The journalists are weary

“You’re good at this,” I told her.

“I know,” she said, shaking her head.

I was talking to Isla, a journalist with over a decade of experience. She was an incredibly talented writer and reporter, with impressive bylines and a track record of writing gorgeous narratives about important issues.

And Isla was sitting in my Zoom room because she couldn’t make a living from that very important journalism work. She was exhausted from all the $300 quick-turn-around articles she had to take to support her long-form reporting. She told me that she felt like she was sprinting on a hamster wheel. She wanted to get off. She was becoming so exhausted that the journalism barely felt worth the effort, even though she knew she cared about it.

Isla is nearly every journalist I’ve met with over the past six months. Y’all, the journalists are weary. And as I posted on Twitter a few months ago, it’s not a you problem. It’s not about having a better workflow, or making your reporting more efficient, or negotiating for $100 more.

It’s a systemic issue.

By in large, the media industry is no longer paying a living wage. (I can say the same thing about education, healthcare, and so many other industries, too.)