Media Flaws

There I was lazily wading through my inbox.  This time of year is madness.

Exam panic !
Marking panic !!
And general panic !!!

                                          … overflowing in my inbox…

Then there’ll be the odd, now seemingly regular:

“Hi there, I came across your blog and particularly enjoyed your x,y,z piece here [provides link]. Would you like to rewrite this for our paper/magazine/website?”

Or, let’s take this out of the inbox and into the direct message box on Twitter. E.g.:

“Ur tweets on this matter r interesting, wud u like 2 expand them into an article for us?”

Quick response is usually:

“No, thank you.” or “Please copy and paste the original from the blog...”

And it ends there. Besides I’ve found that trying to rework something you wrote for a different platform, might not turn out to be the best. Convergence doesn’t always converge.

So, anyway, to handle these failed solicitations, editors usually turn to a demon named Mr Citizen Journalist. Now for those who don’t know Mr Citizen Journalist, let me introduce you: He writes like he’s possessed by some literary spirit. He was born out of the fear that the consumer will produce own content thereby dumping traditional media. His babysitter came from the Newspapers-Are-Dying!!! hysteria era. He was groomed into an adult by stingy opportunists, who identified an incessant preoccupation with seeking Andy Warhol’s 15-minutes of fame lurking within every such demon. Newsrooms have simply converted such preoccupations into a new currency. Sections that were usually limited to 150 - 250 words from readers have now been stretched to 700 - 1500 words per reader. News websites have even dedicated citizen writing orphanage tabs. And boy do they rail in the clicks and reads. All this content for free. Whilst sites cash in.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me!

Look at it this way:

Imagine a newsroom was a gallery and you were a talented painter. These news curators spot your paintings and ask you to come exhibit in their gallery, for free. You will not get any commission from the sale of your paintings. Just exposure, they tell you. Seemingly more painters flock to this gallery for this so-called exposure. Granted a few of these painters will be lucky and get snapped-up by prominent gallerists, who’ll make them settle for lousy commission in the long run anyway.

This is what’s happening in the media. Mr Citizen Journalist's population is booming and newsrooms are only too happy to accommodate him and his ilk. Because they speak for free. This is not a problem. Not a problem at all. No problem. It's a problem, however, for those who write for a living. And to bring this subject even closer to home; the trouble sets in for aspiring writers who now have to contest with professionals from other industries who are willing to write for free. If you can get experts, politicians even, to manoeuvre a complex subject in your publication or website, for free, tell me what’s the use of paying a freelance journalist on that beat? Furthermore, the impact of citizen journalism makes it more convenient for papers to employ less, and even pay less per freelance word. Put simply: Writing for free costs those who write for a fee.

Now. I am not saying this is wrong. But there is something here that is eroding prospects for those who want to make a living out of this. Journalists will have to settle for pittance salaries because they peddle common commodities. Or they can simply run to corporate or government employment, instead. I have yet to see journalists go on strike in this country. Considering what they get paid, I would encourage them to.

I mean what qualified professional can’t even afford to buy a property, take their kid to a decent school and live a life above mere hand-to-mouth survival? Besides teachers and nurses, of course. You cannot have degrees conferred on your head and then settle for a 4-digit salary after tax. It doesn’t make sense. What did you go to school for?

And you cannot have freelance writers charging less than R2 per word. R5 per word should be the minimum. Put simply the quality of journalism in this country cannot improve if you have starving scribes churning out article after article on an empty stomach. It’s like going shopping hungry – you will find junk impulsive buys in your shopping bags when you get home. Much like you will find hungry opinionalism masquerading as news in your paper when you open it. People who are hungry cannot be tasked with the important duty of feeding minds.

Pay journalists more. Make journalism attractive to the more qualified.

And for heaven’s sake could citizens go back to contributing 150 - 250 words only, unless newsrooms are prepared to pay them for anything longer.

Mr Citizen Journalist must learn not to give free lunches to the Khulubuse Zumas obese of newsrooms. It usually ends up costing the poor Aurora mineworkers word miners. Mr Citizen Journalist must start charging.

p.s: For another take on this subject visit the Surreal Footballers, here. They inspired this with their “…if you write for free, whether it works to get you a job or not, you are choosing the selfish path; the one that ensures others will have to work for free also…” line.

p.p.s: “Mr” in Mr Citizen Journalist, can be substituted with “Ms” Citizen Journalist to accommodate all reading preferences. Oh, and "journalist" can be substituted with "writer" for the more pedantic reader.