A lot of the best young journalists are leaving

Well, of course the smart, young talent will chose a path that suits them. Always have, always will.

What’s different now (I think) is that newspapering is no longer about just, well, newspapering. There’s a whole technology aspect to it now, that was never quite there before.

Yeah the really old timers can tell me about ‘etaoin shrdlu’ and the skills needed to make Linotypes work, but I maintain that this is different. Its these ‘technology people’ — from newsroom bloggers to the IT types to maintain the hundreds of desktops and servers — that require a totally different “care and feeding” than most newspapers are accustomed to.

It is these types that newspapers are not attracting. It is these types that newspapers desperately need. It is also these types that — once they figure it out — can probably beat newspapers at their own game.

Have always agreed with your take, but Shel Israel offered a differing opnion in an interview we did with him this week.

Shel’s take at http://tinyurl.com/325ubg

“So, the companies that still do this are hurting financially, and they respond by cutting the numbers of journalists. In the U.S. from the year 2001 to 2003, I’ve read that there were 75,000 fewer reporting and editing jobs in traditional media. That looks quite bleak.

However, simultaneous to that, online journalism has flourished. There are more news gathering organizations online every day. Many are doing quite well economically. I would wager that the day will come quite soon when the New York Times makes greater revenue online than they do off. As the revenue grows, so will the number of paid journalists.

In any democracy, we need journalists, to watch and report on the rest of the institutions. That just isn’t going to die. But there can be no individual freedom without economic freedom, and right now the number of paid journalistic positions in the U.S. is not growing fast enough.

I believe it soon will, and that the profession of journalist will be overwhelmingly online.”

Thanks for the link as well as for the support.

Obviously not many people get into journalism for the money, but I like your point that economics can sometimes overrule any idealism (such as having 40k in loans for a job that doesn’t pay that in a year).

Dead trees journalism is dying. Online is the only future left. And I agree with Sean, if a bunch of tech savvy young turks can pair up with some young, eager, talented j-grads – and they can put together enough startup funding – it could be interesting.

But the real challenge is overcoming the cost of a college education on a journalists salary. You have to find a way to reward journalists better if you want to stop the bleeding. Young talent is going to flee journalism if they can’t repay their college loans on a journalist salary.

[...] – why would you want to go into newspaper journalism or to a lesser extent television?  The journalism iconoclast has a great post about how journalism is bleeding out its brightest and youngest [...]

I have a rule: never accept a job that pays less than your undergraduate loans.

Most j-school grads can’t follow that rule if they go into journalism and will be making a grave financial mistake if they don’t follow it.

The biggest problem journalism faces is that the salaries are so bad that most technology savvy people won’t consider the field. If you have strong tech skills, you’ll be drawn to places that A) pay more but also B) give a lot more freedom for innovation.

Newspapers are not innovative people. Web people like to innovate. I feel like I am being suffocated at times.

Speaking of which, as a J-grad last May… I’ve been applying for jobs for months! It is absolutely insane! I’ve been temping at a book publishing company, which I thought would be a great idea, but I’m certainly not using my brain processing numbers and copying/filing all day long.

I was so passionate leaving college to obtain that one Ed Assistant position at a paper or mag. But seriously now, if I want to move out of my house before I’m 30, I’m going to have to make more than 27,000 a year. And also, how in the hell do companies expect young journalists to grow when bullshit work is what they tend to give?

I miss using my brain, and am thinking of going back to school and majoring in something else just because of the pure ridiculousness of it all.

-N

When I was a young reporter in the 1980s, making $13,000 a year, I remember the trade magazines running tear-jerk articles about how low salaries were driving away all the best and the brightest.

And I knew a few people who jumped ship into advertising, PR or government work.

Still, it’s amazing how many newsrooms I go into today that have top reporters and editors who got their start about the same time I did.

Obviously, they weren’t all driven off.

There’s no correlation between salary and a willingness to stick with the business.

In fact, every employee satisfaction (for all industries) since the 1950s shows that salary never even comes close to the top three reasons why a person takes and/or keeps a job.

There is a lot more that goes into job satisfaction, for everybody, than money.

Oh, for more of my “40-miles through the snow” sad-sack story … when I was a daily news reporter, by then making $24K, I made ends meet by moving into a flea-trap apartment with a friend going through college. I paid the rent, he qualified for food stamps, so he bought the food.

And if you read any journalism history, you’ll find that every generation of reporters have found fault with pay scales and long hours.

But again, a willingness to stick with a job has a lot more to do with other factors (such as feeling like you’re making a difference) then money. And that isn’t just a trait among journalists.

And consider this — when I was an education reporter, I couldn’t understand how teachers who made two and three times what I made could seriously look me in the eye and complain that they weren’t paid competitive wages and should probably change professions. It was all I could do to keep my objectivity and not laugh in their faces.

Howard, I think there are a few things you have to consider:

First, the cost of a college education has been rising far faster than inflation. Many students are saddled with a lot of student loans. I have more than $40,000 myself. Salaries have been flat in journalism for several years, yet students are taking on increased levels of debt.

If I was starting school in 2008, my debt would be much higher. My brother, who is five years older, came out with around $20,000 by comparison. My parents paid the same percentage of our educations, and we went to school’s that cost about the same (Notre Dame and Lehigh).

Education is also much more important for today’s journalists. My paper doesn’t have any non-college grads working for it. Journalism didn’t used to be a profession that required a college degree but now it does. It’s a lot easier to justify low wages for high school grads than it is for college grads. You could make more than $24,000 doing a lot of jobs that don’t require a college degree or student loans.

Let’s be honest: no one gets into journalism to be rich. Anyone who does is crazy. But most people don’t go to college to be poor either.

I don’t have any problems with my compensation, but I know some young journalists who have left the field even though they enjoyed their jobs somewhat. They left because they could barely make ends meet. One former journalist told me she couldn’t even buy a new shirt if she needed one because of the pay from her old job. Now she doesn’t have to feel guilty or go into debt to make a simple purchase.

Low pay will really hurt newspapers when it comes to technical talent. Newspapers will find it tough to get good Web and computer talent if they don’t pay competitively, especially since many newspapers offer very little freedom for innovation.

Howard:

No offense, buddy, but you’re locked in the past.

You sound exactly like the myopic newsroom managers who trot out the “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” stuff. They’re the same people who want the industry to survive just long enough so they can pull the cord on their golden parachutes. Then they’ll hope for the youngsters to subsidize their retirements.

Tuition is higher. Health care and insurance costs are way higher.

Don’t tell people they need to read history when you don’t grasp the present.

I tried to “tough it out” with journalism for a whopping 15 months. I made $31,000 a year as a copy editor at a daily newspaper in the New York City area–not the cheapest market. After health care, taxes and a pathetic contribution to my 401K (which has lost 10 percent of its value in the past year, thanks in part to heavy investment in newspaper stock) I made about $430 every week…$1720 a month…or about $22,000 a year.

Between my rent, car payment, car insurance, student loans, gas and food, I had so little money left at the end of the month, I was scared. Even after a year of 99 cent shampoo and absolutely no excess purchases (clothes, unnecessary driving, food that wasn’t on sale), I had saved nearly nothing. I didn’t even have credit card debt to worry about. When I came up for my one-year raise, I was given less than the inflation rate despite having continuously learned more skills and taken on added responsibilities. When I asked for more of a raise, I was told I was being paid in skills that would make me marketable elsewhere.

I thought back to how many holidays I’d spent working instead of with family over the past year and about how much working 4 p.m. until midnight sucked. I wondered what would happen if I ever had an unexpected expense–medical, car, etc. I wondered what my retirement portfolio (and Social Security) would look like in 40 years. What if I wanted to have kids at some point? What was I struggling and sacrificing for? A company where I’m valued so much I’m told to get a job elsewhere?

I left journalism. Not only am I convinced leaving was the right decision; I’m convinced staying would have been irresponsible.

Wow, Pat, way to represent. I’ve just been going through this as well. I’m trying to figure out how to get back to school for more technical training – want to learn web design, essentially. Don’t know too much about the back-end/front-end dichotomy, just been teaching myself HTML, CSS, that kind of thing. Hell, everyone at the office is already asking me for computer/technology advice, so why not learn more and get out of my 24k a year job in an Atlanta weekly?

Being in an entry-level job at a newspaper feels like I just got in at the bottom floor of a burning building. No place to go but up, right?

If my newspaper wants to keep me around, they can put some cash on the barrelhead. I work for a business that pays employees like we’re volunteers at a charity. Sometime in the last week I forgot why.

[...] similiar posts from Patrick Thornton on his blog – he talks about why lots of people in my position are leaving journalism. Of particular interest was the story of bored at work, a copy editor who made $31k a year in New [...]

[...] what, a lot of innovative minds are leaving journalism [...]

bored_at_work – that was my experience too. Every month I was spending more than I was earning, and that was without any extra or frivolous spending. I now earn a lot more money in PR but miss journalism a lot. It’s a constant struggle for me to balance my sensible head and my craving for journalism, but my sensible head is winning for now. Keep your chin up!

I completely understand where you all are coming from. I just graduated this May and as much as I love what I do as a journalist in addition to the freedoms I have, I know that I can’t afford to stay here. Let’s just say that at the rate I am going I will be making less than $15,000 a year… Yeah, it sucks. I graduated first in my class and was editor in chief of my student paper for two years. I love journalism but it is time to go. I wouldn’t dare try to make it 13 months… student loan payback kicks in in November.
Any advice?

The two can coincide. My good friend Noelle Valdivia started in PR, met so many editors that she easily moved into freelancing, mostly fashion and lifestyle for Nylon, Tokion, ID, even a few small pieces in Vogue. She even did live coverage on the new in NY (though she hated it). I don’t thnk it’s about training, I think it’s all about networking.

I’m 24, a reporter at a local weekly and i really identified with this post. i was wondering when something like this would get on the web.

When i took the job i have now i figured i would slog it out in the trenches for 5-10-maybe even 15 years before i could land a cool gig. Now this seems increasingly impossible.

Financially this is a profession for the rich or at least for those who never intend to have a family. sitting at my first job i make less than 25,000, which is fine, but ive come to understand that i cant expect that number to climb much further.

if i worked at starbucks i would make more than i do now. that i know because i work at starbucks at night to meet rent.

I didn’t go into journalism for $ but i, and i think most young journalists, would just like some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Something that says if we work hard we could possibly have a career.

Some guys say if we wait it out the situation will get better. the boomers will get old and retire. but where are all those boomers who got laid off from the LA and NY times looking for work? also read your father’s aarp these bastards will never retire, 70 is the new 60!

So young journalists, In the words of johnny rotten there’s no future for you.

Even a degree from a big name school like columbia seems worthless. I was all set to apply this fall but why? guys i know who gradauted from columbia and northwestern are working at the smae place i am and there’s no oppurtunities for growth.

My father is an editor at one of the large newswires and his analysis is equally bleak. “we’re fucked” was his latest musing.

Sicne we’re bth journalists we often talk of “the dark side” (PR), but today journalism seems to have lost that moral luster. Woodward and bernstein no more… all hail punditry and tabloids. The dark side doesn’t look so dark with a living wage.

For better or for worse the golden age is long gone. Even the stone faced AP has given in to subjectivity (there’s an interesting article on journalismjobs.com about it).

For those of us who went into journalism seeking an honorable profession to do good in the world, its clear we were born a little late.

That said, i’m out. Does anyone know a decent law school in DC?

I stumbled on this site by accident, with Google search words “leaving” and “journalism”. I’ll give you a view from across the big water, Europe. Finland, to be exact.

It’s pretty grim here as well. I think the conversation hasn’t really reached the “death of a profession”, but I think more and more people are starting to think that it might come to that. The editors seem to still believe, that the downhill is something that’s going to pass. Nothing to worry about, news are always needed, my CEO said shortly before announcing catastrophic figures and layoffs of dozens of journalists.

Subscriptions are going down, ad revenues are going down. The only thing going up is the news site readers, but the problem is, that there’s no good model for income generation for the news sites. So, media companies are making their sites while losing money. They try to optimize the amount of clicks by making stories on Hollywood people, drunken Finnish celebrities and Big Brother contestants. Stories that are easy to make and are guaranteed hits on the internet.

And I worked for the most serious paper in my country.

I left the business voluntarily about a month ago after six years, because I simply got tired of the prospects in the industry. I’m currently studying health-related stuff. I already have one master’s degree, but I need a job.

Salaries in Finland for a journalist? About 33000e (US$41000) a year on average, 26000e (US$32000) for a newcomer. It’s not a lot in Helsinki. You pay about 25-30% as taxes and 600e a month for a one-room-apartment. I’d say you live with the salary, but it’s by no means comparable to the majority of industries where people with Master’s degrees are working in.

I would never ever recommend this profession for somebody thinking what to do with his/her life. Looking back, I feel both sad and happy. Sad for leaving a profession that I feel I was really really really good at. Happy because the industry made me feel like a piece of shit for shitty money and unrewarding opportunities for such a long time.

I always thought that something dies for the masses, never for you though, not if you love it. Remember, many athletes fail, only a handful become great. I wonder at times about the future and then I smile because I say that i am the future. I am the reason the newspapers are dead, but I will also be the reason why journalism is alive.

Money is money and we all know the phrase, “Money Talks and bullshit walks.”
It seems with a journalism degree the phrase is flipped, “Money walks and bullshit talks.” Where is the money?
Hey – that’s life, some get it some don’t.
I believe if anyone chooses to do what they love then what better way to see yourself passing in life then just that, doing what you love.
We forget the stories reported of money and it’s evil.

I say If your in your in, and being In gives you power, a tool you posses that few would progress in knowledge without. Journalism has a taste of mystery and always has. If you are out then you are out and being Out you no longer do what so many people depend on us to do.

In life, we have those that go unknown, and those who make it big. We reap what we sow and though it may be clouded with a profession that doesn’t pay, the job is done. Like an artist whose painting’s are chewed and selected, digested and hung, we journalist most times bare the same brunt. It’s an art, and the people are screaming and in need of good talent. When something dies like the phoenix its reborn and soon her wings will ignite fear and all those who read mindless material will be left begging for the correct information with the twist of the writers talent.

Every story is a virgin, but every dollar is not.
Do what you do best, put it all in the pot.
If ever it gets hard and you wonder why your here,
forget the dollar lost, for the journalist tells it clear.

Just a little faith to those who Don’t give up on this centuries greatest art form, We need you. The people need us.

David