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That low pay serves as a gatekeeping mechanism so poor people can't survive on that career. On the other hand, journalists have a disproportionate influence ove

That low pay serves as a gatekeeping mechanism so poor people can't survive on that career. On the other hand, journalists have a disproportionate influence over public discourse, now tightly controlled by the elite class. Or maybe it's the reverse, because the field has high prestige and impact, it attracts upper class children who don't need the salary, causing a downward pressure for journalist wages.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
Idealistic professions done "for the greater good" typically struggle. These days, anyone with internet access can do low-paid writing through various services or publish their own thoughts via a blog or social media. There has been tremendous downward pressure on writing and many local papers have closed, among other things.
jrochkind1 7y ago
Eh, I don't think that's what was actually going on for most of the 20th century. Journalist was not a prestigious job, it was in fact done by working class people. I think. It's instead a new thing that journalism is dominated by "elites". "How journalism became a middle class profession for university graduates": https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2009/jul/21/newspapers https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2009/jul/21/new... "The death of the working class reporter": https://blog.usejournal.com/the-death-of-the-working-class-reporter-48b467300f4d https://blog.usejournal.com/the-death-of-the-working-class-r... The original claim I was challenging was "journalists in particular no longer find themselves in the upper middle class" -- I don't think they ever were, it's possible that MORE of them are now than previous -- as you say, even as salaries drop.
- theaino 7y ago
  > "The death of the working class reporter" This article is just standard journalistic myth-making. The journalists cited as examples of success without college degrees, Carl Bernstein and Walter Cronkite (who both went to college, just dropped out), came from privileged backgrounds just like the privileged kids who fill the industy today.
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malandrew 7y ago
> public discourse, now tightly controlled by the elite class. Maybe 10-15 years ago that was true, but today the control of public discourse is no longer controlled by the elite class. Blogging completely ended that control.
pyuser583 7y ago
Lots of “journalists” are people who established themselves outside of journalism and then transferred in.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

Idealistic professions done "for the greater good" typically struggle. These days, anyone with internet access can do low-paid writing through various services or publish their own thoughts via a blog or social media. There has been tremendous downward pressure on writing and many local papers have closed, among other things.

jrochkind1 7y ago

Eh, I don't think that's what was actually going on for most of the 20th century. Journalist was not a prestigious job, it was in fact done by working class people. I think. It's instead a new thing that journalism is dominated by "elites". "How journalism became a middle class profession for university graduates": https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2009/jul/21/newspapers https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2009/jul/21/new... "The death of the working class reporter": https://blog.usejournal.com/the-death-of-the-working-class-reporter-48b467300f4d https://blog.usejournal.com/the-death-of-the-working-class-r... The original claim I was challenging was "journalists in particular no longer find themselves in the upper middle class" -- I don't think they ever were, it's possible that MORE of them are now than previous -- as you say, even as salaries drop.

theaino 7y ago
> "The death of the working class reporter" This article is just standard journalistic myth-making. The journalists cited as examples of success without college degrees, Carl Bernstein and Walter Cronkite (who both went to college, just dropped out), came from privileged backgrounds just like the privileged kids who fill the industy today.

deleted 7y ago

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malandrew 7y ago

> public discourse, now tightly controlled by the elite class. Maybe 10-15 years ago that was true, but today the control of public discourse is no longer controlled by the elite class. Blogging completely ended that control.

pyuser583 7y ago

Lots of “journalists” are people who established themselves outside of journalism and then transferred in.