An anonymous TSF reader writes:
"Local ownership at small-town papers is fine and good and, yes, probably the long-term solution to ensuring their survival but it probably wouldn’t hurt if those smaller weeklies and community dailies started paying their reporters (and other staffers) decent wages.
The staff turnover at weeklies right now is atrocious - it’s not uncommon for weekly newsrooms to completely turn over, editor-and-all, two or three times a year. Granted, many weeklies can only pay what they can afford to pay, but I know there are weeklies out there that make tidy little profits but don’t re-invest in staff.
It used to be that the radio guys (i.e. non-CBC) were the lowest-paid journalists in town, but now I’m not so sure. To me, that’s one of the biggest underlying problems in the newspaper industry in Canada - the talent is being eroded away from the smaller papers simply because few reporters can afford to stay at them for any real amount of time - not if they aspire to raise a family or create a comfortable life for themselves.
And if the talent is not staying in the business, you can connect the dots from there - lower-skilled reporters means an inferior product, which means fewer readers and subscriptions, which means lower ad revenues. To be fair, the smaller papers have paid poorly for a long time and it’s not just the ones owned by Quebecor, Sun Media, Osprey, or Bowes.
However, it’s my belief that it’s created a 'lost generation' of journalists (including this one) who bailed out of the business in their late 20s and early 30s because they weren’t good enough to cut it at a better-paying, big metro daily and they weren’t patient enough to float along making $35,000 a year at a weekly or community daily.
Yeah, I know. Money isn’t everything. But it’s not nothing, either."
"Local ownership at small-town papers is fine and good and, yes, probably the long-term solution to ensuring their survival but it probably wouldn’t hurt if those smaller weeklies and community dailies started paying their reporters (and other staffers) decent wages.
The staff turnover at weeklies right now is atrocious - it’s not uncommon for weekly newsrooms to completely turn over, editor-and-all, two or three times a year. Granted, many weeklies can only pay what they can afford to pay, but I know there are weeklies out there that make tidy little profits but don’t re-invest in staff.
It used to be that the radio guys (i.e. non-CBC) were the lowest-paid journalists in town, but now I’m not so sure. To me, that’s one of the biggest underlying problems in the newspaper industry in Canada - the talent is being eroded away from the smaller papers simply because few reporters can afford to stay at them for any real amount of time - not if they aspire to raise a family or create a comfortable life for themselves.
And if the talent is not staying in the business, you can connect the dots from there - lower-skilled reporters means an inferior product, which means fewer readers and subscriptions, which means lower ad revenues. To be fair, the smaller papers have paid poorly for a long time and it’s not just the ones owned by Quebecor, Sun Media, Osprey, or Bowes.
However, it’s my belief that it’s created a 'lost generation' of journalists (including this one) who bailed out of the business in their late 20s and early 30s because they weren’t good enough to cut it at a better-paying, big metro daily and they weren’t patient enough to float along making $35,000 a year at a weekly or community daily.
Yeah, I know. Money isn’t everything. But it’s not nothing, either."
Who makes $35,000 a year at a weekly? I know an editor who made $32,000 last year (after a decade on the job) and will see his salary reduced due to previously announced cuts by Sun Media/Quebecor to Christmas bonuses and profit sharing. For most of his tenure, his salary has been in the mid to upper $20,000s.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem is those who spend any length of time at a weekly are deemed "lifers" and don't even get an interview when applying for positions at dailies. In my experience, there is a stigma out there and it's against weekly reporters and editors. In my neck of the woods, the daily is owned by CanWest and they would sooner take a rookie fresh out of university than someone with years of experience cutting their teeth at a weekly.
The editor I know is well respected in his community and works hard but fears he will never own a new car or a house due to salary constraints.
35 grand a year? Try 10 grand less.
ReplyDeleteAs an editor who has hired people who work at weeklies for dailies and has worked with others who have that experience, a couple points.
ReplyDeleteThe first is that, unlike graduates, weekly reporters often have bad habits which, because of their "experience" they don't think of as bad habits, but rather "the way I do things." Unfortunately that way might work great at a weekly but doesn't translate at all well to the grind of daily deadlines And of course because these reporters have "experience" you can't tell them to change.
I have said for years and continue to say that if newspapers (newspaper chains really) wanted to serve journalism the ideal would be to get very strong teaching editors in at weeklies to build good habits so that reporters starting there (and I do think weeklies are the best place for reporters to cut their teeth) would be much better prepared for the dailies. But that too requires money and a commitment to journalism sorely lacking today.
RE: "The first is that, unlike graduates, weekly reporters often have bad habits which, because of their "experience" they don't think of as bad habits, but rather "the way I do things." Unfortunately that way might work great at a weekly but doesn't translate at all well to the grind of daily deadlines And of course because these reporters have "experience" you can't tell them to change."
ReplyDeleteSo weekly editors and reporters can't adapt and are incapable of keeping up with daily deadlines? Some green kid fresh out of university is a better choice? Maybe if more weekly editors and reporters were given a chance, we'd blow that stereotype out of the water.
And that's all that it is... a stereotype.
What sort of bad habits are you speaking of? As a reporter at a weekly, it would be beneficial to know what the difference is between working for a daily versus a weekly or bi-weekly. Looking for feedback!
ReplyDelete@9:17 a.m. TSF and many of its followers are out of touch and arrogant. Hard to trust their stories when they don't check out their facts.
ReplyDelete