I work for a media group, i.e. my newsroom is in charge of several publications. There’s a newspaper that’s considered the newsroom’s primary publication, as well as several others. I work for one of the minor magazines in that media group, whose market is pretty much still being tested. However, I’m gaining the major newspaper’s editors’ attention with my works as a reporter, and colleagues in my newsroom have expressed their appreciation for my writings.
Recently there’s been this documentary project on a subject I’m really passionate about, and in any case I’d like to write about it and have it published. Due to the segmentation of my magazine, this story cannot run there. That’s why I’m pitching to the newspaper. So really, in my heart, I’d do it for the love of it rather than for the money.
However, I’ve also been told that as a professional you need to be consistent in treating your pieces as a business commodity that deserves to be paid for.
A few copy editors from the major newspaper have written for my magazine and gotten paid extra as freelancers for their published pieces. However, I’ve also heard of reporters and copy editors from other magazines getting paid nothing for writing for the newspaper.
Now, I can understand if I get paid nothing if I had been using material from the same reportage to write different stories for different publications, because of course the point of having a convergent media group is to share resources. However, if writing the story for the newspaper would mean that I’ll have to moonlight on top of my magazine job and do an exclusive reportage that doesn’t run in my magazine, then I think I deserve to get paid as a freelancer. Especially that other people within the group have been treated as such.
Anyway, this story that I’m pitching… I really, really would love to do it and have it published on a media with considerable national exposure. It could be a precious milestone in my career even if I don’t get paid for it. Plus the people I’d be interviewing for this happen to be people I want to connect and keep in touch with. I’ve even been offered an exclusive interview arrangement which I don’t think other media have access to.
But then I also fear that if I easily agree to do this for free, the newspaper editor may think that I value my work too cheaply, and so the media group can take advantage of me in that way. I think selling one’s hard work cheap is a sign of weakness, and I certainly don’t want to come across as weak. I know that I’m an excellent writer, I work hard and drive extra miles to make my pieces happen, and I’m passionate about what I do… but I always push for my rights. Among my colleagues in the minor magazine, I’m the most adamant about getting my reportage costs reimbursed and contesting editors’ decisions that I don’t agree with, but I gain this confidence because my excellence and consistency give me bargaining power.
So here I am, a minor magazine reporter, pitching a story for the major newspaper. It’s a story I’m passionate about reporting, it cannot run in my magazine, so I’m pitching it to a media where the story is better suited.
What are my rights before the newspaper editors, and how should I assert them? Should I insist on getting paid, or can doing a first cross-publication story for free give me better advantages in the long run?
If the newspaper decides not to pay me, and accepting that does not benefit me in any way, should I pitch it to another newspaper / magazine that isn’t affiliated with my media group instead? If yes, then how do I get my pitch noticed and accepted on short notice by editors I don’t know personally?