The possibility of being injured or killed in action is one of the most significant risks photojournalists experience, write Adrian Hadland, Paul Lambert, both of University of Stirling, and David Campbell, of the World Press Photo Foundation. The authors asked the entrants to the World Press Photo Contest to fill out a survey, which over 1 500 photojournalists completed.

Risk of injury or death was the most common worry of male photojournalists, and the third most common for female photojournalists. For women, erratic income and decreasing demand for work were the first and second most worrisome risks, respectively. For men, the second most common worry was not being able to support their family, while erratic income was seen as the third most worrisome risk.

The authors found a high correlation between the experience of risks and the photographers’ countries of residence. Even when all other factors were accounted for, photojournalists in some countries simply experienced more risks than their colleagues abroad. Other countries, however, appeared to be much less risky than the average.

The article The Future of Professional Photojournalism was published by the journal Journalism Practice. It is available online (abstract free). The results of the study have also been published as a RISJ report, which is available online for free.

Picture: Broken by Fernando Mafra, licence CC BY-SA 2.0.