Today’s thought: I didn’t get a degree to be poor

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What is with people constantly saying “I didn’t get into journalism to be rich?”

Well, duh! But, I didn’t get a college degree to be poor either. Savvy?

There is a huge difference between being rich and being poor. Many journalists struggle to make a legitimate middle-class living. That is something to complain about.

We can’t expect journalists to have better qualifications (remember when journalists didn’t need expensive college degrees?), have broader skill sets and do more work, all while getting paid less. Starting journalism salaries have been stagnant for years, while inflation has marched on.

And benefits? What are those? Take post No. 350 from AngryJournalist.com:

I am angry because I’m taking money out of my IRA to get my wisdom teeth removed, while the barista at the Starbucks across the street will get it done for nearly nothing.

Is expecting workplace coverage for a routine procedure like getting your wisdom teeth removed an attempt to “get rich?” So, spare me the whole “I didn’t get into journalism to be rich” talk. That’s what corporate wants you to believe and that’s what idiots tell themselves to justify worsening workplace conditions.

This post was inspired by a post (No. 336) at AngryJournalist.com:

I am a happy. Today, I purchased a baseball bat and now have it next to my desk, conveniently within reach for the next person who smilingly reminds me that I didn’t get in to journalism for the money.

  • http://www.scribblesheet.co.uk/blog JohnofScribbleSheet

    Pat – its not just about being rich or poor. Its about relativity. Most Journo grads know they could easily do what their friends do and go and work for a bank, law firm or accountancy and earn a whole lot more.

    Even if journo’s are not poor, they will still have that relativity problem.

  • http://patrickbeeson.com Patrick Beeson

    Yes, it sucks that journalists aren’t paid a wage that corresponds with how hard they work. But like many things in the newspaper business, that’s how it always was and until things shift — they are doing this now — it’s probably how they will remain.

    The current condition of the market doesn’t make it any more likely that reporters and their ilk will be getting pay raises anytime soon.

    I do think you need to look beyond the almighty dollar at some point. There isn’t a journalist I know that didn’t know before sitting down to write their first story that journalism doesn’t pay well.

    These folks are in the business for more than money obviously. And there’s something to be said for that.

  • http://char1ievick.wordpress.com Charlie

    There’s something to be said for that until you have to get $50,000 in back surgery, you’re 25, and you make half of that in a year before taxes. After taxes you make a bad joke with a laugh track.

    This ain’t me, but I’ve seen people my age (the 25s or so) needing new cars or trying to pay some hefty hospital bills. It’s one thing to pick a job you know won’t pay well. It’s a whole other thing to stick with it.

    I started smoking when I was 18 – I knew it would kill me, but didn’t care. A few years later, dealing with my rising blood pressure and lack of breath, it got hard to not care. You know something intellectually about low wages, that’s one thing. You live on barista wage for two years after college, it starts to get to you.

    I did finally manage to quit.

    Thornton – thanks! My first throught on angryjournalist.com was, ‘There is a God.’ Lovely stuff. I found a rather sad one here:

    Angry Journalist #186:

    After more than 25 years of working for low pay and going out in the nastiest weather, sitting through innumerable city council meetings, press conferences, and covering dipshit stories, I can’t get a job.
    I’ve become obselescent even though I’ve done every job in a news from from assistant to photographer to reporter, anchor and producer.
    But now that I’m over 50 no one even wants to talk to me about a job, much less offer me a shot at one.

    I loved journalism, even though it cost me a home, the love of my life and my health and I would still love to do it, but the powers that be say no thanks.

  • http://www.patthorntonfiles.com pat

    Charlie,

    I just heard a story today about a journalist who has to pay more than $400 a month for Cobra coverage because the health insurance at his new job isn’t good enough. He needs good health insurance too, because he unfortunately has Leukemia. He’d be better off working at Starbucks, instead of being a slot editor at a daily newspaper.

    Now that’s truly sad.

  • http://www.patthorntonfiles.com pat

    John and Patrick,

    I didn’t get into journalism for the money either, and I honestly have no complaints about my salary. I make way more than the average 23-year-old journalist, but that’s because I’m a Web editor at a 100,000+ circulation paper.

    I don’t think it’s a relativity issue. At the typical, mid-sized daily in the U.S. (50,000 circulation) pay and benefits are terrible. We’re talking making under $30,000.

    I had a friend who worked at a non-profit, making $34,000 a year. Frankly, what he did (directing a Boys & Girls Club in a downtrodden urban area) is much more rewarding than the typical journalism job, and it’s a bigger service to society. And he wasn’t constantly broke.

    I have another friend who does a teaching program like Teach for America and he makes more than $40,000 a year and gets student loan reimbursement. And he is at a job where he can see that he is making a difference.

    So, when I talk about journalism not paying well, I’m not comparing it to my banking friends or my engineer friends. I’m comparing journalism to my friends who are school teachers or who work for non-profits. They get paid better, have better benefits and get treated better.

    Plus, they work in rewarding fields. Honestly, how rewarding are many journalism jobs that force reporters to write positive stories about advertisers? Journalism is not what it once was. Many papers bow to business interests.

    Honestly, what’s the point of going $40,000+ into debt with student loans if you’re going to come out making $25,000 a year? I have friends who can barely make an existence because of how bad their dailies pay.

    We’re not talking about being rich. We’re not talking about making the same as some accountant. We’re talking about being able to make a decent living.

    We’re talking about the ability to one day have a family.

    So many journalists are leaving journalism because they want to have a family, but their jobs don’t pay well enough for them to do so. That’s truly sad.

  • http://patrickbeeson.com Patrick Beeson

    @Pat

    There are many, many fields that require years of expensive education. And not all of them pay enough to recoup the cost until much later in life.

    Doctors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their education. Despite their large paychecks, it still takes them years to pay it off.

    Professors are in the same boat, with more holes — they’re in school for 10+ years only to get a job that pays less than $40K.

    Why do they do it? Because they love the work. Pay is second.

    I have little sympathy for those that go into a profession knowing the low wages, and then complain about it. As I said in my recent blog entry, there are plenty of jobs that value the skills being taught in J-School that will pay more.

    But if you love journalism, then you’ll do it regardless of the pay check.