Missing It

Like there was some other choice?

Blame Craig. And his list.

 

Go to the source. Blame Al Gore.

 

I won't do any freelance gig for less than $100. And they'd have to pay me a lot more than that to get me to do a high school game.

 

It was a solid number. For the six hours I worked I made more than what any other paper in the state would pay for an hourly rate to a full timer, but that was because I double dipped.

For me, it's not about the money. The business never has been. I love the work. Hell, this weekend I'm stringing for an online mag and there's a damn good chance I'm gonna make half of what I would if I went to my course and picked up a loop. But I'd rather cover a couple games and write some features because this is all I've ever wanted to do and I have fun doing it.

That said, I'm not going back to the hustle of making $12.50 an hour an no OT when I work 60 hours a week. In fact, I might take a job like that just so I can report those papers to the state.

 

According to Frederick, it's better to do something you hate as long as it pays more.

 

For me, the opposite. Been a few years since I covered a game, but would do hs before pro. Couple of my buddies couldn't understand it, but I'd rather go to a game where it's not going to be a hassle getting there and getting out with traffic. Also most kids (maybe not the 5-star prospects who have had their asses kissed by recruiters and bottom feeders for a few years) are glad to talk about the game and their performance. Most pros view dealing with the media as something they wouldn't do if they didn't have to. It's funny because some of the beat guys or major columnists think those guys like talking to them.

 

And that's why you da man!

 

No, I'm against working 60 hours and getting paid for 40 in the wink/wink system. It's real work compared to the 10 a.m. meeting organizers who go home on Friday at 4:15 p.m. after their hard week of sweat. Yeah right.

 

It's hard to sue them. One other thing newspapers do well is stock themselves with fairly good lawyers. Newspapers pay the lawyers damn well.

 

To be fair, my college vs. high school thinking has a lot to do with me covering an FCS football/low-major basketball league with better and easier access than P5 programs.

 

Rhody, you had me until I read this. It's not about the money, yet you left the business in part because of the money (or lack thereof)?

It bothers me when people say it's not about the money. That used to be me. I've since discovered that unless you are independently wealthy, have a sugar mamma, or inherited a chunk of change, yes, your day job is to some degree about money.

It's the mentality of "I do this for the love of it" that media companies lean on when they don't offer wage increases for years to those deserving. "Well, you could be replaced at any moment" is now the company line, because it's true, largely because there are so many in this business who will work on the cheap "for the love of it."

The reality, as you've evidently discovered, is that loving the profession doesn't pay the bills. I think it's cool that you can still enjoy covering a game as a freelancer, I just think that it is about the money, at least somewhat, to those who depend on it for thier livelihood.

 

It's not about the money.
You still need to make something to live. I'm ok with making crap money if I'm working 40 hours a week. If im getting paid 12.50 an hour - which is a ton for small papers in RI - I'm not throwing unpaid hours on top of that.