3 ms·

Do journalists live in bougie places? It's not a particularly well-paying job.

rayiner 6mo ago
It's a job that requires strong credentials and is gated by unpaid internships. So it disproportionately attracts people from relatively affluent backgrounds: https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/the-costs-of-becoming-a-journalist/ https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/the-cos.... And those folks live near and, more importantly, travel in social circles with affluent people. It's also not particularly expensive to live in a bougie place. I grew up in Mclean, VA. My dad ran into Dick Cheney at the CVS once. But you can get an apartment in Mclean on a journalist's salary, especially if your parents paid for college and you have no debt. You can’t afford to raise a family there, but you can live there, near your social circle. Conversely, you'll see lots of trades people, cops, etc., living in places that aren't bougie at all, despite making more money than the lower end of the professional class. People find ways to congregate around others in their social class, income notwithstanding.
pessimizer 6mo ago
Yes. Journalists don't make a living from journalism, they live on family money. That's why working class journalists have disappeared along with working class perspectives. It was once a job where many if not most of the practitioners didn't have a college degree, now it is the most expensive graduate school program you can do. I think the median price is something like $250K. If you don't pay writers, you eliminate all of the writers who have to work for a living.
- ghaff 6mo ago
  Don't disagree with the general point but I'm not sure J-School was ever a particularly good entree into journalism. Most of the journalists I know and knew didn't have the grad degree.
- NicuCalcea 6mo ago
  TIL I and my friends and colleagues live on family money.
  - Jensson 6mo ago
    Could be a husband that pays for the home etc as well, that is also living on family money. Regardless since journalists aren't well paid but a lot of them live in expensive areas the money has to come from somewhere.
    - NicuCalcea 6mo ago
      So your argument is that journalists must be wealthy because otherwise they'd be poor? Have you considered the alternative, that we just live modest lifestyles, like most other working class people?
- watwut 6mo ago
  Plenty of journalists I know about (because I read them a lot and they sometimes talk about self) did mot wemt to j-school. Also, they dont live in parents houses. You are making stuff up about lives of journalistals to invalidate their claims.

It's a job that requires strong credentials and is gated by unpaid internships. So it disproportionately attracts people from relatively affluent backgrounds: https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/the-costs-of-becoming-a-journalist/ https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/the-cos.... And those folks live near and, more importantly, travel in social circles with affluent people. It's also not particularly expensive to live in a bougie place. I grew up in Mclean, VA. My dad ran into Dick Cheney at the CVS once. But you can get an apartment in Mclean on a journalist's salary, especially if your parents paid for college and you have no debt. You can’t afford to raise a family there, but you can live there, near your social circle. Conversely, you'll see lots of trades people, cops, etc., living in places that aren't bougie at all, despite making more money than the lower end of the professional class. People find ways to congregate around others in their social class, income notwithstanding.

pessimizer 6mo ago

Yes. Journalists don't make a living from journalism, they live on family money. That's why working class journalists have disappeared along with working class perspectives. It was once a job where many if not most of the practitioners didn't have a college degree, now it is the most expensive graduate school program you can do. I think the median price is something like $250K. If you don't pay writers, you eliminate all of the writers who have to work for a living.

ghaff 6mo ago
Don't disagree with the general point but I'm not sure J-School was ever a particularly good entree into journalism. Most of the journalists I know and knew didn't have the grad degree.
NicuCalcea 6mo ago
TIL I and my friends and colleagues live on family money.
- Jensson 6mo ago
  Could be a husband that pays for the home etc as well, that is also living on family money. Regardless since journalists aren't well paid but a lot of them live in expensive areas the money has to come from somewhere.
  - NicuCalcea 6mo ago
    So your argument is that journalists must be wealthy because otherwise they'd be poor? Have you considered the alternative, that we just live modest lifestyles, like most other working class people?
watwut 6mo ago
Plenty of journalists I know about (because I read them a lot and they sometimes talk about self) did mot wemt to j-school. Also, they dont live in parents houses. You are making stuff up about lives of journalistals to invalidate their claims.