Dying of exposure
Why write for money when you can write for exposure asks Lee Zachariah. Unless you have to pay the rent, that is.
Until recently, the best career advice one could receive was ‘Find out what you love doing and find a way to get paid for it’.
Although this meaningless mantra would, if universally applied, quickly lead to a world without garbage collectors, sewerage workers or Channel Ten CEOs, it was just motivational enough to pass the time in the career counsellor’s office.
It’s difficult to give that advice nowadays to anyone wishing to enter journalism. Discouraging young people from following their dreams would be caddish, so perhaps we should adjust our advice slightly and invoke Charles Bukowski: ‘Find what you love and let it kill you.’
I don’t say this just so I can enter the inaugural ‘Least Ironic Article About the Death of Journalism’ category at this year’s Walkleys. No, I have a second reason.
A few weeks ago, writer Nate Thayer posted a series of emails between himself and the editor of The Atlantic, in which the editor had asked if Nate would be willing to work for ‘the exposure’ instead of money. Those who have checked the exposure-to-money exchange rates recently will know that, as Thayer himself pointed out, exposure does not pay bills or feed children.
Because everyone in the world now identifies as a writer, it’s not difficult to sympathise with Thayer, but let us first play devil’s advocate and identify the mitigating circumstances: this was not an article that was commissioned by The Atlantic, but rather a potential reprint that Thayer had approached them with; the editor actually comes off as a reasonable human being; it is actually possible that the exposure may have led to the paid work Thayer clearly deserves.
Before my editor gets too excited at my sudden endorsement of journalistic slave labour, I merely strive to remind everyone that there is less money everywhere. Publications have been forced to completely rethink their business models, which is why you’re reading this on a screen instead of paper made from a tree.
Of course, The Atlantic doesn’t get to use that excuse until it asks middle management, publishers and vendors to also work for free. If a magazine read by 13 million cannot afford to pay writers for content, then, as Thayer himself said, how can this be a sustainable business model?
And that’s what we’re all afraid of: maybe this is a sustainable business model. We know there’s no shortage of writers willing to work for free. They may not all be Wordsworth, but they’ve probably absorbed enough cultural references from The Simpsons (or whatever its current equivalent is) to cobble together an interminable Buzzfeed Top 15 Magazines Staffed By Vagrant Writers list.
Thayer’s publishing of his correspondence may not have resulted in any money going directly to him, but it continues to fuel the debate over the state of journalism. And, ironically, has led to commentators such as myself making money by writing about his case. Although I would like to thank Thayer for this opportunity by sending him a percentage of my fee, I’m sure he’ll be satisfied with the exposure my article will get him. After all, times are tight.
Lee Zachariah is a writer and critic best known for ABC comedy program The Bazura Project and the film podcast Hell Is For Hyphenates. Find him on Twitter @leezachariah.
This story first appeared in the weekly edition of Encore available for iPad and Android tablets. Visit encore.com.au for a preview of the app or click below to download.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE
User ID not verified.
I started in journalism in 1992 and for the first year at least I worked my butt off for free. Just the way it is, sadly… That said, I did go on to have a moderately successful career as a writer and for much of that made a salary in excess of six figures….
User ID not verified.
Ten tips for aspiring journalists…
1) Just because you have a media degree does not mean you are any good and your dream job will be automatically waiting for you the day you finish uni.
2) If you are lucky enough to score a job, remember the first five years will most likely be making coffee and updating a website (if you’re lucky)
3) Few journalists EVER get to write about what they want to write about.
4) Just because you’re a competent writer does NOT make you a good journalist.
5) Don’t turn up to a job interview and say you actually want to be a scriptwriter.
6) If you don’t voraciously consume media every day – newspapers, mags, journals, TV, online etc – don’t bother (become a scriptwriter.)
7) Journalism is a very transparent career – you fast work out who’s good and who’s not.
8) Your editor wants ideas, ideas and more ideas. If you don’t have that creative ‘news sense’ give it away now.
9) There’s a lot of ego in the industry (see: wankers), it’s not for the thin-skinned.
10) Don’t do it for the money.
User ID not verified.
… and (11) having a blog and writing opinion pieces no one reads does not make you a journalist either…
User ID not verified.
I don’t believe the editor from The Atlantic was being ‘reasonable’ at all. Thayer was justifiably insulted by the request to use his article for no fee. Writers and journalists the world over need to firmly stamp their feet and respond exactly as Thayer has done each and every time they are offered anything other than the pay they rightly deserve. Otherwise the craft will be left to degrade beyond the point where any talented would-be writers and journalists even consider it as a career path. I hope publications like The Atlantic revisit their policies here and do the right thing in future. After all, it’s content like that produced by writers like Thayer that underpins their whole business.
User ID not verified.