Reminder: You Deserve to Be Paid
Our friends at Deadspin wrote a witty yet innocuous article about NJ.com advertising a job posting “which definitely sounds like a beat-writing job,” but technically a part-time job and earns the reporter a stipend, not a salary …
This is not uncommon in the media world. Writers, reporters, editors, photographers and, horribly, “content creators” are usually ordered to work for free, for advertising, on credit, for anything, unless it’s “for money.” If you’ve been doing this for … well, it’s unclear exactly how many years, but once you “pay your dues,” these professionals are told, then you might be paid. Not too many, of course. Scholarship, no benefits.
I apologize for not becoming more eloquent, but this is bullshit. People deserve fair pay for their work. But even an indication of this seems controversial.
There are … a lot of mistakes in the argument that Megan Greenwell tweets. First, $ 30,000 10 or 20 years ago in the suburbs is not the same as $ 30,000 in 2018 in a metropolis.
This is a pretty obvious point. Second, there is nothing romantic about working for low wages. In all sectors, workers are expected to work longer, hustle harder, hone, hone their skills, contribute to projects, and do more work, mostly for free. We brag about being so busy that we don’t have time for anything other than work. But working for free doesn’t mean you want more or do a better job – it just means you can already afford it.
So, I’ll say it again: that’s it. Deserves. Living room. Wage. This should not be controversial. Hell, everyone deserves more money than they need just to “live.” And in the US, that includes health insurance and retirement benefits, as our society is currently structured in such a way that our employers pretty much dictate whether we have health insurance and whether we can hope to retire one day.
Saying, “Well, I worked as an unpaid intern, look at me now,” as if this should be the standard for every person on the planet who wants to work in this field further restricts the types of people (white, middle class to rich, male) who can have this job and write these stories in an industry that is sorely lacking in diverse thoughts and opinions . As Lifehacker writer Nick Douglas notes:
I don’t know why some people feel obligated to defend that others must be broke and unhappy to do valuable work. Trying your best to make ends meet will not make you a better reporter or writer, it will just make you nervous. It’s not romantic, it’s not honor, and it’s not a 20-second film cut in which the brave protagonist goes through tough times but then gets a big sensation and rides on the next wave of success. It’s just a way for your company to spend a little less money. If you are doing the job of a beat reporter, it is reasonable to say that you deserve a beat reporter salary.
Of course, there is no simple hack for this. Chances are, you won’t be able to give up a job that doesn’t pay you well enough in the hope that a better one will emerge — we all need money. But requiring others to “pay their dues” only perpetuates cycles of inequality and, in the case of sports journalism, leaves you with a bunch of white male writers who all tweet the same things to people who point out it’s kind of shitty system. … It’s great that they did it, but it would be better if all employees were paid a fair salary.