of the insured person. The retiring age is sixtytwo years. During the first years of the Fund's activities, pensions
may not exceed 840 crowns a year in any one case.
I n Switzerland there is no provident institution for the benefit
of journalists, but an agreement signed in 1923 by the Press Association and the Publishers' Association states t h a t :
. . . While respecting the agreement of 1919 concerning minimum salaries,
the publishers must make the following annual payments as their share of the
insurance of the members of their editorial staff belonging to the Swiss Press Association :
1. For every journalist employed in the head office of a paper appearing
les3 than six times a week, 250 francs.
2. For every journalist employed in the head office of a paper appearing
a t least six times a week, 500 francs.
These supplements to the annual salary constitute the publisher's share of
the annual premium for the old-age and life insurances which must be effected by
the publishing house, with t h e financial co-operation of every permanent journalist,
and for his benefit. The insurance policy is the property of the journalist, b u t
it is nevertheless under the surveillance of the publisher.

I n the United States there is no general insurance scheme for
journalists. Some big papers, however, have their own funds
which insure their staffs against certain risks. A big Washington
daily paper, for example, has instituted an insurance fund covering

— 198 —
old age and sickness for the benefit of its employees, and also a
savings bank to which the firm contributes half as much as the
amount deposited by each member. The sickness and old-age
fund is maintained wholly at the expense of the paper, which
pays contributions equal to 5 per cent, of the salaries of its
employees.
The fund provides old-age pensions payable at sixty years
of age and equal to 50 per cent, of the insured person's salary.
Upon his death it pays the next of kin an allowance not exceeding
3,000 dollars. Finally, every insured person suffering from illness
receives an allowance equal t o his full salary during thirteen
weeks, and half his salary during thirty-nine weeks.
American journalists benefit, in addition, from a number of
foundations such as t h a t provided for in the will of Mr. James
Gordon-Bennett. This foundation occupies itself with aged
journalists belonging to one or two papers in New York.
The Charles D. Haines Foundation may also be mentioned as
having set up a home for journalists in Florida in November
1925.
Journalists in the U.S.S.R. who belong to the permanent
staff of a newspaper are included in the general social insurance
scheme. Outside contributors may participate only if their
collaboration is of a permanent character, and if the salary they
receive from the publishers constitutes their main source of income.
The social insurance scheme covers the following risks : (a) sickness
and accidents (temporary disability) ; (b) permanent disability ;
(c) unemployment ; (d) death ; (e) maternity.
All salaried employees who form part of the permanent staff
are automatically brought within the social insurance scheme.
The contributions are paid in their entirety by the employers.
I n theory, the situation of journalists with regard to the social
insurance scheme is identical with t h a t of industrial workers.
I n practice, however, journalists benefit from it in a smaller degree.
The enquiry, to which we have already referred 1, carried out by
the Press Section of the Syndicate of Polygraphie Workers, shows
t h a t the fraction represented by grants from the social insurance
funds amounts to 0.2 per cent, of the income of a journalist, whereas
it amounts t o 5 per cent, in the case of an industrial worker.
1

See "Salaries", p. 159.

— 199 —

The efforts put forth by the journalists in a number of countries
to organise provident schemes will be apparent from the foregoing
survey. In two or three of these countries they have obtained
notable results, but, generally speaking, there remains a great
deal to be done.
The International Federation of Journalists has seen that this
is a matter in which it could do very good work by studying and
making known the systems that have given the most convincing
results in practice. Among its aims, as defined in its rules, is
"the examination of the best methods of assistance and insurance
applicable to the profession, and their application for the benefit
of organisations which desire to make use of them".
Soon after its foundation, it set up a Committee on Assistance
and Welfare, whose seat was fixed at Vienna, in a country in which
journalists have to their credit some of the finest achievements in
the realm of insurance.
The Committee started work immediately, and it will shortly
publish the first results of its investigations.

CONCLUSIONS

The end of our survey has now been reached, and it will be
well to pause a moment to see if its cardinal features can be brought
into relief.
W h a t strikes a student of conditions in journalism first of
all, is t h a t it is a profession in process of organisation, a profession
t h a t is putting its house in order. Before our eyes, a concentration of effort, together with a simplification and an adjustment of the constituent elements, are little by little being substituted for a reign of chance and chaos, and the blind, pitiless
play of forces sprung from false conceptions of individual interests. This phenomenon, in a sphere in which the most marked
individualism has long held sway, is certainly instructive. B u t
our task here is only to note its economic effects, and its influence
on professional activity in its various forms.
One cannot but be impressed by the striving to standardise
and systematise the profession. The movement towards a definite
status, towards permanent conditions, is general ; the desire for
stability and regulation is universal. These developments present
different aspects in different localities ; here and there they reveal
themselves in the creation of co-ordinating organs and special
judicial bodies and in a codification, steadily becoming more
rigid, of what was once a congeries of ill-defined customs.
One of the most salient features of this progressive organisation
of the profession, this advance towards a clearly defined status,
is the activity displayed by journalists united in increasingly
disciplined and cohering organisations. Grouped, to begin with,
in purely friendly associations, they imparted a more and more
accentuated trade union character t o their organisations as the
industrialisation of the newspaper developed, and the economic
difficulties besetting them grew more serious. They were among
the first of the brain workers to see the advantages of professional
organisation as a means of protection, and to employ it deliberately.
They have thus given the lie to the assertion t h a t the professional
classes are instinctively hostile to all forms of professional solidarity

— 201 —
and to all organised effort.
Here we see brain workers —
and journalists are unquestionably brain workers, for they are
covered by any definition which may be given to the term — who
have succeeded in constituting highly combative associations,
thanks to which they have achieved striking gains in various
quarters.
I t is difficult to say up to just what point the example of the
manual workers was decisive in this respect. For a long time
journalists were in a position to observe — quite near at home,
in fact, among the newspaper printers — the support afforded
by trade union organisation in times of economic trouble, and
its part in the smallest improvement in the lot of the workers.
They realised, too, what the conditions of the workers would have
been without it. Moreover, several journals have for many
years had columns devoted to labour affairs to which specialist
writers give much time and care. These specialists were able
not only to give definition to the somewhat nebulous conceptions
of their colleagues, but to initiate them into the principles and
the mechanism of trade union organisation. Thus, when their
difficulties increased, they were quite naturally led to employ
the same weapon.
Journalists in different countries, however, did not all react
in the same way when confronted with these difficulties. Some,
as we have seen, deliberately copied the example of the manual
workers, and unhesitatingly applied their methods as soon as
they realised the advantages to be obtained by this policy. Others,
seeing in their individualism, and their antipathy to all kinds of
organisation, one of the distinctive characteristics of the brain
worker's status, and bent, above all, on maintaining what they
considered to be the hall-mark of a class of society, refused to
employ methods t h a t were looked upon as alien to the profession.
I t may be said t h a t for them the trade union activities of the
manual workers, far from serving as a model, were an obstacle
to the adoption of defensive principles in professional matters.
Others again, who were not of the opinion t h a t their professional status must necessarily go hand in glove with an individualism opposed to all professional solidarity, nevertheless hesitated
to employ trade union methods, for fear of damaging their case
before the proprietors, and thought t h a t they would obtain better
results by appearing to repudiate any combative tendency, and
remaining faithful to the old system of more or less individual
discussion. But as soon as the meagreness of the results achieved

— 202 —

by these conciliatory tactics was brought home to them, they
did not think twice before following in the tracks of the manual
workers. I n recent times journalists have buñt up associations
organised on purely trade union lines, and far from deploring
this policy as one entailing the abandonment of some of the characteristics peculiar to their professional status, they are obviously
proud of the system of agreements thereby attained and the successes won by their efforts, as well as the example of solidarity
t h a t they have given.
I n many countries, moreover, the efforts of journalists encountered a fairly sympathetic attitude on the part of the employers,
and this circumstance greatly facilitated the codification of working
conditions in the profession. Realising t h a t such a codification
offered a firm foundation for the future relations between the
various groups of which a publishing house is composed, and
t h a t by the good will and the stability which would ensue, it
would assure the prosperity of the newspaper, the publishers
agreed to discuss in great detail the working conditions of their
editorial staffs. I n some cases they consented to real sacrifices,
merely making sure, by vigorous steps towards organisation on
their own side, t h a t the terms agreed upon would be universally
carried out, and consequently could not disturb the free play
of competition. The employers' organisation thus assisted in the
work of codification, first of all by enabling the two parties t o
come into contact and fruitfully discuss the problems raised, and
later by facilitating the adoption of reforms, the equitable execution
of which by all concerned would not be open to doubt. The
profession was not disorganised by any unsystematic application of
the measures decided upon but was reorganised at a higher level.
We have seen t h a t in countries where the conditions of the
journalistic profession have been subjected to codified regulations
there are two kinds of codes ; those established within the bounds
of the profession by agreement between journalists and publishers,
and those of a legislative nature. For the moment the latter
variety is but sparsely represented. Legislation merely sanctions
the provisions embodied in agreements and gives them the force
of law, or, if it goes further and propounds specific regulations,
it has to be completed by agreements. I n only one instance,
in the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom, is there to be found a legislative measure t h a t takes precedence over all governance by collective agreements, and renders them almost superfluous by the

— 203 —

abundance and precision of its clauses and by the real progress
t h a t it effected.
If at this stage we examine the provinces in which the efforts
of journalists have been made, the points to which they have
been directed and the results obtained, we find t h a t there are
three classes of problems ; these we shall briefly survey.
The first class has to do with salaries.
Whenever defensive associations have been created in journalism, their first task has been the improvement of salaries,
which had lagged far behind the inflated cost of living due to the
war, and were therefore, in view of current prices, much below
the 1914 level. The situation resulting in most countries from
this state of affairs was an intolerable one, and it was a decisive
factor in the growth of the defensive movement among journalists. The first essential was to be able to make a living out
of one's work, leaving the conditions in which the work was done
for later consideration. The salary problem was thus in the
forefront of the journalist's cares, and his first efforts were towards
a collective solution which would leave as little room as possible
to arbitrary proceedings. In many countries the establishment
of a minimum salary was secured ; the harmony between the
entire scale of salaries and the cost of living was restored, and
the editorial staffs of many newspapers were rescued from a lamentable situation. Here and there journalists have succeeded in
safeguarding the advantages gained by the introduction of the
sliding scale (whereby salaries vary with the cost of living), or
at least by securing the right of submitting urgent and unforeseen
matters to a permanent body.
The second class of problems, without exception, springs from
the general anxiety with regard to security of tenure.
To co-ordinate and systematise the profession by regulating
recruiting, by introducing rules governing dismissal, by delimiting
carefully the grades of newspaper workers, each with its rights
and duties clearly defined, and by combating the dangerous
competition of amateur journalists ; to make war on unemployment ; to organise insurance ; to guarantee a just and sure settlement of disputes — these are all tasks aiming at satisfying the
crying need for security in a profession in which the cares of the
morrow have so long predominated, and in many places still do.
We know of the important results obtained in some countries
in connection with this group of problems. We have mentioned

— 204 —

the clauses of collective agreements prohibiting publishers from
accepting free copy, and others t h a t avoid the competition of
outside contributors by compelling papers to pay them as highly
as the permanent editorial staff. We have drawn attention to
the safeguards surrounding dismissal, especially in one country,
where the conditions attaching to it are so onerous for the employers
t h a t journalism has become a remarkably stable profession. An
account has also been given of the important results obtained
here and there with regard to special jurisdiction and arbitration,
which journalists prefer to the ordinary courts for reasons of
technical competence. Special procedure of these kinds has
contributed in a great measure towards establishing security in
the profession, thanks to the certitude which its members have
of being judged, should occasion arise, by men thoroughly
acquainted with the needs and customs of journalism. We have
also brought to notice the amplitude of the provident schemes
which journalists have set on foot in various countries with the
co-operation of the employers, and in some cases with the aid of
legislation.
The third group of problems to which journalists have devoted
their attention relates to working conditions.
While it is essential to obtain a salary t h a t makes normal
living possible, and while it is necessary for the worker to be in
the enjoyment of a certain security shielding him from unexpected
catastrophes, and thus bringing to his mind the freedom and
tranquillity without which fruitful work would be an impossibility,
it is of no less importance t h a t his task should be performed in
suitable conditions. The worker must be protected from the
fatigue caused by overwork, and from the harmful exploitation of
his faculties, a small part of which, to say the least, he is entitled
to devote to interests outside the profession. Working conditions,
including hours of work, night work, weekly rest, and holidays,
have been described in the course of our survey. I t must suffice to
recall that, in spite of the elusiveness of the questions of hours of
work and night work in journalism, they have been dealt with in
one or two countries by collective agreements ; t h a t the problem
of weekly rest, the solution of which was rendered difficult by the
modern notion of a daily paper, has been solved in many countries
by legislation ; and t h a t the problem of holidays, the easiest to
solve from the technical point of view, has received fairly liberal
treatment in most of the existing collective agreements, and in
one special law.

— 205 —

I t may be asked : What remains to be done in the realms of
salaries, security of tenure, and working conditions ; and, from the
international point of view, what conclusions may be drawn from an
examination of the task which is still to be accomplished if journalists are to be assured of the protection to which, like all other workers, they are entitled? The consideration of these points will
bring our survey to a close.
In several countries the salary question is a long way from
settlement. Sometimes, and this is the most frequent case, salaries
t h a t were adequate before the war are so no longer, and the profession, once equipped with teams of excellent specialists, is
menaced, after the retirement of the older members, with dilution
and a consequent qualitative impoverishment. I t is obvious t h a t
young men will not be tempted to enter a profession, doubtless full
of allurements, but incapable of furnishing a decent livelihood.
Answer may be made t h a t the law of supply and demand may come
into play at this moment, and that as the number of recruits falls
salaries will naturally rise. This process, which occurs in other
professions, would be but imperfectly realised in journalism, where
the working of the law is disturbed by the large numbers of people
who derive advantages from practising journalism without being
obliged to earn their living by it. A paper can always find means
of procuring free copy, or at any rate, cheap copy, if it does not
make too many difficulties about the quality. The ease with
which one can " do a bit of journalism " while engaged in another
vocation is a constant danger threatening the Press, and it may,
in some circumstances, notably when there is a general drop in
salaries, do the utmost harm to the profession. The newspaper is
not altogether a machine ; in fact the human element plays the
principal part. If skilled workers are indispensable merely for
the supervision of moving machinery, for the running of a paper
it is, a fortiori, essential to have a staff whose mental qualities
will make its reputation. The needs of the Press clamour louder
and louder for the constitution of a corps of experienced specialists, and this can only exist by the payment of adequate salaries
and by the institution of various safeguards tending, not to exclude
all outside contributors, but to eliminate production of inferior
quality by fixing rates of pay so high t h a t the paper automaticaly
rejects all unqualified amateurs.
In countries where low salaries are not due to difficulties arising
out of the war, but are of long standing in journalism, the situation
is analogous, but with a difference. Here circumstances have not

— 206 —

permitted the formation of a large corps of professional journalists
such as exists in other countries, and enables the Press t o stand
firm amid salary troubles — thanks more especially t o the older
men — without lowering its standard in the slightest degree. I n
all countries in which salaries have been inadequate from time
immemorial, there has grown u p a sort of co-partnership between
journalism, considered as a spare time profession, and other vocations. This state of affairs threatens to disturb the development
of the Press in the future, if no change occurs in the policy of
newspapers in the matter of remuneration. The remark is naturally of an absolutely general nature, and does not apply to a few
big papers, which, even in countries where low salaries are the
order of the day, have been able, by means of exceptional emoluments, to assemble those corps of professional writers t h a t are indispensable to the modern journal.
Not to speak of humanitarian reasons, which require t h a t a
worker who throws his whole being into an undertaking shall
receive a salary t h a t enables him to uve decently, it is to the advantage of the Press t h a t a paper should not neglect those who are its
life and soul, but should rather equip itself with a staff capable of
ensuring its upward progress.
I t appears t h a t employers, at least in some countries, are
reahsing to an increasing extent t h a t the salaries of the editorial
staff of the newspaper stand in need of a thorough overhauling, and
t h a t the profession will not be properly organised in the absence of
salary scales corresponding to services rendered, and thus capable
of attracting to the paper and keeping them there, the types of men
essential to its success. What is required is the establishment
of minimum salaries adequate to the various classes of work,.
and, wherever possible, the institution of sliding scales permitting
automatic adjustments of salaries according to the fluctuations in
the cost of living, or at the very least a system providing for periodic
revision, and supple enough to ward off the dangers of a crisis
such as t h a t which journahsm recently passed through. I t is
for the journalists' organisations, once they are soundly established,,
and the publishers' associations, which are quite capable of being
guided by the common interests of the profession, to discuss terms.
and to crystallise them in collective agreements, as has already
been done in a certain number of countries. I t does not seem likely
t h a t international measures, unless they are very vague and general,.
can be brought into operation, at any rate for the time being.
I t is quite otherwise with questions relating t o security of tenure..

— 207 —

Unlike the problem of salaries, the practical aspects of which are
extremely varied, and which could not be dealt with at the present
time in as precise a manner as is desirable, except nationally or even
regionally, the problems in connection with security of tenure arise
from needs so uniform t h a t they seem particularly suited to receive
solutions of an international order. Without doubt they are not
all equally ripe for solutions of this kind ; the question of
recruitment, for example, which involves t h a t of professional
training, is certainly not sufficiently advanced. Journalists are
not in agreement on the subject ; if they are unanimous in desiring
a certain standardisation of recruitment and professional training,
they differ as to the means of attaining the end. The question is
a live one ; it has been raised in all the professional associations, b u t
it is still in the discussion stage. I t is probable t h a t in the near
future, when, the experiments being made on various sides have
borne their fruit, the profession will be able, with the help of
experience, t o reach an agreement on the methods to be employed.
The constitution of a more or less protected profession, t h e
criteria for discriminating between the professional grades (more
especially between the inside and outside staffs), the attitude t o
be adopted towards amateur journalists ; in brief, the entire complex of factors affecting the composition, the internal organisation
of the profession, and its relation to other callings, these are also
questions which do not appear to have reached a stage of development fit for treatment by general measures at the present time.
They will, however, be ripe for such treatment later on ; it is n o t
open to doubt t h a t the evolution of journalism will lead to t h e
constitution of a sharply defined professional corps, or t h a t when
this corp is constituted it will be useful to determine its structure
by international action.
Co-existent with these problems, which, as we have said, are
not yet sufficiently mature, there are those connected with methods
of finding employment, dismissal, and special jurisdiction ; these it
does seem possible to state and treat in international terms at t h e
present time. Valuable experience has already been acquired in
these domains ; it could, if occasion should arise, provide the basis
for discussion. In some countries journalists have secured a
satisfactory settlement of the questions, but in others little or
nothing has been done. Yet the same need is found in all, and it
can be satisfied only by the same means.
I t is true t h a t unemployment is not everywhere rife to the same
extent, but then nothing is so variable as unemployment. I t

— 208 —

makes an appearance where it is totally unexpected, and it may
assume menacing proportions to-morrow in a locality which is free
from it to-day. Methods of closely related kinds can be employed
throughout the world for its prevention and cure ; indeed, if there
is one problem in which the experience of one country can be
usefully applied t o another, it is t h a t of unemployment. There is
not the shadow of a doubt t h a t measures for its abatement, and in
particular, the organisation of employment agencies, could with
advantage form the subject of international agreements.
The question of dismissal, which it is convenient to widen, and
to study under the more comprehensive definition of termination
of services, is in the same state. The importance t h a t journalists
in all countries attach to it is well known ; with the questions of
salaries and provident schemes it forms the trinity of problems
with which journalists are the most concerned, and we have seen
t h a t one of the first acts of the International Federation of Journalists was to place it on its agenda for immediate consideration.
Important preparatory work has been done by the Federation, and
it is certain t h a t a full discussion of the problem on an international
basis — a discussion which the work of the Federation has inaugurated in a very fitting manner — would be welcomed by all countries. If this discussion resulted in an international agreement
guaranteeing journalists a minimum of security, it would be a great
step towards organising and stabilising the profession. This
progress will perhaps be realised. I t has, in fact, been suggested
t h a t the question of the termination of journalists' services should
be included in the agenda of the Committee on Intellectual Workers
recently created in connection with the International Labour
Office, and it is within the bounds of possibility t h a t it will one day
be brought before the International Labour Conference, which
will have to decide as to the desirability of a binding international
Convention.
Very much the same may be said with regard to special jurisdiction. The establishment of exclusively professional courts,
which journalists are almost unanimous in desiring, would not be
fraught with any great difficulty. A number have already been
successfully instituted in several countries, and their adoption by
the remainder would not be a vast undertaking. The International Federation of Journalists has also added this question t o its
agenda, side by side with t h a t of dismissal, and if the Committee
on Intellectual Workers has, of the two, selected the termination of
services, it is doubtless because it is of graver concern to journalists.

— 209 —

The most urgent requirements need t o be dealt with first ; after the
profession has been endowed with a system t h a t puts its members
beyond the reach of unforeseen catastrophes, improvements can be
effected in the bodies whose duty is t o enforce the system and see
t h a t it is interpreted in a spirit showing the widest comprehension
of the conditions obtaining in the profession. The choice of the
Committee on Intellectual Workers does not in any sense mean
t h a t the question of special jurisdiction does not merit international
treatment. I t is, on the contrary, highly suitable for such treatment, and it is quite possible t h a t it will receive an oecumenical
solution.
The question of provident institutions is a more delicate one.
I t is another of the predominant cares of journalists, and.though it
has received a fairly satisfactory solution in some countries, in
others it is still in an incipient stage, and requires to be taken in
hand without delay. I t is impossible t o say whether it is capable
of receiving a solution of an international order. I n any case, it
looks as though it cannot be officially examined independently of
the general problem of social insurance. The journalists' organisations would do well for the moment to take up the matter themselves, basing their efforts on what has already been accomplished
elsewhere. The results obtained in more t h a n one country are
most encouraging, and they can be equalled wherever journalism
has attained to some degree of organisation.
There remain the questions grouped together as working
conditions proper. These vary considerably from one country to
another ; they depend on local usages, the stage of development
reached by the Press, and the different forms assumed by it in
different districts. I t would be a very difficult matter to regulate
them in detail, merely from paper to paper in the same locality,
not to speak of a national or even a regional regime.
This is at all events true of two of these questions — hours of
work and night work. At the present time neither appears to be
ripe for international action. I t is possible however that, when the
evolution of journalism has become more uniform, a certain degree
of general codification will be attained. I n one or two countries,
as we have shown, the weekly hours of presence in editorial offices
have been fixed by agreements, and a distinction has been established between day work and night work as regards both duration
and remuneration. But in most countries only varying customs
exist, and the journalists' organisations have not dealt with the
problem except in a quite desultory manner. A certain change
14

— 210 —
however in this respect has been noticeable during the last few
decades, and it is not excluded t h a t these questions will appear on
the agenda of international bodies. The evolution of journalism,
with its trend towards systemisation, and rationalisation in the
organisation of work, seem to point in t h a t direction.
I n the case of weekly rest an immediate agreement would be
easier to achieve. There is an increasing tendency, discernible not
only in collective agreements but also in legislation, to apply to
journalists the general principle of weekly rest, from which they
were formerly excluded.
I t appeared as though the daily paper
must for ever deprive them of this rest, but events have not justified these apprehensions, and it has become apparent that,
without in any way harming the interest of the Press, journalists
could be given what hardly anyone but they were lacking, namely
one day's rest a week to recuperate their strength. Hence an
international agreement could quite well be concluded on the
subject. As far as most countries are concerned it would merely
sanction an existing state of affairs, and the others could doubtless
bring themselves into line without much difficulty.
We have also shown how necessary annual leave is in a profession so exhausting as journalism. The necessity is being realised to
an increasing extent by the employers, b u t it is incontestable t h a t
in many places the subject has not received sufficient attention.
The example set by certain countries may be of great use ; it is sure
to be followed in others as journalism develops. I n any case, it is
improbable t h a t the question could be brought up for official
international consideration independently of the general problem
of paid holidays. For the moment it is a question t o be dealt
with more especially by the Press associations.
To sum u p : a t the present time there are two kinds of problems
which the evolution of journalism raises, and which stand in need
of solution by reason of its progressive transformation into a more
clearly defined profession ; there are general problems common to
all workers, manual or intellectual, and there are problems peculiar
to the profession. All are, in differing degrees, suitable for international treatment ; some in the distant future, others, two or
three in number, at the present time. Among the latter, in the
group of questions relating to working conditions proper, weekly
rest comes first, and in the group relating to security of tenure, the
group t h a t for the moment lends itself more easily to examination
from the international point of view, the most important questions
are those relating to termination of services, methods of finding

— 211 —

employment, and special jurisdiction. At least one is fully ripe
for discussion ; the others soon will be. At all events the creation
of an Advisory Committee on Intellectual Workers in connection
with the International Labour Office is a guarantee to journalists,
as it is to their colleagues in other professions, that their demands
will be given a direct hearing, and that the problems that are fit
for an international solution will be submitted to the competent
bodies and examined.

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX

A

A comparison of wages expressed in different national currencies
is not possible except when their real value, or purchasing power, is
known exactly in each case.
The essential data for such a calculation are, however, not all
available. The table that follows, if used with caution, will nevertheless enable the reader to form an approximate idea of the relative
value of the wages quoted.
This table has been compiled with the help of the statistical
information used by the International Labour Office for the quarterly
statements in the International Labour Review of comparative figures
of real wages in a number of large towns. For this purpose the cost
in each town of a "basket of provisions" 1, consisting of the more usual
foodstuffs, is calculated from the statistics of retail prices, care being
taken to weight the prices of the various articles in accordance with
their importance in family budgets.
The figures obtained cannot be used to ascertain with accuracy the
financial position of journalists in the various countries because, in
the first place, the nature and quantity of foodstuffs consumed vary
from country to country, and secondly, because the figures relate only
to a certain number of foodstuffs, and do not throw any light on the
cost of heating, lighting, clothing, and rent, or on a number of other
expenses.
In spite of these considerable lacunae, the table may be of some
use in comparing, in a very general fashion, the salaries of journalists
in different countries.
The cost of a "basket of provisions " in January 1928, based on
prices in the respective capitals, was as follows :
Austria
12.37 schillings
Belgium
44.76
francs
Czechoslovakia 2
45.55 crowns
France .
37.60 francs
Germany
7.56 marks
Great Britain
7s. 2d.
Italy
.
.
31.25 lire
Netherlands
3.77 florins
Poland .
11.42 zloty
Portugal
32.44 escudos
Spain
11.62 pesetas
Sweden .
6.82 crowns
United States (P hila delp hia)
2.24 dollars
1
This basket of provisions is itself the average of six different baskets.
For further details of the statistical methods employed, cf. International Labour
Review, Vol. X , No. 4, Oct. 1924.
* April 1928.

— 216 —
These prices enable the following table to be compiled ; its simpler
figures will facilitate comparison.
In January 1928 the quantities of foodstuffs entering into the
composition of the " basket of provisions ", and obtainable in Great
Britain for £ 1 , cost in
Approximately

1

Austria
35 schillings
Belgium
125 francs
Czechoslovakia1
.
.
. 1 2 8 crowns
France
105 francs
Germany
21 marks
Italy
. . ' . . . .
88 lire
Netherlands
.
.
.
11 florins
Poland
32 zloty
Portugal
91 escudos
Spain
33 pesetas
Sweden
19 crowns
United States (Philadelphia)
6.25 dollars
April 1928.

APPENDIX

B

Questionnaire concerning Conditions of Existence
among Journalists
Preliminary Note. — The following questionnaire is intended to
apply to professional journalists, editors, sub-editors, correspondents,
and contributors of newspapers, reporters, etc.
I. — LEGAL STATUS OF THE PRESS
1. What legal provisions must be complied with in your country
in order to acquire the right to found and conduct ,a newspaper ?
2. What legal responsibilities are incurred by the authors of
articles, managers and printers ?
3. What administrative sanctions can the authorities apply ?
4. What supervision is exercised in matters of professional honour
by Press associations and directors of newspapers ?
I I . — T H E LABOUR MARKET

1. Finding employment.
Are there any institutions in your country engaged in finding
employment for journalists ?
(a) Private offices ;
(b) Offices connected with organisations ;
(c) Public offices.
What are these institutions ? Under what conditions do they carry
out their functions ?
2. Unemployment.
(a) Is there any unemployment among journalists in your
country ?
(b) Is there any seasonal unemployment ?
3. Employment of Women.
Please state :
(a) The number of women engaged in the profession and the
proportion they bear to the number of men ;
(b) The kind of work which they prefer ;
(c) Whether the conditions of employment for men and women
are identical.
4. Employment of Foreigners.
(a) What is the number of foreigners in the profession in your
country and what proportion does it bear to the number of
natives ? Has the number increased or decreased since 1914 ?
(b) Are the conditions of work for foreigners the same as those
for natives ?

— 218 —
5. Glasses of Employment.
(a) Are there in your country different professional classes among
journalists and are these explicitly distinguished in contracts ?
(b) If so, what are these classes ?
III.

— CONTRACTS OF SERVICE

1. Legal provisions.
(a) What legal provisions are in force in your country in relation
to the formation and contents of individual contracts ?
(b) What is the usual duration of such contracts ?
(c) What are the conditions of termination ?
2. Model Contracts.
(a) Are there any model forms of contract in general use ?
(b) If so, what clauses do they contain ?
3. Collective Agreements.
(a) Have any collective agreements been entered into between
associations of newspaper proprietors and professional organisations of journalists ?
(b) If so, what clauses do they contain ?
4. Settlement of Disputes.
What is the procedure generally adopted in case of disputes ?
IV.

— CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

1. Are there any laws or administrative orders in your country
regulating conditions of employment among journalists ? If so, what
are the provisions contained therein in regard to the following :
(a) Hours of work ;
(b) Nightwork ;
(c) Weekly rest (if a weekly rest exists, is it secured by reduction
or suppression of newspapers on one day in the week ?) ;
(d) Holidays ;
(e) Conditions as to health and safety.
2. Are there any uniform rules consecrated by custom relating
to the conditions of employment among journalists ? What rules of
this kind are there in relation to the points enumerated under (a),
(b), (c), (d) and (e) in the last question ?
3. In the absence of uniform rules what is the current practice
on these points ?
4. Have these various conditions of employment been modified
since 1914 and in what manner ?
V. —

1.

REMUNERATION

Remuneration.
What, in practice, are the remunerations of the various classes of
journalists in your country' ?
Please state :
(a) What classes receive a fixed salary and the rate of such salary
per month ?
(b) Any other methods of remuneration ?
(c) How are reporting expenses and travelling expenses in the
country and abroad paid ?

— 219 —
2.

Modifications.
What changes have these remunerations undergone since 1914,
either in absolute amount or in relation to printers' wages and the
cost of living.
3. Expenses.
What expense is involved in the purchase of the newspapers and
books and the subscription to the reviews required by journalists for
the purposes of their work ?
VI. — PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS

1. What provident, insurance or relief institutions exist for the
benefit of journalists and their families in case of :
fa) Sickness ;
fb) Accident ;
(c) Unemployment ;
(d) Death ? '
What is the proportion of the number of members of such institutions to the total number of members of the profession ?
2. (a) Under what conditions do journalists participate in these
institutions (compulsory membership, optional member.
ship, etc.) ?
fb) Is there any system of insurance securing to journalists
of the classes under consideration a pension on retirement
or compensation in case of dimissal ?
3. Is the position of journalists in relation to the above institutions different from that of industrial workers and in what respect ?
VII.

— ORGANISATIONS OF THE PROFESSION

1. Are there in your country any organisations of journalists for
the protection of the interests of the profession ?
2. Journalists' organisations, which, for a long time possessed the
character of organisations for mutual assistance, are now engaged in
the protection of the professional interests of their members.
Are these organisations associated with the trade union movement
or with associations of intellectual workers or of employers ?
VIII. —

GENERAL POSITION AND DEMANDS

1. What are the most serious disadvantages, economic and otherwise, from which journalists suffer at the present time ?
2. What reforms do they consider as urgent or desirable ?
3. What demands are they disposed to make ?