Study Hall Digest 5/1/2017

Hi

Today is May Day, and I’m gonna use this space to suggest that we’re all doomed if we as journalists, media people, and whoever else continue doing what we’re doing. The freelance model doesn’t lend itself well to unionizing, and maybe not even traditional protesting, but I think we can still challenge hegemony in our own ways. In short, it’s time to get weird. I keep thinking about the Beats, about the New Journalists, about Ken Kesey and the Black Panthers and their newsmaking, and all the weird shit going on 50 years ago, and keep thinking we’re waiting for someone to give us permission to get as weird as shit was back then. Maybe we need to give ourselves permission, or at least the permission to write weirder shit. Anyway I’m probably moving to a commune in a few months.

ESPN and Time both are facing financial troubles, but it seems this isn’t a sign of doom and decline, but of two media properties being shittily managed by shitty people. Time has thinned and false-balanced itself into irrelevancy, and ESPN just can’t decide on a direction. (Though their magazine publishes cool features and their new audio documentary program is just beginning.)

Meanwhile over at the New York Times, people are defending white supremacist, climate denier, and all around fun guy Bret Stephens. What’s worrisome to me is his defenders don’t seem to understand the concept of free speech, even though their jobs are predicated on understanding the concept. By their logic, not subscribing to this newsletter would be a violation of my speech, so subscribe!!

TV news, still bad.

Last Thoughts

Back to that May Day theme. We’re getting lots of reports of outlets not paying on-time, and I wanted to share one horror story via a Study Hall friend: Nautilus, the science magazine, has become notorious for not paying anyone for months. Someone who did contracting editing work there had to pester constantly and wait eight months for thousands of dollars in checks. It’s so bad that the science pub Undark wrote a whole feature about it.

As listserv member John Walker pointed out earlier this week, when they’ve worked for other industries, payment has been upfront—labor is valued and compensated in other industries in ways it isn’t in the media. I’ve had similar experiences, as I’m sure many of you had. I’m curious why journalism and media are different. Creative satisfaction is one thing; our work propping up billion-dollar companies that pitch themselves as tech startups is entirely another.