Study Hall Digest 6/5/2017

Hi

Anyone notice how the journalism surrounding Trump ditching the Paris Accord was…good? I usually can’t stand listening to NPR these days, with their obsession with balance and gotta-hear-from-all-sides-even-if-one-side-is-an-insane fascist-ism. But their reporters were skeptical of Trump’s speech and called his lies lies. I noticed a lot of other reporting took this tone too. Between this and the Gianforte incident last week, it seems like journalism really is getting more adversarial. Or it could be that it’s settled on a norm and decided Trump is outside of it, and will quickly go back to its cozy political relationship as soon as the next administration comes along. I guess we’ll see!

Teen Vogue keeps getting accolades for #slaying and being #woke and all that. Good for them. But Teen Vogue is run by multi-billion-dollar company Condé Nast, and it’s still paying its writers next to nothing and apparently treating a lot of their writers unfairly. I guess a woke corporation is still….a corporation. It’s funny how the places that often say the best things pay the least.

Final Thoughts

How’s everyone making money these days? I find myself doing a little bit more long-term and long-form work. I’m trying to sell a book. I’m doing branded stuff. It seems a lot of the shorter-form journalism work is drying up? Or maybe I’m just not in that world anymore….but are people still selling $300-$500 articles? Where’s the bulk of your $$$$ coming from?