Diversity in Journalism 2025

In the fast-moving, social media world we live in today, journalism is one of the most important professions, helping to investigate, interrogate and interpret the stories that shape our society in a factually based and ethical way. Trusted journalism is vital to our democracy and to understanding the world around us.

It is essential that journalists reflect the society on which they report. Sadly, this report shows that we are not there yet. While there has been some progress, the diversity data for 2024 highlights continuing challenges across several areas, particularly social class. Journalists remain more likely than the wider workforce to come from professional homes, to be older, and to hold higher-level qualifications. The industry still has work to do to ensure that people from all backgrounds have fair access to careers in journalism and equal opportunities to progress.

This research report updates the NCTJ’s analysis of journalists’ diversity characteristics to 2024. This is a regular report, using the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey data, so that the NCTJ and industry can measure progress. It can be read in conjunction with the NCTJ’s previous Diversity in Journalism reports, published in 2017, 2022 and 2023 and the most recent Journalists at Work report, published in 2024.