Hiring Writers for CBSSports.com NFL Correspondent Network

Folks, I don't post on here much, but I have a major problem with this.

I was just in a press box Tuesday talking with laid off sports writers who are fighting for freelance bucks.

Now this nonsense. This drives down the already brutal freelance market. These people want full-time NFL writers for a gross of just more than $20,000 a year. That's not even enough for just out of college folks.

The real kicker is Bleacher Report raised $3.5 million in a funding round last fall, which topped off the $5 million it previously raised. It also has affiliation deals with CBS and Fox. ( http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/bleacher-report-hunkers-down-with-35-million-more/ ). Who knows what they're ad revenue is? The company has 13 employees. After not paying any contributors to their site, they now want full-time writers for dishwasher wages.

This is disgusting, and a major detriment to anyone who has professional experience. I'm all for people just out of school getting gigs, but they should not be an NFL beat writer while long-time pros twist in the wind with no options because of this greedy company that has partnered with places that have TV deals with the NFL.

Anyone who has any respect for journalism, the ad says, "experience required but not necessary," should take major issue with this.

 

I was bored, so I went through the application process. After listing your "favorite" sports journalist, columnist, blog, radio personality, and on and on and on ... you're given a writing assignment. You must pick at least two of 10 questions to answer and BleacherReport.com will post your writing on their website.

Here's my favorite:

4. What turned you into a fan of the team you'd like to cover?

My "assignment" won't make deadline.

 

Have fun.

Like the two posters before me said, this shits all over the rest of us in this profession.

But hey, I guess if media companies can continue to get away with paying people shit wages, whatever.

 

I wrote columns / edited articles for Bleacher Report right out of college - and if it paid, it isnt a bad gig. Sure it features a lot of bloggers - most without a journalistic bone in their body - and I had to wade through muck just to find a decent cranberry. But, please don't be confused, this is a fan-boi site. You are a fan and you blog/write/complain/praise your favorite team and everyone else on the site does the same. And people love it.

And let's be real - best business model ever. If someone came to you and said, "I'm going to start a website where everyone gives us the content and we make all of the money" you would happily say, "I'm in." And so what if it isn't real journalism, no one is asking a real journalist to sign up.

At 400 bucks a week is about how much I am making right now (age 25). And if I could keep my current gig, I might sign up even if all it does is pay for my gas to drive back and forth to the stadium because its a great way to get clips. Even if I have LOVE my FAVORITE player Matt Cassel and talk about how AWESOME it was when he was playing GREAT during the camp and how I GOT HIS AUTOGRAPH and a PICTURE after a press conference. I even got his CELL NUMBER to go have a DRINK WITH HIM.

I can do that for NFL clips and 400 bucks a month. Now, if you want to get upset that Bloggers are ruining real sports journalism - I'll drink to that. But don;t get this job twisted, it isn't for everyone. In fact, I bet it isn't for 99% of the people who post on this board.

"It is what it is."

 

I don't know where you people are living where $400/week isn't enough to live on. Living just minutes outside of a major metropolitan area with an NFL, NHL, and MLB team and BCS conference University, as well as multiple mid-major universities, my rent is just $430/month.

I can cover all of my bills with two weeks pay at this rate. Another two weeks and I can feasibly get health insurance, as well as pay my quarterly car insurance.

I hinted at this in another thread, but I think people need to wake up. You're sniffing at $20,000/year when there's a large chunk of the population that is BEGGING to make that much, including me.

You know how much I make right now? $10,500/year. That's with two part-time jobs and some freelancing. You're telling me that I shouldn't jump at the potential for a $9,500/year raise and a higher profile gig?

 

It's called the real world. You're welcome to visit anytime.

I don't want a 60-hour-a-week job (which an NFL beat often is) where I could "feasibly" afford health insurance.

No thanks.

 

Kids cost.

 

60-hours a week is a vacation from the hours I'm currently working, and I can't even dream about health insurance. I'd say that's a pretty cruel visit to the real world, thank you very much.

Everything about a job like this - of which there are very few - is a step up in life for someone like me. So, great, you don't want the job. One less ego to worry about. I'd just appreciate it if you took your upturned nose elsewhere and allow those of us trying to scrape by to legitimately learn about this potential opportunity.

 

Yep, I'm a recent grad and I applied for it as well.

 

The rule of thumb has been not to take out college loans totalling more than your first year's salary. But if recent grads, in 2009, really think $400 a week is reasonable pay to live in/near a city that has an NFL team, then the costs of college need to be seriously questioned.