Young journalists must remember that we deserve to be paid

Yesterday Natalie wrote a pretty gloomy post about job-hunting. I’m in the sadly rather lucky few who actually has a job and I’m still going to subject you to a miserable missive.

If you are feeling at all emotionally unstable, I recommend you do not read the story of this young man who bankrupted himself trying to get a job in journalism. It made me feel even more grateful to have secured a paying job – although how strange to live in a society where a woman with two degrees feels pathetically thankful for a minimum wage internship.

Since I’m mostly working in online production at the day job, I’ve been thinking of freelancing in the evenings to keep my writing in shape. But securing that commission seems an insurmountable mental hurdle – I realise I haven’t ever asked to be paid for my writing. For copy-editing, yes, but when it comes to features, we’re expected to be grateful just to have somewhere to splurge our creative juices (sorry…)

And we are – ever so grateful. Except journalism isn’t just navel-gazing and chatting to your heroes and stringing together sexy words. That’s the fun part, of course. But it’s also spending hours calling unknown numbers, battling PRs, writing into the night and editing and spell-checking on the half-hour of sleep you managed to snatch. Ie, it’s a job. A job we should be paid for.

In journalism, as in so many industries these days (including, apparently, shelf-stacking) we must do some degree of unpaid work, work which really is rewarded with knowledge, experience and references. But there comes a point where we devalue our work by only doing it for free – damned if we do, damned if we don’t, etc. At some point we must demand to be paid – I’m just scared that I no longer know how, nor have the self-belief to do so.

Elinorybxpkg

@annedreshfield http://t.co/lID8dgn3

anon87

As a freelancer, and one who does actually get paid by a few people, I can tell you it's very tough to get commissioned at the moment. Publications are much less willing to develop an OK idea from someone they don't know, they generally side with a PR-motivated story or something written by an editor.

Work experience is a great place to get contacts for freelancing, but that's why you should only be a workie for places that you can see yourself freelancing for (and have the budget for it). A lot of small magazines that used to give jobs to workies just don't anymore, they have a constant stream of workies with no intention of giving work to any. Sad but true.

Hannah I'd advice thinking up some pitches for places where you've already done work experience, develop them as much as you can (if only to guilt your commissioning editor into giving it a fair glance) and really make sure it fits the tone, takes no work from the editor and isn't too risky. Don't waste to much time cold-pitching to editors you don't know, it only works 5% of the time... if you're lucky... many big publications have literally zero commissioning budget now so it'll often fall on deaf ears. That's my bit of gloom... I'm sure you'll be fine though!

mhd_bass

@anon87 great advice, thank you!

panbarker

@wannabehacks Of course they should be paid. People who say our generation is too entitled should try doing their job for free for 6 months

HuwLHopkins

Last time I got offered "work experience", bare in in mind it was the umpteenth time I had done this exact work experience, I asked for money, and he said it would be good contacts and good experience. These contacts were in an specialism that I have no ambition to follow and I had the good experience the previous umpteen times I had worked for him so I challenged the point saying that I thought my work was worth something. He still refused. It's tough to pluck up the courage again when you get refused over and over. I did the work experience, for free, and gained no new knowledge or relevant contacts.