Sports writer - Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Ida.-Wa.)

I'm out. No way to compete against kids who will work for less.

 

Both cities are nice college towns. Moscow's a little bigger, with a small mall, and a busy downtown. It's an isolated area, with air service to Seattle 3-4 times a day. Spokane's 90 miles away.

If it's your first job, it would be a great place to start. Lots of Vandals/Cougs coverage, both Pullman and Moscow field very competitive high school sports teams, and there should be some stringing opportunities.

There's no state income tax in Washington, but they ding you when you register your car and with a sales tax.

 

Stitch,

You've been around long enough to know no one's getting rich on entry level jobs at 8,000 circ. papers. Hell,my first job out of college I made $14k. (Granted, things cost a lot less back then, too.)

Look, if money is one's goal, they are probably in the wrong business to begin with and will quickly become disenchanted living in podunk and working for peanuts. So be it. There are plenty of aspiring young journalists who are willing to bite the bullet financially, live with a roomate or do whatever they need to in order to make ends meet and get a chance to show their stuff.

It's doubtful one will be in Moscow/Pullman forever... and that's not a slap at the city, the paper or the management. It is what it is. The majority of people will stay a couple of years, gain some experience and move on. Or decide that journalism might not be their thing and decide to do something else with their lives. No shame in that, either.

 

Here's the issue with the $23k-is-OK line of thinking: It undercuts everyone. I was making $23k not long ago, and even with steady freelance work, I never was super comfortable. (I also had car and student loans in the mix.) Did I ever eat Ramen? No, I'm an anti-Ramen guy. But it would've been nice to be able to go to, oh, Friday's or even Outback without worrying about how much I could tip that night or being forced to order the cheapest thing on the menu.

 

Two college beats for what appears to be a two-person crew? Anyone know how that impacts preps coverage?

 

It's both preps and college It's an 8,000-circ. paper. Not like you have 10 pages per day to fill. I'm guessing you might do 1-2 features per week and cover some games. Not a lot of notebooks, in-depth enterprise, etc.

Wicked,

I hear what you're saying. The job is what it is and a quick glance down the board here will show it's far from the only one. That seems to be about the going rate these days. They either find people willing to do it for what they offer or they close up shop and go home. They can't afford to pay the entire staff 30k or they'd be out of business in a heartbeat because Mom's Grocer can't afford to pay more for advertising. Yes it undercuts everybody, but that's the reality of the industry. And, honestly, a lot of industries.

Bottom line: If you ain't willing to work for that, don't apply. But don't knock others who do.

 

Thank you, Wicked. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being sensible. Another thing to consider is that nobody's getting raises anymore, which means you're going to be a 10-year vet and still be pulling $23,000. That's just not fair.

 

Look, it is what it is. I say what I say because I know the salary will not change, and I'd hate to see a kid miss out on what could possibly be a good start because he doesn't think he can live on what's being offered without having a clue about what things cost where he'd be going.

I know the popular thing to do is to complain about how we're underpaid, but I just can't do it.

 

That's a piece of crap paper. The Spokane paper cleans up there with more resources. Good place to get some clips for 18 months and GET THE HELL OUT. If you've never been to the Palouse, it's shocking how ugly it us (brown rolling hills, sticky and dusty in the summer). Both are good party towns, if you're into that. Lots of coeds walking around. But 23k is stunning. They pay that because they know some dolt will take it.

 

Trunk, they pay that and so do a bunch of others, as Mark said. Yes, somebody will take it. Somebody always will. I remember when I was making 23K and financially it was tough. If a person can get enough experience at a shop like that, he or she can build up the resume and move on to a better place.

 

Huh? I am not going to debate the quality of the Daily News. It's never going to be great and there are a lot of reasons for that, most notably the fact that the pay is dick and the workload — now that it's gone from three to two people — is ridiculous to the point that it's very obvious they have no intention of fielding a truly competitive sports staff. But the only thing Spokane needs to clean up is the load in its pants — they've shit themselves on the Palouse for quite some time. The only thing they cover with any degree of care is Wazzu sports, and the quality of coverage there is not even close to what it once was and I'd say the Daily News is at least their equal in many ways. Otherwise, the Spokesman has abandoned the area as it cuts costs.

As for The Palouse being ugly, I guess it's a matter of taste. I know a lot of people who think the area is beautiful. But ehh, there's no winning that argument, so why bother?

The job is a true maneater, but if you want to use it as a career boost for, yeah, 18 or so months, you can milk it for some good clips.

 

Sounds like something a Husky would say. Don't knock it till you lived there. I spent four years in the Palouse and grew to really like it.