Country report: Journalists in Latvia

Journalism in Latvia historically is a female-dominated occupation and the Worlds of Journalism study approves it. The typical journalist in Latvia is female, in her late-thirties who holds rather a bachelor’s or master’s degree in journalism and/or any other communication field. Of the 340 interviewed journalists, 246 were women, making for a proportion of 72.4 percent of the overall sample. On average, Latvian journalists were 40.27 years old (s=11.08). More than half of the journalists
were younger than 40 years, most between age 27 and 38.
Latvian journalists tend to be well educated: 41.2 percent of the respondents held a college or bachelor’s degree and 37.9 percent held a master’s degree. Another 1.2 percent of the journalists had obtained a doctoral degree, and 14.6 percent had undertaken some university studies, but never completed their studies or where still active students. A slight majority (58.5%) of respondents had obtained education with specialization in journalism and/or any other communication field.