SCOOP - A new, collaborative, cross-industry solution to sustain news journalism and photojournalism in the UK
A new joint venture between the non-profit licensing organisations representing freelance journalists and photojournalists – the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), DACS and PICSEL – was launched at the All-Party Writers Group reception at the House of Commons on 3 December.
Freelance journalists in the UK currently earn less than the national living wage, with the majority receiving nothing for secondary uses of their work online. This makes sustaining a career difficult, particularly for those from underrepresented communities. To address this, SCOOP aims to develop mutually beneficial collective agreements or partnerships between the representatives of freelance journalists and the technology companies, who are securing commercial returns from the online secondary use of their works, such as “news scraping” or training for generative AI models.
These voluntary partnership agreements would ensure that freelance journalists and photojournalists receive a fair share of the revenues generated.
SCOOP will:
- Sustain freelance journalism and pay creators for secondary uses of their work online.
- Facilitate collaboration between creators and technology companies.
- Fund projects to support, train and develop journalists particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds.
SCOOP presents a practical and useful opportunity to address the exploitation of freelances, many of whom have had their skills, time and work undermined. It is increasingly difficult for freelances to earn a living in an environment where their work is stolen or misused, forcing journalists and creatives out of the industry. SCOOP aims to provide a unique collective mechanism to channel funding back to freelances so they can sustain their careers.
General Secretary, National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
Background
In an era of deep fakes and misinformation, credible, reliable news content has never been more important to democracy and society; yet many journalists are struggling to establish and sustain their careers. In recent years, fundamental changes to the way that news content is accessed, distributed and consumed online, through secondary uses such as ‘news scraping’ and generative AI training, has seen a significant transfer of value away from publishers to platforms and other tech companies.
Freelance journalists in the UK find themselves in an increasingly unstable and inaccessible industry. 2,681 journalism jobs were lost in 2023, up 48% from 2022. Paired with an increase in AI, deep fakes and misinformation, the challenges they face are overwhelming and come with few guarantees and protections. Research from the Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy (CREATe) currently shows that freelance journalists:
- Earn, on average, less than the national living wage
- Only 19% come from lower socio-economic backgrounds
- 93% of journalists have never received money from an existing licensing agreement
The existing, piecemeal agreements between publishers and tech companies for secondary use fail to address the rights that freelance journalists hold in their content, creating legal uncertainty. Recent analysis estimates the value of payments due to freelance journalists is in the hundreds of millions.
Read more
- How DACS advocates for artists
- How we work with other organisations to protect artists rights
