tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post2402677342005708630..comments2023-10-30T00:51:36.361-11:00Comments on Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Woman: I've had enough...of journalismExmoorjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-40727772009867930022012-10-08T22:45:51.540-11:002012-10-08T22:45:51.540-11:00Well said and its not a lot easier for Editors eit...Well said and its not a lot easier for Editors either who keep having budgets cut and are breezily told by managers to "lighten it up" because readers can't concentrate any more. I cringed all the way through Electric Ink on radio 4 because it could be our office. I feel a lot less guilty having read this about thinking about making a move into collectibles and markets. Time off for good behaviour.Liz Fairbrotherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960349765008644970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-8096512456265835352012-09-02T06:24:14.192-11:002012-09-02T06:24:14.192-11:00I've worked all my life in and around newspape...I've worked all my life in and around newspapers and magazines, and have long thought of journalism as a vanity profession - by that I mean a profession with pretty high status in the eyes of others, but actually very poor rewards and working conditions. <br /><br />For twelve years I worked in Regional Press and agree entirely about the egalitarian ( I would say meritocratic) culture. But today the regional newspaper industry is in structural decline and the same for magazines too - in response publishers cut the editorial costs, increase cover prices and hope to maintain and advertising revenue - then scratch their heads when it doesn't work - duh!<br /><br />Blogging probably doesn't help freelance rates, but I think it's a very minor impact. Perhaps it encourages publishers to think they can get 'words for free'. Could ramble on for yonks about this but won't. <br /><br />Go and teach writing and communication to corporates - that's my tip / advice; good fees, nice hotels, definitely a market for it!<br /><br />All that said - I was thrilled when the advance copies of my book arrived last week; eight years work and I doubt I'll make a bean - but that's not always why we write!<br /><br />http://www.amazon.co.uk/Counting-Steps-Mark-Charlton/dp/1907090711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346605231&sr=8-1The bike shedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05195882998271591934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-22667247998595582712012-09-01T12:22:58.279-11:002012-09-01T12:22:58.279-11:00Excellent piece. I work for a provincial paper and...Excellent piece. I work for a provincial paper and reckon I'll be extremely lucky if I can work in it until I retire (15 years time hopefully ). Have a teenager who is an excellent writer but unfortunately have to tell him not to even think of going into journalism. It's the same story everywhere, news is being dumbed down, staff numbers cut and then 'they' wonder why sales fall and off we go on another round of cuts. Quality and public service doesn't exist any more, at least not in the boardrooms. Mairéadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12102610500647326693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-8131339052025489072012-08-30T21:48:13.013-11:002012-08-30T21:48:13.013-11:00Yep... you're right. Most of us have done our ...Yep... you're right. Most of us have done our best to get out. And those who haven't got out say they wish they could... Nigel Summerleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06781654972342137860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-25746784139202518572012-08-27T20:57:01.458-11:002012-08-27T20:57:01.458-11:00I think the rot set in during the early 1990s when...I think the rot set in during the early 1990s when the quality broadsheets decided to cover popular culture such as rock, an area that had been formerly dissected brilliantly by the likes of the NME (itself suffering a dumbing down in the late 1980s); word counts were cut, ‘design’ became important; then there were the freesheets and contract mags whose content was dictated by the client (I know because I was a deputy editor on one); the whole idea of journalism started to be debased. On the other hand, I do think that there is room for great writers but you also need a mixture of luck, right place at the right timeish and contacts to get through…Adrian Tierney-Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05421802854011395300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-28062189423182490592012-08-27T14:39:20.496-11:002012-08-27T14:39:20.496-11:00Just a quick opinion...all the young people want t...Just a quick opinion...all the young people want to make a living on the computer regardless of talent. We are the last of the small builders left standing in our part of Arizona...maybe 1 in 10 young people want to even consider manual labor. We don't give our manual labor away...our saying is "If we want to do something for nothing we can dig a hole and fill it back up again"...and it doesn't cost us a thing! ha! Magazines are total advertisements now...hardly an interesting article to be had.ain't for city galshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14938751007704247232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-47434835366421057142012-08-26T05:56:44.962-11:002012-08-26T05:56:44.962-11:00@Lulu - yup, you know this all too well. It IS da...@Lulu - yup, you know this all too well. It IS damn tough for the next generation. But, as I said before, bloody tough for us too. There is still work in online media and contract publishing - but it means a completely new way of working. Not sure I have the energy! <br /><br />@Sally. Yes. Just yes. People don't realise who's paying for half the stuff they read. And yes, experience counts for nada. And...no...let's not talk about Suri... <br /><br />@Andy - the accountants are now running the ships...hence money is the bottom line in a way it never was before. We no longer have any kind of free press. Everything is bought, one way or another. And now it's creeping into blogs too. Depressing.<br /><br />@EM - it's funny, when I went into journalism, there weren't degrees in journalism. Some people went to the LCP but they were rare. Mostly we made our way up from the bottom, learning as we went. I started off in admin, cleaning the typewriters! Your daughter is wise to have a second string. I wish her all the luck in the world. <br /><br /><br />Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-40125146044708280612012-08-26T05:50:42.215-11:002012-08-26T05:50:42.215-11:00@Ross - our cult of celebrity is just the most dep...@Ross - our cult of celebrity is just the most depressing thing. :(<br /><br />@Fennie - I remember that - and damn good it was too. That's the trouble - we can make all the stands we like but there are always loads of people who will take our place. We are all expendable. Was the same with rights - if we'd all stood firm and refused to sign contracts giving all rights, the media would have had to back down but no way...very few of us stood firm on that. <br /><br />@Frances - yes. I wonder what will emerge. And yes, your election is - as always - fascinating to watch.<br /><br />Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-33832435512172709932012-08-26T05:47:43.915-11:002012-08-26T05:47:43.915-11:00@Sandie - Journalism has been 'sold' as a ...@Sandie - Journalism has been 'sold' as a trendy glamorous career lately - hence it's hugely oversubscribed. Yup, it's a killer industry to break into now and I do feel desperately sorry for the new kids on the block. But equally a helluva lot of 'old hacks' (with huge experience) are being chucked onto the dump heap cos these young 'uns will work for nothing. <br /><br />@Margaret - kind of you but being published no longer holds any kind of cachet. But thank you anyhow. :) <br /><br />@VS - My mum was an Avon lady. I did think about going that route but I'm not wild about their products. But yes... I need to find some other way to earn a living, for sure. :( Exmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-88776163168388349932012-08-25T10:20:40.517-11:002012-08-25T10:20:40.517-11:00My daughter is majoring in Journalism in the YS an...My daughter is majoring in Journalism in the YS and has already added a minor subject to her degree as it's a given that she won't eRn much. She spent the entire summer interning at a fairly respectable newspaper and wasn't paid a dime. She was even given the job of watering the plants!Expat mumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17798190669591053390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-5823149155455871462012-08-25T05:54:42.404-11:002012-08-25T05:54:42.404-11:00All true, all true. Something similar started happ...All true, all true. Something similar started happening slightly earlier in TV, with 'runners' aka interns, being given more and more responsibilities whilst being paid zilch. This, obviously, resulted in TV being even more populated by kids-with-wealthy-parents than before. <br />I think, though, that to call the newspaper/magazine industry 'evil' isn't really applicable. The world of commerce is changing ridiculously quickly, and businesses are desperately trying to adapt in order to survive. It's more a case of headless chickens than evil masterminds, I'd say. In the past, businesses had the idea of the Sigmoid Curve, when they'd start planning the next phase of development almost before they'd peaked with their current phase; these days it all just moves so swiftly there's no time to do this. The technology is driving the show, basically, and the people in charge are falling over trying to keep up with it.AndyDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-38019906321402917682012-08-25T05:46:41.136-11:002012-08-25T05:46:41.136-11:00I agree 100 percent. In the bit of journalism I us...I agree 100 percent. In the bit of journalism I used to work in (business/tech) rates in 2001 were around £350-£400 for 1,000 words. Today they're closer to £250. <br /><br />What that means for freelancers like me is that to earn a salary of perhaps £30k, you used to need to earn £2,500 a month - and that might be 3 or 4 decent features. <br /><br />Today you'll have to do 6 or 8 features - and that's if you can find 6 or 8 places willing to pay, when well-meaning bloggers, amateurs and vendors are prepared to supply copy for free, or in exchange for a link, or for some desultory rate like £30 a feature because, hey, it's not like they need to make a living at this stuff, is it? <br /><br />You could argue this is just market forces. Ten years ago content was valuable but today, with a media that's accessible to all, content has lost its value. So professional content creators like you and me don't deserve to be paid what we used to. <br /><br />But that only works if you're talking about content like it's a commodity. When you're talking about professional writers who spend years getting to know an industry, building relationships with sources, understanding media law and sniffing out stories - that's not a commodity, is it? <br /><br />I've been banging on about this one for 10 years or more, now, and I just find it soul-destroying. Because I see newspapers publishing the kind of articles I used to write - but now they're in sponsored supplements and advertorial, and they're paid for by the biggest companies in the industries they're about. Or it's amateur copy, written by someone who might know one aspect of a story very well, but who has no skill or desire to tell a whole story. <br /><br />There's an old saying people get the press they deserve. And I genuinely feel in 10 years time professional journalism will have effectively ceased to exist and instead what we will have is the world as told to us by the corporations with the deepest pockets, and the amateurs with extreme views.<br /><br />It's hard to have a functioning democracy without a healthy, independent press, but I fear that's where we're headed. And all we'll have to distract us is yet another empty-headed page about whether Suri Cruise is wearing a coat yet. <br /><br />Sigh.Sallyhttp://www.whosthemummy.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-19616054772089352732012-08-25T02:15:25.534-11:002012-08-25T02:15:25.534-11:00It's very hard and I feel very sorry for the n...It's very hard and I feel very sorry for the next generation coming up and trying to earn a living Lxfamily Affairshttp://www.familyaffairsandothermatters.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-85836037542735169442012-08-25T01:37:10.189-11:002012-08-25T01:37:10.189-11:00Jane, it increasingly seems to me that the entire ...Jane, it increasingly seems to me that the entire workplace, marketplace, value-deciding place is in the midst of immense change. Not much of anything is as it was, even so recently as five years ago.<br /><br />I certainly cannot predict where all of this economic/cultural change is leading us. Not even sure anymore who "us" are!<br /><br />Over here in the States, we are in the final months of a big presidential election race. It is fascinating to see what issues are claiming the most press/publicity coverage.<br /><br />xoFranceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08352407314710067616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-79344383489762450512012-08-25T00:37:01.308-11:002012-08-25T00:37:01.308-11:00And they wonder why newspaper circulation has fall...And they wonder why newspaper circulation has fallen? I used to produce an op-ed column for a Brussels webzine for which they paid me. (Not enough, but it was OK). Then they said,'we're going over to blogs' - please write a blog for us for free.<br />I said 'no.' But they had plenty of other people. Fenniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377814681496294457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-88690753126927437392012-08-24T21:46:27.134-11:002012-08-24T21:46:27.134-11:00A rant it may be but it's a really justified o...A rant it may be but it's a really justified one! I feel the same. Good art has always taken second place to marketed art and celebrity! I hate it too!Ross Mountneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10197824499243468021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-72558137485444163142012-08-24T11:11:04.445-11:002012-08-24T11:11:04.445-11:00We've also seen already that if they can't...We've also seen already that if they can't get the writers or articles that they want, they'll nick it anyway - what was that subscription internet cookery magazine a couple of years ago which was just taking recipes verbatim, straight off people's blogs? It's not a great advertisement for arts and culture as a career, or an industry. Like pimping. Some poor wretches do the work, some greedy piggy takes the cash.<br /><br />I'm fortunate. I write what I want when I want for nothing but my own amusement, and I get a bit of I.T. work which means others are enabled to go it alone as well. I don't have illusions about these things in such a flooded market. Or ambitions regarding unwieldy sums of cash for the taxman to enjoy. If people buy my books - wow. If people steal them and pass them off as their own - I'd hate to be them on the day they wake up and think they're me... or if my *ahem* 'made-up religion for my own sanity' turns out on the day of reckoning to be The One In Charge *gulp* ;)<br /><br />We're all little voices saying the same things as each other as far as the big employers are concerned. Why are there so many out-of-work, penniless talented people in the world, while the print media churns out advertising and fillers? Because they have to keep themselves in work, and increase profits. If they were all making 60% less than they did 20 years ago, there would be no 'media industry'.<br /><br />The only way to make any difference would be to stop giving it away en masse - but as you say - there's always someone, or somewhere they can steal or re-hash from.<br /><br />I wanted to be a writer, and I have been one since I was 14. I achieved it the day I finished my first story, and started on the next one. The selling, for me, was never going to be a part of that. I only promote when I have stuff to give away free. If I wanted to sell myself or my talents in selling and promoting for a living - I'd be an Avon lady.<br /><br />I hear some of them Avon-selling folks do really well. Maybe slip them a magazine or story of your own in with it :) xxxVoodoo Spicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18128313140249739419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-17045105960639169712012-08-24T09:53:51.276-11:002012-08-24T09:53:51.276-11:00That's crazy especially since you are already ...That's crazy especially since you are already published. I Tweeted a link to this post. Unacceptable!!Margaret Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4677133322409652783.post-26926455332676680002012-08-24T08:25:50.286-11:002012-08-24T08:25:50.286-11:00...true of your industry and unfortunately others ......true of your industry and unfortunately others too - in these recessive times corporations are cottoning on to the idea that desperate peeps are more than willing to give them a 'taster' of the talent they have to offer in the hope that it will 'lead to something' - does it bollocks - my heart goes out to those hundreds of supremely talented peeps who will never get a toe-hold while old hacks who can't cut it anymore hang on to their jobs - xxSandiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07310699575481145836noreply@blogger.com