A Journalist Can Be A Capitalist, But You Might Not Ever Get Rich
I’ve joined a network of bloggers called The Carnival of Journalism. Each month, a member poses a question for the others to answer. This month’s question asks whether a journalist can be a capitalist?
What Would Joseph Pulitzer Say?
That’s Pulitzer as in the “Pulitzer Prize.” About 100 years ago, he and William Randolph Hearst went hand-to-hand in a circulation war that spawned the phrase “Yellow Journalism.” Pulitzer, Hearst, all the giants of the industry would shout “Hell yeah!” But Pulitzer and his ilk weren’t content creators. They didn’t write the stories or draw the cartoons that brought eyes to their product. They were primarily entrepreneurs who may or may not have been working journalists.
If Pulitzer and his kin were alive today, there’s no doubt they’d be innovating at a breakneck pace. But most of us are not Pulitzers. Many of us got into journalism because we loved telling stories, especially about stuff folks weren’t supposed to know. We liked seeing our byline or hearing our voices. We liked being in the mix. But the environment that feeds a modern-day Pulitzer starves a content creator.
An independent journalist has to have a “day job”
Markets that used to pay dollars per word, now pay pennies. The content mill model has invaded book publishing. Now companies are paying fewer than $100 for an ebook of a couple thousand words. Pulitzer would rejoice; low salaries mean a higher profit margin. If your talent is blogging, though, be ready for a long haul. In order to bring in decent money, you’ll have to constantly produce while you promote your brand and hawk your wares. You’ll have to be entrepreneurial, while realizing the market doesn’t value your product as much as you do. You’ll have to be an idealist and a capitalist, while you hum the words to theme from the movie “Car Wash.”
“You may not ever get rich, but remember, it’s better than digging a ditch.”





