In few vocations is there greater difference in salaries than in the field of journalism. So far there does not seem to be any general standard that all the papers of the country attempt to live up to. The managers of certain newspapers follow the practice of employing only experienced men, taking them wherever they can be found from the staffs of other newspapers. Such papers, of course, pay good salaries. Other publications are willing to take on a few, or even a large number of beginners. Such papers naturally pay smaller salaries. Seldom, however, is the beginner in journalism paid less than $12 or $15 per week on the daily papers, though some receive as low as $10 a week. Often a paper works, not only on a basis of straight pay, but on the basis of the space the articles contributed occupy.
“Space rates” range from $2 to $10 per column, the amount varying with the standing of the newspaper, and with the character of the news itself. Promotions are very rapid and anyone with promise can hope to get a raise in salary from time to time until it reaches from $19 to $25 a week, which is the salary of regular reporters. Reporters who do special work are generally paid more. Their salaries range from $25 to $35 per week. On the very best papers there are very few reporters who draw salaries ranging from $35 to $50 per week. Such men are as well paid as men in the editorial department. The chiefs of the different editorial departments draw from $30 to $50 a week. Managing editors and editors-in-chief get salaries ranging all the way from $2,500 to $10,000 per year.
From the mere money point of view there are other lines of work far easier to master, and more certain to bring large money rewards than journalism. The tendency now, however, is to pay bigger salaries to newspaper men. As it is, the income is greater than that of the minister and equal to that of a lawyer.
What Are the Other Rewards to a Journalist, Aside from the Financial Rewards?
With many men in journalistic work, however, ideals mean more than money. The public good with such men means more than private gain. Another reward to the young man in this profession is that he comes in contact with mature people. He learns to know even personally many of the great men in business, in politics, in law. The newspaper is one of the very greatest educational agencies. What it does for the adult in an educational way is like what the public schools do for children in an educational way. Among the mature there are masses of ignorant people, ignorant in letters and ignorant in citizenship. The journalist, through the newspaper, has all the people as his audience. Through his opportunity for instruction the journalist may exercise great influence in politics in connection with work for municipal reform, clean streets, better schools, etc., and against machine control in politics, with its bribery and election frauds. Some people have objected to newspaper work because they thought such work corrupted beginners. The truth is that journalism is to each man in it what he makes it. There is more freedom of action in journalism than in the ministry or even than in law or medicine, but a code of ethics is rapidly being developed in the newspaper world that compels each one to do more nearly the right thing. Certainly the reporter does not know the full significance of his stories, headlines, and editorials until he realizes the probable effect of his writings on the ideas and ideals of his readers. Especially is the opportunity for such influence by the journalist good in America, where there are twice as many papers published as in any other country, and far more than twice as many copies issued. It is estimated that more than 5,000,000,000 copies of newspapers of all kinds are printed in the United States yearly.
How Many Years Will It Take to Establish Myself in Journalistic Work?
The newspaper reporter does not have the experience of a young lawyer or doctor, who must pick up business slowly and wait sometimes for years before he is satisfactorily established. The reporter succeeds or fails from the outset. In fact reporting is the work of comparatively young men, and is especially liked by those of from 20 to 30 years of age. Those who have been successful in this period of life are generally picked for promotions, and less uncertain assignments in the later periods of life.
Very often men who have been successful in early life as newspaper reporters take up magazine writing later. It is often stated that magazine writing is post-graduate newspaper work. The monthly magazine has become an important influence in the modern world, many of the more popular magazines having a larger circulation than any newspaper. On the staff of each periodical there are usually several special editors in charge of separate departments. These editors are often assisted by a regular staff of writers. Frequently, however, those who write for magazines are not connected with the regular staff, but are “free lances” contributing articles from time to time on subjects which they are especially fitted to write about.
The question often arises, Where shall the start be made? Is it best to begin in the country or in the city? The editor of one of the New York dailies says that there are many changes in the staff on a city paper, so a man who is capable has a chance to get a pretty good position, in fact a very good newspaper position, within a half dozen years’ time. This editor also says that it takes about as long to get a good position on a country paper, and after that if one goes to the city he must begin at the bottom and work up, so that much time is wasted. The advantage in beginning on a paper in a small city rather than a large one is that one is more likely there to gain an all around knowledge of everything that must be done in a newspaper office.