Pay

That depends on the state. There are a number of states where it is a requirement.

 

Thanks, Gold. Any ideas on how we could get the ball rolling on something like that? I'm ready to put words into action.

 

And, BTW, sometimes, it can come back to kick you in the ass.

My wife is a teacher who has a Masters in history. Some school districts look at that and freak out, figuring they'll have to pay you more.

Switching gears, brilliant take, Gold. The indentured servitude attitude in this business makes me sick.

 

As it's my first post, I'd be remiss if I didn't start with this: Beers for everybody, on me.

Now then ...

There's a lot of value in knowing what your colleagues are making, in a general sense, if you can get that information without being terribly nosy. At a paper I worked for in the mid-'90s, the frontline editorial employees took part in an anonymous salary survey, administered by one of our business reporters. The results were illuminating, in good ways and bad. But we were able to establish, among other things, that salaries in the newsroom stacked up fairly well in the community and that women weren't compensated less than men. Good news in that particular newsroom. I imagine you could find more harrowing results in other places.

 

Thanks, Gold. You definitely raised my awareness about it.

As far as solutions, Irish, well, that seems like something that an org. like SPJ can get involved in. I believe there are a few niche surveys out there now, but nothing that substantially raises awareness in the profession, especially among entry-level applicants.

I think this is something that does need to be discussed openly. It's disheartening to see so many people apply for (and willingly accept) a skilled job for $19-, $21-, $23,000 in a locale where you can barely make ends meet but your only hope for advancement is to build up enough clips to escape to a different locale. I know it's a little tough to ask someone who does need a job like this to hold out for something better, but the more we accept these conditions, the harder you make it for yourself and the harder you make it for everybody else.

I'd be interested in finding out what SPJ's role could be in this and how, if anyhow, they've tried to get the ball rolling in the past. Perhaps others can help come up with some alternative sources to educate the masses ...

 

I'd be curious to know which states. I've never heard of anything like that before.

 

I know there are states where working toward a master's is a requirement to keep one's teaching certificate, but I can't imagine there are too many out there that require it for an entry-level job.

 

There will always be a steady crop of j-school grads who will gladly accept your job for far less than you are making. It's the way the industry works and how publishers continure to make obscene margins. It boils down to the fact that there is little demand for excellence among consumers and less competition than ever. People care whether the local ballclub has a good third baseman but don't even look at bylines. Publisher's have very little incentive to hire the best people and keep them.

 

I agree with Gold that this is how it should work, but agree with Cranberry that people don't look at bylines and so there really is no way to pressure management into paying a fair wage. Remember, management isn't actually paying you to write well or to be a great reporter. They're paying you to help the company make money. And the best way for you to do that is to fill the paper every day while not making much money. They'll gladly accept your brilliant ideas to make the product better -- more profitable -- but they won't pay you a bonus for that.

And last but not least, we've got to face the fact that our business is like working directly in sports as a pr person or whatever for a pro sports team. A lot of people would like to have our jobs. It's supply and demand. There's enough supply to keep us from being able to demand better salaries. And if the guy or gal who replaces you only writes 70 percent as well as you did, do you honestly believe John or Jane Doe will notice?

They won't. Therein lies the problem.

 

You're right, cran. And I don't think that will -- or can -- change anytime soon.

What I do think can -- and should -- change is, say, the minimum standard at which these people are getting hired. Yeah, it's going to be cheaper than somebody with experience or at a smaller paper or cheaper place to live. But some of these jobs that are offering $17-20K? Fuuuuuuck, man. I don't care where you're at, that's shit wages.

The wage ceiling will never be high, we all understand that, but there's got to be a wage floor that gives beginning journalists and those at small rags some semblance of quality of life, you know? Even if a publisher is not striving for the highest quality of journalism -- and if they've got even a blink of an eye on profit margin, they're not -- you can at least establish a better kind of quality of living standard than the one we've got in place now, that's all.

 

Here's the thing. They can't do that with accountants, advertising sales people, human resources people, etc. Those people have to be paid something reasonably close to a market rate or they would have constant turnover and wouldn't have people to perform those functions. Supply and demand works both ways - if you can't find enough people to do the work, you have to raise salaries. Showing a deskful of resumes is one thing, having skilled people is another. My guess is that right now, there is at least one person where you work who doesn't have the skills to be very good.

Supply and demand is something that might work in economics class and it's great to say "the market will take care of it"... except it doesn't and people manipulate markets all of the time. Boards of educations work in concert or with the same mindset to limit teachers' salaries, and the NEA works to counteract that. Hospitals get special permission to bring in nurses from places like the Philippines, and that holds down nursing salaries. Ray Kroc gave $100,000 to the Nixon campaign in 1972 to delay an increase in the minimum wage.

If the supply of sportswriters is bottomless, why isn't sports writing a lot better than it is? The wage ceiling is higher for sportswriters than it is for nurses and teachers, there just aren't a lot of people in sportswriting making that and a lot more earn below starting teaching salaries.

This happens because editors buy in and writers accept it as "the way it is"... think about some of the things you read on this board - "You're not going to get rich in Journalism" "you shouldn't do this for the money" or my favorite, "this is a good job for a beginner". Heck, half of the jobs available aren't fit for anybody who isn't a beginner.

well, if you are going to take a vow of poverty, there are plenty of Catholic religious orders who will accept priests and nuns and look out for their colleagues a lot better than journalists do (I'm being somewhat sarcastic, I know, but there is a point).

If I were to say one thing - I would say look out for the person you work with. That is what is missing at newspapers today.

What to do? Maybe any time anybody gets a salary at $8,000 less than the local starting teaching salary, the paper should be noted here and places like Poynter. Another idea is that somebody going for a masters or doctorate in economics study this and get information.

How are things going to change? Don't look for other people to do something - webby has provided this forum for us and that's why I donated to keep this going. This change isn't going to come from the top down - if it's going to change, it will change from the bottom up. The change starts with you and your own mind and your own attitude and looking out for colleagues.

 

I hate to have to be blunt about this, but I'm sure at least part of it is because the large masses of people who want to become sportswriters generally don't reflect the smartest and most talented members of society. If those people want to become writers at all, they usually don't want to write about sports.

And for that, we should all be thankful. We don't need our potential top scholars, scientists and doctors forgoing more important matters for sportswriting.