1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Reporter job in NYC (This one wants to make me cry with its low pay)

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by Stitch, Jan 16, 2009.

  1. Honesty Kills

    Honesty Kills New Member

    If you were going to be living in the BX, then you could probably get by on that payscale. The only thing is, your reporting would hopefully have you traveling in the city, because transportation around the bronx is tougher than getting around in manhattan (where an unlimited pass will get you anywhere). The busses are less dependable, and the routes leave bigger gaps between access points.
     
  2. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Old Fezziwick is delicious. Cranberry Lambic, not so much.
     
  3. jetssack

    jetssack Member

    The ad states, "Driver's license a must." Public transportation (subways or buses) is not an option. They will require you to own or lease a car.

    As for how to survive on that income, unless you are a student living at home with parents, you will have to do what most New Yorkers starting their careers in media/arts do -- work a second job on nights or weekends.

    Usually waiting tables, bartending, wordprocessing or proofreading, driving cabs, freelance writing, retail, telemarketing, temping. Temping office work is easy to come by for night and weekend shifts and pays around $25/hr. It's not as bad as you'd think, and you do what you have to if you are determined to make it in this field.
     
  4. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Who knew that working 40 hours and being able to have an okay (not luxurious) standard of living was looked down upon by publishers.
     
  5. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    The ad says "driver's license a must." It does not say "car ownership a must." Occasional car rentals, whether through Zipcar or Enterprise, are much more affordable than owning a car in the city.
     
  6. Writer33

    Writer33 Member

    Thanks for playing the feud.
     
  7. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    You could also live on this as well if your spouse has a job that pays enough to basically support you. It's not just for single people. And you wouldn't necessarily have to live in the Bronx. I live in northern Manhattan and would be about 10 minutes from this job. And as someone else said, Riverdale is not exactly the Bronx that comes to mind when thinking about The Bronx is Burning. Riverdale Country School at one point, I believe, was the most expensive private school in the city.

    This job and one for a Queens paper are often open. I think the Queens one paid even less.
     
  8. Headline act

    Headline act New Member

    As someone who grew up in the Bronx and has worked at newspapers for 20 years I would say this is a great opportunity for anyone coming out of college.
    My first job, back in the 1990s, paid 14G a year. The first job is not about money, it's about clips and experience. You would do much better working at this weekly in the media capital of the world than most small dailies around the country.
    As for being able to afford to live on the salary, you'd be surprised how far that 23G can be stretched if you're working 6-7 days a week, which at small papers is the norm. There is still plenty of affordable housing in the Bronx but of course a rich sugar daddy works best.
     
  9. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    You don't even have to be a journalist or even a former journalist to post here on SportsJournalists.com...
     
  10. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Temp for $25 an hour so you can work full-time for $11.50 an hour.
    The personal economics of the Bizarro World.
     
  11. dworthington

    dworthington New Member

    Can this thread be nominated for "Post of the Year"
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page