Professional development

Every year, professional journalists are supposed to attend a certain number of professional training classes. This norm was only established in 2013, and requires that each journalist achieve 60 credits in a three year period, with a minimum of 15 credits per year. At least 20 of these credits must be accrued from training on professional ethics issues.

A 2015 report from AGCOM found that in 2014 there were 28,972 professional journalists, 75,498 freelance journalists, and 1,291 trainees operating in Italy. Of the professional journalists, 58.9% were men, 41.1% women, and 61.7% were older than 40. The majority of professional journalists, at 34.4%, worked for print press dailies, while 15.5% worked for weeklies, 11.9% for local radio and television, 10.5% for RAI, 8.4% for private companies, 7.6% for public institutions, 5.8% for press agencies, and 5.7% for national radio and television services.