We have attracted significant amounts of offline comment on our Gazette series, most of which we will address tomorrow. But one subject that appalls many is the starting salary for Gazette reporters: $26,500. Below we compare that salary to other annual occupational pay rates in the Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick Metropolitan Division (which includes Montgomery and Frederick Counties) as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Two quick notes:
1. As we reported in Crisis Part Two, Gazette reporters receive a $500 pay increase after six months and a $1,000 increase after one year. But unlike the vast majority of workers in the other occupations listed above, they are not paid overtime.
2. While we do not have the data, it would be interesting to compare the post-college debt load of workers in the above occupations. Gazette reporters are usually recent college graduates - a demographic cohort with heavy educational debt.
Can't the $4 billion-dollar-a-year Washington Post Company afford to pay these highly-educated, skilled workers more than security guards?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Starting Gazette Salary in Perspective
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6 comments:
What you fail to mention in your blog and I emphasize BLOG because it is not news, not fact. If you did your homework, you would know that Gazette reporters work 40 hours a week -- perhaps managers work 50, but not hourly employees. I know because I am one. Overtime is paid but it is to be approved in advance. If you compare salaries to other COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS (not big dailies), Gazette is well above the national average & is on par or above other weeklies in the region. To compare to exempt ivy-league graduate, experienced reporters at the Post newspaper is absurd. Would I like to make more money? Sure, who wouldn't. But I wouldn't trade the culture here for more money. You fail to mention the number of managers in the organization who've been developed, groomed and promoted. People come to work here and stay. If young reporters leave, it's is because this is a great stepping stone to other careers. Often times, they DO come back in larger roles. You also did not mention that our CEO told us that through attrition, he did not fill over 30 positions that became vacant in order to lessen the RIF impact on employees. It is sad that our economy is weakening--we are among many companies including news organizations that had to make the tough decision to go down this path. Gazette is a family friendly/worklife company that has won numerous awards for dozens of years for it's employee practices and philanthropic contributions to the community (non-profits). Did you know we have paid time off for volunteering? We have mentored an elementary school for over a decade, providing money, time, and other resources in order to raise test score levels at that school. Why? Because it's the right thing to do, it's a positive contribution to the community. I could go on and on but I don't think you want to hear the facts. Looks like I'll have my position for quite some time because blogs will never replace news.
tommy boy - In reference to your comment about my other post, maybe you are correct that people come back to the gazette. I'd never heard of anyone, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. We are all entitled to our own opinions, you are correct. But let me also point out that there are many blogs that post news and fact. I'm not necessarily defending this blog, I'm defending blogs in general. And full discloser, I am not a blogger and do not have a blog.
In reference to this post, I worked more than 40 hours almost every week I worked there. I never got paid over time. I worked weekends, nights, cover meetings at 8 a.m. and then 8 p.m. on the same day. It's all part of the job. Just would have been nice to get paid for more than 40 hrs. That's all. Maybe YOU are the superman for being able to get 6 stories, countless briefs and a calendar done in a 40 hour work week.
As a former Gazette reporter, it's unfortunate to see posts that do little more than regurgitate the company line, much like rising star Sarah Palin has been doing so successfully. I'm sure the CEO's told you lots of things. And if you're working 40 hours or less, I'd worry about your own job security at this "family friend" company, which, by the way, laid off more than a handful of longtime employees without any warning. Good luck.
Hey tommy boy-
You may be partly right that blogs will never replace news--completely that is.
But how about the news you fail to report?
Since I started blogging about homicides in Prince George's County, the Gazette's coverage has increased substantially.
When I started in 2004, no local media outlet was reporting more than about 2/3 of Prince George's County homicides. The Gazette and the post were both averaging about 60%, but not the same 60%.
After my first year of blogging about every homicide I could identify, and sending your editor copies of blog postings for homicide news the Gazette failed to report, the Gazette managed to get up a bit above 90% in reporting at least the basic facts.
Unfortunately, you continue to drop the ball on followup. Your record on reporting arrests is fair. When it comes to reporting on conviction and sentencing, it would be generous to call your coverage even poor. Almost non-existent would be more accurate.
So if you truly believe that blogs won't replace "news," you must not consider homicide convictions or sentencing to be news, right?
D.C. Russell
http://gorypg.blogspot.com
What the industry---including the Gazette--needs is a big fat lawsuit by all those fresh young hard-charging reporters and photographers expected in reality to work 50 and 60-hour weeks, but paid only for 40. It would take a while, and require some gumption (probably from plaintiffs who have already decided to abandon this exploitative industry) but it would put an end to the routine violations of labor law that newspapers routinely commit without consequence. Yes, wages may be set as a result of competition, but labor laws are not.
Interesting, but I take exception with the following:
"Worst of all, Gazette reporters are paid only for 40 hours per week and do not receive overtime. This is a serious problem since community reporters often attend night meetings and sometimes weekend events. It does not matter whether a reporter works 50 or 60 hours per week or even more – it is considered “part of the job” and is not reimbursed."
As an Assistant Managing Editor from the Prince George's location who was laid off from The Gazette on July 31 I would conduct new reporter orientation. As part of those orientations I made a point of telling reporters that they would not be paid overtime and as such, if they were on track to work more than 40 hours a week, they were to meet with me as soon as possible so we could discuss comp time. It was understood that we were to include this briefing as part of the orientation of new reporters.
The writer also states that two managing editors were let go in Prince George's. That is curious because Prince George's only has/had one managing editor.
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