Okay, now let's start a stringer rates threat...

Worst I got paid was $35 for a Division I college basketball game. I took it because I was already at said game and just needed to move some stuff around to make it more about the road team than the home team. Would not have done it if I wasn't already there.

 

That's shitty on their part, but if they are getting freelancers willing to do that, it's on them, too.

 

A good SID feature should be written so you don't have to touch it. It's about a player.

Gamers... well...

 

Honestly, if you are working a 7 pm kickoff, chances are you could be done at 11 p.m.

You need to be there at 6, 6:30 at the latest. At $15 an hour, $75 is about right.

Has mileage even been discussed?

 

This. Obviously people do it for that. It plays what I said about our own self value. I would never do a high school football game with box and story and photos for $20. No one should. No one should write or work for free period. It's why I don't write any more because I'm not going to do it for that little or nothing. It actually surprises tons of people. When I compare it to doing the same in their own professions they say it's not the same. It's like writing or reporting is seen as a hobby to many. If it's treated like that, of course different outlets are going to get away with treating it that way too.

 

I never worked at a newspaper where we paid stringers mileage. Hell, staff only got .27 a mile, and we had to do some creative accounting on tax returns to even start to recoup the difference.

Where I am now, if I ask my freelancer to head out of town for a story, I'll pay him mileage (.46 a mile). Still not the IRS number, but that's a hell of a lot better than the newspaper rate.

 

Well, when the larger daily 15 miles away goes under, maybe they feel their options are limited.

 

I have sympathy if any little bit helps make ends meet or they are really desperate for some clips or something, but if they're just doing it for extra cash or because they always have or just need something to do, well, they are devaluing themselves and everyone who has ever taken on the gig for that sake.

 

Again, it was 15 years ago, but I got mileage when I did stringing for the mid-sized metro. It did require driving over a huge at the time coverage area. I don't remember what it was, not the IRS number either, but it wasn't bad.

 

The best place I ever freelanced for didn't pay "mileage", but if I was going a decent distance away, they adjusted the amount they paid by an extra $10 or $20, and did it without being asked to - it was in the initial offer. The same place had a snafu with the check I was supposed to receive one month, so I was paid a month late. They added $75 on to the amount, with what seemed like sincere apologies.

Maybe I'm lucky, but I can't imagine accepting or even considering $20 for a story, box score and photos. That's what, $5 an hour, probably? That tells the paper the little value you are giving to your time and talents, too.

 

That sounded a lot douchier than I meant it to. Apologies. I know you're a pro and you train your folks to write the same way. We have a few SIDs around us who do a bang-up job, and I consider myself fortunate to have them around. Even if their story isn't newspaper-ready they provide the raw materials to write our own with minimal effort.
Unfortunately, a lot of SID copy is not even close to being that, and I'm not talking about the slant toward the home team that it's their job to take. I'm talking about basic story organization that makes you want to jab your eyes out with a fork.

 

What you think somebody should be paid is not the same as the economic value of their work. Newspapers would come up with the cash to pay more than $30 if they thought the game story provided greater value.