The wonders of freelancing

What the bosses really think of all you freelancers out there: link

For what it's worth

If journalists want the public to value journalism - and pay a price for it - then journalists need to start by valuing their own work, says Alan Mutter, a UC Berkeley journalism professor who blogs at Reflections of a Newsosaur.

From Mutter:

I hear from people almost every day who want to commission an article or reprint a post in exchange for the ephemeral compensation known as “exposure.”

Amazingly – or, should I say, outrageously? – most of the requests come from people who themselves are being paid for their work at either a for-profit or non-profit organization.

Instead of simply declining, I tell them something like this:

Quality journalism takes training, time and tenacity. Although it’s easy to fill space with words, pictures and videos that are produced quickly and on the cheap, down-and-dirty “journalism” is the intellectual equivalent of empty calories. ...

The only way for journalists to fight back is to demand to be paid what they’re worth.

I've argued, perhaps less eloquently, variations on this theme myself in recent years. There are, of course, real challenges to getting journalists to fight as a team on this front: A. they're notoriously independent minded, B. some journalists are quite content to get "exposure" instead of "m-o-n-e-y," C. corporations can effectively divide and conquer through layoffs, cheap hires, cluster domination, and lowered standards, and D. a wave of anti-professional populism has swept through the country and journalism is a prime target (something else corporations have taken advantage of).

Aware of these practical problems, Mutter offers a practical solution in the form of a "freelance pay calculator." The calculator literally allows a journalist to assign value to his or her work. It can also give employed journalists an idea of how much they're worth in terms of salary.

Depressingly, the hourly pay rate Mutter uses in his example is higher than what many full-time newspaper reporters in Southern California receive.

Hitting bottom

James Rainey at the Los Angeles Times talks about the free fall in freelance pay and the stories that don't get told because of it. LAT

Shop talk

Bill Mitchell at Poynter interviewed former Los Angeles Times reporter Scott Martelle about The Journalism Shop, a coop formed by former LAT writers and editors to help them find freelance assignments - in and out of journalism.

Martelle:

Veteran journalists need to realize that the environment in which we built our careers will not return, and we have to focus as individuals on finding roles in this quickly shifting, unscripted play. We have to realize that no institution -- or deep-pockets philanthropist -- is going to come along and save us. We need to get entrepreneurial if we want to stay in journalism, and if we want to be part of figuring out whatever the new journalism might be. That takes a lot of risky, hard work. Yes, there is indeed life after newspapers, though it's harder to get your phone calls returned. And there is a disturbingly large number of us out there.

The full interview is here. Martelle blogs here.

One-stop shop for former Times talent

A group of former Los Angeles Times writers and editors has launched The Journalism Shop, an online freelancers' network that offers hiring editors and others a range of services, from investigative reporting to book reviews to public relations. The J-Shop has partnered with Pro Photography Network, a mirror network set up to shop the services of former LA Times photographers.

The genesis of both networks was a Yahoo newsgroup called "ex-LATers," which was formed by the laid off and bought out to exchange job tips and gossip. As part of the discussions, the former staffers contemplated the creation of a new online publication for Southern California, using the freelance networks to attract and maintain a stable of talent while they searched for financial backing.

Scott Martelle, one of the leaders of the effort, wrote wrote on his blog that about two dozen former Times writers had joined the J-Shop so far and he expects more to sign up. Leo Wolinsky, former Times associate editor, is also part of the project.

This is a closed network for now. Only Times veterans are being recruited.