Newspaper Reporter is WORST job in the world, says study.

Big surprise? I think not for many, but if it is, here’s what you need to know about being a newspaper reporter (or journalist, period) in 2013 and beyond. And here’s a diatribe on why one journalist left the business altogether…and she’s only 28.

One of my favorite quotes from her very candid blog post is:

“So here goes. This is the real reason why I left news: I finally came to accept that the vanity of a byline was keeping me in a job that left me physically and emotionally exhausted, yet supremely unsatisfied.”

Ah yes, the infamous byline – the writer’s Kryptonite. I had my first taste in my early 20s and since then have fallen into that trap many times, staying in underpaid writing jobs for longer than I should have, over and over again.

Anyway, I only share this to share this: IT’S NOT JUST YOU.

Working in media sucks on a good day, so don’t give up. But if you do, no one is judging. Just don’t let your talent go to waste. The world still needs good writers and great thinkers.

-sandy.

Work-for-free Opportunities in Journalism: beware or get with it?

Feathers have been rustled in the world of freelance writing once again. Have you heard?

It started with this blog post by freelance journalist, Nate Thayer, venting about the exchange between himself and an editor at The Atlantic .

In summary, The Atlantic contacted Thayer to republish one of his articles on their website…..for no money. They told him he’d get publicity, he told them to fuck off.

The editor cited “no budget” – a common theme for freelancers – and so Thayer let the editor have it, via email. He then published the whole email exchange to his blog, including the editor’s name.

The so-called controversy has been all over the Internet, and I’m glad. These conversations need to happen. They may not solve the issues, but they need to be had. Journalists are feeling a little more than lost these days, not to mention pissed off. And, even after 10 years as a full-time writer, I’m still considered one of the “new guys” on the block, so I can only imagine the frustration of life-long journalists dealing with how the Internet has both helped and hurt the industry in equal measure.

To the young writer-hopeful just coming up, the landscape of journalism can feel grim. Like standing at big gates with no one around to let you in. You feel locked out.

Well, you know what? No one is going to let you in. I’ve been there at those gates and no one came to open the door. But remember: there is no one standing there. So maybe think about how to use that to your advantage and let yourself in instead.

There is no magic course to take on being a writer or a journalist. There is no number of internships that will get you where you want to be. There is also no newspaper or magazine salary that will sustain you, because the average income of even a full-time writer or editor at a paper is less than the starting salary of a graduate fresh out of school.

So maybe the real question is: what’s the value of intellectual capital today?

I really just don’t know. But I negotiate it myself everyday, every time I make a pitch or sell a story, and maybe that’s what journalism needs to include more of – not a free market, but a more open one, where ideas and storytelling are subjective in price, but not free of charge.

I remember having one of my own pieces republished years ago. I was paid $500 for the republish, which blew my mind at the time. I had just started my freelance career and hadn’t graduated school yet. To be compensated for an article I’d already written and had previously published felt like a some sort of sign that I should keep going and become a journalist. I was hooked.

It’s been an up and down road since then. Some years have been stellar for business, while others have been rough-going. To be honest, if I could go back, I wouldn’t undo it. But I sure wish I knew what I did with that $500. I would surely use it to grease the person standing on the other side of that gate.

-sandy.