Journalism and Salaries

With the the spring semester of my senior rapidly approaching, naturally I've been thinking about jobs and money quite a bit. During our class with John Christie, he asked what we thought about earning $26,000 for just under a year. The job is for someone who has worked in the industry for 3 or 4 years. That question got me thinking a bit about my expectations, at least for the beginning of my career.

Now I am fully away that beginning salaries in journalism are not fantastic. And I'm prepared to scrimp with the best of them if it means getting a job I am really passionate about. Interestingly, when John tossed those numbers out there, I thought that sounded low. I've anticipated making somewhere between 20-25 for my first years in the business, but at least from my position now I wouldn't want a job that required almost five years experience not to break 30.

I know this is all talk right now, but I think it's wise to have somewhat of an idea of what I want so that when the offers come rolling in (as I'm sure they will for all of us) I'll have a frame of reference on which to base my decision. 

Reaction to John Christie

I think John may have been my favorite guest this semester. Big statement, I know, because all of our guests have been excellent, but John and Naomi's work with Pine Tree Watchdog is so applicable to our class and also just plain cool. To me, it offers a great example of someone taking experience and passion for journalism and turning it into an entrepreneurial business.

I enjoyed John sharing the numbers with us because it helped me at least build a perspective or base as to how funding for a news source like Pine Tree Watchdog goes. And of course, many of us have to start thinking about salaries and jobs now, so another reminder is always good, and terrifying.

I could tell simply from the way he spoke to us that staying true to Pine Tree Watchdog's vision is top priority. Transparency abounds, from the website where conflicts of interest and donors are clearly laid out, to sticking only to topics that serve the public good of Maine. I'm very glad I got the chance to meet John.

Q's for John Christie

 Here are some of the questions that came to me while exploring Pine Tree Watchdog.

• As publisher, senior reporter, and editor, does the workload ever get too heavy for you? How do you manage and/or delegate? What made you decide to take on all three hats?
• When you open a newspaper or go to a news website, what is the first section you go to? How has that preference influenced Pine Tree Watchdog?
• What is is like working with your spouse?
• What was the public's reaction when you first started Pine Tree Watchdog? Has is changed? What is it like now? 
• How do you differentiate a mission statement from a visions statement?

My vision. My mission.

It turns out that writing succinct vision and mission statements is not easy. I studied Pine Tree Watchdog's statements and tried to use that format to form my own statements. This exercise of summarizing everything about an idea into two separate sentences is very challenging, but also beneficial because it forces me to flesh out my idea and purpose even further. Here is what I came up with:

Vision: Guan Xi News will fulfill the responsibility of a news outlet that is focused specifically on connecting Asian cultures to New Hampshire towns through locally produced reporting and community engagement.

Mission: Guan Xi News will expose and unify residents to the many facets of Asian culture present in New Hampshire through honest and dedicated journalism that is published on multimedia platforms by and for Guan Xi News.

Pine Tree Watchdog

My initial and superficial opinion of Pine Tree Watchdog was positive. The website has a clean and neat layout and a theme color that carries throughout and ties in well with MCPIR's goals and coverage. One of the first things I noticed during my site exploration was that the tabs on the homepage aren't the typical news sections. Instead of local news, business, and arts, Pine Tree Watchdog has ethics, public safety, and environment. To me, this indicated right away that Pine Tree Watchdog isn't a typical news site. It doesn't take long to affirm that Pine Tree Watchdog is serving a need, specifically going "beneath the surface of Maine government."

On the About us page, it's clearly stated that Pine Tree Watchdog's purpose is to fill the gap left from Maine newsroom cuts over the years. Investigative journalism is a dying art that must be resuscitated. Pine Tree Watchdog alerts the reader of this right away. The goals of both the mission  and vision are immediately reflected by the stories on the homepage: Gov.-elect LePage, pharmacuical licensing and drug theft,  and UMS spending.

The About Us page is also very transparent about staff and processes. This allows the site to remain above reproach and keep a good standing in order to continue to serve the public. The ethics and conflicts of interest subpage is pretty unique as well. It tells of the specific involvement of board members, donors, and news staff. My final observation of the About us page was the big nod to support from the Comm School at BU. Overall, Pine Tree Watchdog is completely open with its purpose and support, which to me marks an honest and reliable source of news.

Pitch Practice Review

I enjoyed Monday's pitch practice exercise because it gave me a chance to see the live reaction to my website. Since my audio had issues on my blog, this was a fresh chance for everyone to hear my ideas in a formalized and concrete manner. Overall I think the class appreciated my website venture, but didn't really connect with the actual product because I choose a niche area. That's fine and kind of what I expected. I did get a lot out of the feedback done on each blog. For instance, Ashley gave me some great layout ideas and Katie helped with some pointers from The Art of Pitching. All good things to know and easier to see from an outside perspective.

As a whole I think our class has come up with some really solid ideas. I love Catie's News in Comics and Breanna's See the News. They both offer something tangible yet unique, with a lot of expansion possibilities. Also, I think Heather was very a effective presenter, both engaging and professional. Seeing the first half of the projects fleshed out and live was definitely a good experience.

Part reaction, part rant, about the Forbes piece

Lewis DVorkin's article about today's ad environment was informative. I benefited from learning about the different types of ads, what they do, and what monetary value they have. Also, the fact that DVorkin has both journalistic and business experience makes him a credible source on the topic of ads in journalism.

As the article progressed, DVorkin seems to get more frustrated with journalists' attitudes toward advertising. He pokes fun and takes jabs at reactions, which to me diminished his authority a bit. On the topic of "powerful movements in the ad industry," I have a selection of responses that came to me whilst reading.

First, I have zero problems with sponsored ads on Facebook and Twitter. They aren't news sources and both have the ability to reach a wide demographic with a range of products and services. It makes sense to see sponsored content popping up.

Next, the big kahuna of paid content. I understand that paid content, also known as native advertising, is rising in popularity. I also understand its potential to bring in money. However, it is not news and should be treated differently on news sources. If I were in charge of a news source, I would put heavy restrictions on paid content (amount and design) and charge the hell out of the business behind the ad. To me, paid content has become a necessary evil in the world of journalism.

Finally, DVorkin used the term "brand journalism" which is defined as "knowledgeable marketers who are transparently identified and labeled as such providing expert information and perspective desired by consumers." I'm going to call a BS on titling this a form of journalism. By nature, businesses paying to have positive things about them featured on a news source is not journalism. You want paid content? Fine. You want is to appear on a screen or page like an actual story? Fine. But don't call it journalism because it is not.

In closing, DVorkin is currently not my favorite guy ever. His final paragraph about how new advertising will help the greater good of journalism by making it more relevant and of a higher quality is pompous and peevish. But I must give credit to Mr. DVorkin for inspiring a lively reaction in me. That shows that his angle and delivery did serve me a purpose.