After a long Tuesday, I hit the treadmill. The wall of television screens at the gym glare and glaze, each silently playing a different station, each beaming equally distracting content. In the midst of this digital dinner-hour chaos is Diane Sawyer, tranquil and statuesque—beautifully portrayed in an ABC News ad reminding viewers of the network’s commitment to seasoned professionals breaking world news stories.

I can’t help but think of this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine article, “Putting a Price on Words,”—Andrew Rice’s piece that chronicles the rise of entrepreneurial journalism and the increasingly blurred line between reporting and advertising—and realize Diane Sawyer might be one of the last journalists of her kind. Because, certainly there is no reporter willing to endure decades of $15 writing assignments, thinking that each piece submitted is one stepping stone closer to the top of investigative reporting. It’s not.

If you missed the article, here’s the skinny: the media market tanks. Journalists are out of work, and when start-ups emerge out of neighborhood coffee shops with free wireless, contributing writers submit stories for the flat rate of $15-20 a pop, with the promise of ad-sharing compensation down the road. If the site takes off (like True/Slant has), the writer reaps the monetary benefits of high traffic. If the site does not, then the writer just spent X amount of time working for the equivalent of a few subway rides and a latte.

This past Sunday’s magazine was devoted to the idea of worth—self and otherwise. For me, the elephant in the room wasn’t that sex and SEO sells (posts that cover “sex, scandal and Sarah Palin always score high”), but the fact this model of journalism cannot sustain itself. For newly out of work writers spreading themselves thin with freelance jobs, these jobs are a necessity—a means of survival while the industry adapts in the face of folding newspapers and free content. But according to Henry Blodget, the editor in chief of Business Insider, in order to “earn back” a $60,000 annual salary, “an online journalist needs to generate a whopping 1.8 million page views a month.” And, for the young, 20-something fresh out of journalism school, not only is the prospect less than financially appealing (if not entirely unreasonable), but unattainable. Even if the entry-level reporter can break into the industry, the chances of success are low, and the move to a more stable profession is probable.

Not long ago, I interviewed a doctoral student studying sustainability, and asked him to define “sustainability” as if I had never heard the term before. He told me “Being sustainable is living like you give a damn about the future.” But, to make sure good journalism survives, whose job is that? The established writer working for minimal pay, or the bright-eyed young writer who can’t wait to get her first scoop?

—Wendy Joan

This entry was posted on Friday, May 21st, 2010 at 9:39 am and is filed under Web Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.