My Honest Response to an Aspiring Journalist

Source: PlainorPeanut41, CC 3.0

An aspiring journalist wrote to me asking for an "in" into a journalism job.

Here was my response:

Dear XXXX,

Candidly, today, you're facing long odds against making even a ramen-living from journalism. That's been usually true even for the many competent, quick-enough writers I've attempted to help. 

Of course, I know my own situation best so I'll share that with you. I've written 20 essays in one of the world's most famous news magazines and although I know how to negotiate--having written much on the subject--my total pay has been $0.  I was a columnist at an even more prestigious major magazine. The pay was: $190 a column. This week, I had an op-ed in a national news publication. Pay: $0. En toto, my journalistic writing has earned me less per hour than I could have made grilling chorizo at Taco Bell.

Regarding broadcast journalism, I soloed for 13 weeks on CNN-Money in prime time: My pay? $0. I'm in my 27th year on a public radio station in San Francisco and bring in more money during each fundraising drive than most shows in a similar time slot yet my total pay for the 26+ years there: $0.

And that's with a bio that let's just say is at least as strong as that of average journalist's.

Too, I must admit I shake my head at liberal media's hypocrisy.  In their writings and video segments, they almost always advocate for worker rights, for example, raising the minimum wage to a living wage yet they pay most of their writers, a rather talented group, less than minimum wage or zero.

Also, today, there's a powerful restriction on what you can write. Politically correct writing stands a much better chance of publication: For example, an article advocating redistribution from the successful to the unsuccessful is far more likely to be published and praised.than one touting a successful country, company, or white male. The latter is quite likely to be censored or censured.

Some would-be journalists pivot from their journalism dream to writing for corporations, government, or nonprofits, usually in their PR or marketing communication department but most would-be journalists feel that doesn't satisfy their desire for journalistic writing.

(I then gave her feedback on her writing, which was flaccid, self-absorbed, and unintelligent. I don't want to include the specifics here to avoid revealing who she is---A Google search on phrases I commented on would reveal her name.)
 
Partly it's the universities' fault. They keep admitting journalism students, taking their money, having seduced them with websites and brochures trumpeting profiles of a few successful journalists (without saying what their pay is.) Then, professors, more eager for good student evaluations than to steward students down wise paths, puff up the aspiring journalists who are desperate for a word that will legitimate their continuing to pursue journalism as a career.

I sat at the top of the Time-Life building with a few senior editors and they all agreed the universities are unethical in admitting and pushing through so many journalism students and that today, all but an elite small percentage of them usually end up not earning even a marginally sustainable living from journalism, yet they, like me, continue to write for free or a pittance because we feel compelled to write, for pay or not.
 
I'm sure "nicer" people will offer a different picture but what I've written is ultimately kindest, at least in my opinion.

Sincerely,

Marty Nemko

Marty Nemko's bio is in Wikipedia. His new book, his 8th, is The Best of Marty Nemko.

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