Global Science Journalism Report by SciDev.Net

Global Science Journalism Report

less satisfied overall with their jobs. Meanwhile, in other regions this is reversed: in Asia, Latin America, and North and Southern Africa, overall job satisfaction is higher, while the specifics are a matter of concern. Figure 4: The regional profile of satisfaction with specific freedom of journalistic work and the overall job satisfaction

This pattern is reflected in responses concerning career recommendations to younger colleagues. Only 29% of respondents in Europe and 32% in USA and Canada would definitely encourage a young person to pursue a science journalist career, compared to 80% and 72% in North and Southern Africa. Asia and Latin America occupy a more middling ground in this respect, with 60% and 55% respectively saying that they would encourage science journalism careers. In terms of gender, we note no overall difference between the sexes in specific satisfaction or in overall job satisfaction. However, looking further, it appears that women working in North or Southern Africa, and in USA and Canada, are more satisfied with the specifics of their jobs than their male colleagues, but this trend is not reflected amongst Asian women journalists, who are less satisfied than their male counterparts. And women working in Africa, Asia, USA and Canada are less satisfied overall with their jobs than their male colleagues, while there is no difference between men and women’s satisfaction in Europe and Latin America. Note that these gender observations are uncertain due to small sample size (ie statistically not significant), but they are indicative of potential differences in women and men's working conditions in different regions; it is something that deserves further investigation.