Managing Media Workers

People are more involved with media than ever but news about media as an industry is less than optimistic. The number of people across the creative industries who are losing jobs illustrates all too well. Media managers seem at a loss in developing survival strategies, and specifically in organizing entrepreneurial working conditions that would support and sustain the creative process needed to meet the demands of a global market saturated with media. This chapter integrates theories of how media industries function in society with theories of how media professionals manage their individual careers and professional identities in the context. We draw on case-based research about how media industries and professionals alike are managing creativity and innovation. Media management is conceptualized both as the management of companies and as individual careers in the media and thus not only in a more traditional hierarchical view. A general context for managing media workers across creative industries is outlined, with specific application to what generally defines and also drives cultural workers: their sense of self in terms of a professional identity.