Dear The New Yorker Et Al., It’s High Time You Paid Your Employees a Living Wage.
Otherwise, you shut out low-income folks and people of color from entering the industry.
The featured image above summarizes how much people working in the media and journalism industries get paid — those with entry-level jobs to be exact. Pennies, literally pennies (well, more metaphorically, but you know what I mean).
A few days ago, The New Yorker Union workers went on strike for 24 hours to protest the company’s response regarding a proposal demanding fair compensation and equitable practices. The announcement highlights the existing $42,000 base salary for NYC entry-level positions, which management only agreed to raise to $45,000.
When the Union shared the story via Twitter, the community noticed. Some journalists chimed in with their own experience dealing with big media companies. This one in particular tears my heartstrings:
Why?
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It’s painful for me to read the barrage of comments in the Twitter thread, not because it’s surprising, but because it’s so familiarly appalling.
Fair wage is much overdue in the media industry, despite recent news about big companies being more vocal about promoting an equitable workplace. What these respected organizations perpetually fail to deliver, quite dangerously, is a fair entry point for people of color and those coming from low-income communities.
To put it plainly, the only journalists who can make it in metropolitan areas with disturbingly low wages are white folks with enough fortune and financial security to not live paycheck-by-paycheck. The result is that Black, Indigenous, and people of color, who already suffer the persistent wage gap, are repeatedly denied access to opportunities at media conglomerates that act as gatekeepers of our 21st century society.
To put it plainly, the only journalists who can make it in metropolitan areas with disturbingly low wages are white folks with enough fortune and financial security to not live paycheck-by-paycheck.
I still remember my first full-time communications job out of college in Washington, D.C. I stumbled into the position since my manager abruptly left. After being an intern for only two months, I became an associate, attempting to fulfill the tasks of at least two people. I got an initial offer of $40,000 initially. I tried to negotiate and received an extra $3,000. Then after three months, I succeeded asking for an extra $5,000 only “thanks” to the unexpected-but-not-really-unexpected work overload.
With my meager earnings, I lived outside the district in an area that cost me a one-hour to one-and-a-half hour to commute each way every day. There were no grocery stores within walking distance where my apartment was, so my roommates and I took an Uber every two or three weeks to buy food at a supermarket on the other side of the highway. My job was a weird, temporary full-time position, which just meant that I had no paid time off or holiday pay (the two-week Christmas break was brutal), and that I should never get sick if I wanted to keep my pay. If it weren’t for a god-bless-me $700 monthly rent, I couldn’t have resisted working under the table for extra cash.
These kinds of conversations are not new. We’ve been having them for ages in our group chats and huddle sessions. Now, I want to publicly share my story for those not working in journalism and media fields. Finally, I hear from people that I don’t know and understand how my experience isn’t unique to me and those I love so dearly — it’s ubiquitous. Many of us who aspire to survive in this industry have had to bite the bullet and avoid discussing unjust wages because we want to put helping others before helping ourselves. But enough is enough, friends.
WE. NEED. FOOD.
Yup we just want to eat ok, and may be have a roof that we can pay for. Windows optional, of course.
Jokes aside, if you’re my friend, you know that you and I talk about salaries openly with each other all the time. It’s not about comparing who earns more than who, but it’s to show how we really have to advocate for ourselves because no one will. And only by exchanging this information can we identify the inequality that continues to plague our generation.
In order for us to negotiate without fear, however, employers like The New Yorker and Conde Nast and The Rolling Stone must do better, like, way better.
If you want to sustain the high standard of your storytelling, if you want your journalists to report about poverty and social justice and equal opportunities for all, and if you want to attract people from underserved and underrepresented communities, you must pay them a living wage.
Do it now. It’s already too late.
