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Packers beat writer, Green Bay, WI

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by gravehunter, Jul 16, 2013.

  1. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    The J-S definitely pays better, but covering the Packers for Gannett means 10 papers in the state run your stuff, so the readership is probably pretty similar to the JS.

    The P-G has dialed back it's coverage considerably in recent years.
     
  2. Speaking as someone whose brother is an "urban" firefighter, they have the cushiest job in the world.

    Great pay, benefits, plus most have side jobs or run side businesses. They eat well, too.

    Yeah, they get a lot of medical calls, but in most cities it's just initial EMT response until the ambulance arrives and takes over paramedic and transportation duties.

    Long story short, if I could rewind 20 years, I'd skip college, get an EMT certification at the local community college and start taking firefighter tests.

    Oh yeah, I'd be a hero, too, instead of a muckraking journalist.
     
  3. Ask how many EMTs have high-paying jobs? Median wage is $30K per year.
     
  4. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    At Poynter several years ago they had a stat that said 90 something percent of journalists will never make $50K in a year. It probably hasn't gotten better since then. Not when you hear about good papers like the Union-Tribune paying under $50K for NFL beat writers.

    It seems absurd until you think about all of the small papers around the country where nobody ever gets close to that number. There was a writer in a college town who retired a couple years ago after 30+ years on the beat and he never made more than $35K.
     
  5. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Mizzou, journalists are artists and artists starve.
     
  6. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    The Union Tribune figure shocks me, given how pricey that market is.
     
  7. Exactly. (Although technically you or I could become an EMT with a relatively quick course; being a paramedic takes more study). But if you're an EMT for an ambulance provider, you make $10/hour. The firefighters who do essentially the same thing probably make four times that -- about $65,000 annually in Milwaukee, for example. And that doesn't include overtime, side careers, etc.

    But that's my point to the original poster. Getting on board in an big-city fire department is a meal ticket like you can't even imagine. Not to mention job security for life.
     
  8. That your friend making $28,000 is not representative of either the average American or the average teacher.
     
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