I've been having trouble getting paid for some of the journalism work I do.
Not in that it's difficult getting payment. More that it's difficult to accept.
Sometimes it feels like I'm getting paid for other people's suffering.
The first time I felt like this was after a phone interview with a young man who had been verbally attacked because of his sexuality outside of a Winnipeg gay bar. When the interview was over I put down the phone and cried. I felt terrible that something like that had happened to someone. I felt horrible that we hadn't been able to do the interview in person and I couldn't properly tell him how sorry I was. And then I was upset that because this happened to him I was making an extra few bucks that month for writing an article about it.
I sent my editor an email right away telling her that I did not want to be paid and that would be volunteer work. Or a donation to the magazine. Whatever. I didn't care. I just didn't want the money.
Early the next month a cheque came anyways. I deserved the money, she told me.
There are a few articles I'm working on now I initially didn't feel great about getting paid for so I did some thinking about it.
My problem is I feel like I'm exploiting these people. The fact is really I'm helping them.
For example, I'm in the process of writing an article about GLBTQ* homeless youth in Winnipeg. I've been reading research papers and talking with employees at youth shelters.
At first I was hesitant to ask around for homeless GLBTQ* youth (or people who once fit into that category) who could talk to me. But the fact is I can't do a proper job of informing the public about this situation without talking to someone who has lived through it.
Sure, part of me is writing this article for the money. But it's also an issue I care about and that I want other people to care about. And it's an article I think will make some people care.
Do I feel great now about writing this article? Not really. I think it will take a while for me to get over it. But the fact is I became a journalist to tell people about important issues and I won't be able to keep doing it much longer if I don't have money to eat and pay my bills.
Very interesting post, Meg!
ReplyDeleteIf journalists didn't tell any stories of terrible things happening to people then the public would have a pretty sheltered view of the world. These kind of stories remind everyone that there are groups that still face discrimination and these stories fuel activist groups to keep fighting. But these kind of stories can only be heard from people like you and you deserve to be paid for it because you've invested money and A LOT of time into learning how to tell these stories.
I think there is a line though. It's the journalist's responsibility to explore the larger issue of why this happened and discuss issues that the public might not be comfortable with because it puts responsibility on them to help fix larger issues. In Tyler's case the larger issue is that people are still homophobic. If a journalist doesn't consider the larger context then I think there's a point where the journalist is exploiting the person. You did a good job of looking at the larger context by addressing the state of homophobia in Canada.
This is a really interesting topic. We should discuss this in class!