The Nature of Work in the Media Industries: A Literature Review and Future Directions

Afshin Omidi,Cinzia Dal Zotto,Robert G Picard

doi:10.3390/journalmedia3010013

Afshin Omidi, Cinzia Dal Zotto + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia3010013

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Abstract

Media work is a culture-making activity affecting the ways people understand the world and, therefore, workers in the media industries have a critical role in shaping collective memories, traditions, and belief systems. While studies regarding the characteristics impacting the nature of work in the media industries have significantly been increasing over the last years, the literature in this area remains highly fragmented. This paper begins to address that shortcoming by conducting an in-depth review of 36 scholarly papers in influential journals published from 2006 to 2020 to provide a comprehensive view of the literature and its approaches. This study elaborates on the concept of media work by organizing previous efforts into five subthemes, including commonalities, contested terrain, gendered profession, emerging practices, and influencing factors. Previous research has emphasized that media workers’ subjective experiences need to be explored further and more in-depth; however, if we wish to depict a more holistic but realistic picture, those experiences should be contextualized and thus linked with the specific organizational configurations and macro structures in which media work is embedded. The present review depicts how work in the media may take different meanings when addressing it through various theoretical frameworks. Our study can enrich future studies regarding the nature of media work by providing a fine-grained foundation in which researchers could understand how their given research problem(s) would be connected with the other issues that potentially impact their studies.

Highlights

Received: 30 January 2022Media organizations are operating in a very complex, technology-driven, and fastchanging environment in which they are supposed to wisely perform diverse tasks in a wide array of business, entertainment, and social areas (Lowe 2016; Murschetz et al.2020)
Before diving into discussing our explored subthemes, we provide some bibliometric information to help future researchers better understand which countries and journals are information to help future researchers better understand which countries and journals are primarily active in contributing to the development of the media work concept
Among 13 nationalities that studied the nature of media work, the majority of reviewed among 13 nationalities that studied the nature of media work, the majority of reviewed papers were related to the USA researchers (n = 10), along with the UK (n = 7) and Finland papers were related to the USA researchers (n = 10), along with the UK (n = 7) and Finland

Summary

Introduction

Media organizations are operating in a very complex, technology-driven, and fastchanging environment in which they are supposed to wisely perform diverse tasks in a wide array of business, entertainment, and social areas (Lowe 2016; Murschetz et al.2020) They offer exceptional products that are essentially different from those of other industries (Picard 2005; Westlund and Lewis 2014). Deuze and Lewis (2013) conceptualized media work as a wide range of professions engaged in producing cultures, symbols, and signs within the context of media and creative industries These professions aim to contribute to the success of media products and are not limited to journalistic activities (Malmelin and Villi 2017b). It can be argued that studying media workers’ professional lives may lead us to a better understanding of our own lives in the present era

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