There is no better journalism without better working conditions.

The Professional Journalists Act was born in late 1943 as a result of a fruitful encounter between an emerging political figure and the trade union training of two journalists, Octavio Palazzolo and Santiago Senen González. Palazzolo was identified in the Casa Rosada by the newspaper El Mundo, where the dictatorship’s Undersecretary for Information and Press, Major Héctor Radovocat, connected him with Juan Domingo Perón, the then-secretary of the National Ministry of Labor. The two reporters are leaders of the Argentine Federation of Journalists (FAP) and have been developing a new vision for journalistic work and thinking about the possibilities for the position for years. At the same time, the state’s government was stratified and the Department of Labor and Social Welfare was created. Mr. Perron told them, “If you are in a position to do it, prepare your project and come see me two days after I take the helm.” Everyone did their job, and in just four months the code was discussed and approved by government ordinance.

However, the immediate workforce advancements brought about by this ordinance were paralleled by the growing professional suffocation of the authoritarian corralito, where the media (even Peronists of some critical mindedness) were trapped in the first and second Peronist governments. It was a similar situation to that suffered by other professions at the time, with less freedom and better working conditions.

At that time, journalism recognized itself as “the most difficult profession in society.” As a journalist from Cordoba stated in 1942 at the National Congress in La Plata, “The pages of periodicals organize reality and fantasy to inform people about what is happening in the world, but they remain silent about the tense drama of a thirsty life.”

The situation is not much different today. In a recent study on the journalistic desert, the Argentina Forum for Journalism (Fopea) examined the working conditions of some 3,000 Argentine media outlets, including some 17,000 journalists, and concluded that only 20% of media outlets had journalists in dependent employment relationships. Another novelty of the study, which looked at the country’s ministries, is that it begins to document voluntary unpaid work in the media, which is likely to be increasing.

Meanwhile, the Buenos Aires Press Union (Cipleva) conducted a survey of 1,117 journalists in the city on Journalists’ Day last year.

The report shows that 70.48 percent of people surveyed in AMBA (Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area) in April this year had incomes below P1.1 million, the Total Basic Basket and the Indian indicator of poverty line at the time.

The average journalist always enjoys a high social status and interacts daily with the highest authorities, but at the same time has a medium or low economic status.

✍️The survey found that those worst off are those working in newspapers, digital portals, news agencies and magazines, with 80.57% of them living below the poverty line as of April last year if they had no other income. Among commercial radio station staff, 66.67% of those consulted said they would be poor if they had no other income. And in the so-called “television coverage”, the terrible shadow of poverty reaches 40.48%.

To avoid falling into this boundary, multiple journalists work multiple jobs. Shipleva says journalistic apathy is also increasing outside of their profession. “The Telam photographer is a florist, the editor of Ambito Financiero is a bricklayer’s assistant, one from Infobay sells his belongings to survive, another from Pagina/12 runs a kiosk, and dozens of colleagues from different media work for Uber, Cabify and other distribution platforms.”

The situation is even worse for people under 30, who have the lowest incomes. My experience with most college graduates is that their first journalism job is their last. The job often didn’t have the professional adrenaline or the prospect of a satisfying salary. Avid students would call me soon after starting their working careers and tell me they were community managers or working in digital marketing for companies in other fields. Journalism jobs and professional ladders are broken or in pretty tatters. It’s not just jobs that are unstable, but entire industries.

For this reason, journalism schools are also undergoing a re-transformation process. They already know that there are several generations of graduates who have little exposure to the world of professional journalism.

The role of the Leaders Advocate is that of an expert, not a union. Its focus is on quality improvement, not analysis of union negotiations. However, it is clear that working conditions are difficult. To what extent can we demand professional quality from people who have low incomes, delayed paychecks, and no access to health care?Journalism is in an economic emergency, and as I said in my last column (“Operation Asphyxiation”), PERFIL is no stranger to such challenges.

Moreover, at least in recent years, PERFIL has been an attractive employer brand for journalists seeking professional freedom, but not for journalists seeking good working conditions. Its advantage is that it generally does not seek exclusivity, so it can be used as another job in addition to a journalist’s other activities. With over 200 journalists, PERFIL is one of the largest newsrooms in the country, and we must add that much of its content is created by columnists who volunteer their time. As with other news organizations, many of these volunteer columnists are interested in publishing in PERFIL in order to contribute to public debate and promote their personal brands.

Founder Jorge Fontevecchia said PERFIL’s economy may be more fragile than those of Clarín, La Nación and Infobae, because while it is usually the “vanguard of critical thinking” before the government, other major media outlets are wary of political ties and therefore reluctant to start voicing doubts.

Since its founding 49 years ago, PERFIL has served as a nursery and school for journalists from other media. For this reason, readers, listeners, viewers and users of journalistic services of this publication should know that its newsrooms are staffed by highly qualified professionals, and that such difficult working conditions coexist with the mission of true journalism.