Lousy pay and extra duties in North Carolina

Rio · **Posted:** Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:44 am

Well, now I know how McClatchy can get away with laying off so many copy editors: Dump their work on their ridiculously underpaid reporters. From CareerBuilder.com, which advertises the following job paying $25,000 to $28,000 a year. (How can a newspaper with a circulation of well over 200,000 offer a salary like that?? Shameful.)

The Charlotte Observer, the region’s leading information source, has a Full time opportunity for a Prep/Internet Reporter for our Community News Department. The Charlotte Observer is one of the largest newspapers in the Southeast area with circulation at 209,218 daily and 258,722 Sunday. The Charlotte Observer employs approximately 650 employees and is owned by McClatchy.

The Prep/Internet Reporter will focus on writing community prep sports news, feature and online stories and generating photography. Expected to write 8 stories a week with photos and file briefs. Premium put on reader service by publishing news, features, photographs and online postings that reflect the community. Also required to copy edit, write headlines and captions and paginate pages as needed. It is desirable for community reporters to live in the coverage area.

Powderhorn · **Posted:** Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:11 am

What else would one paginate? But then again, expecting that some applicants would be inclined to commute from outside the coverage area for those sorts of wages rather suggests that HR is completely disconnected from reality.

copynomad · **Joined:** Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am **Posts:** 623

Circumstances will vary, but I think this job could be an opportunity for the right person.

When considering jobs, I think it's important to consider what's available, your marketability and how well a job will position you for your next career move.

I took a similar job right out of J school -- working for beans, editing and paginating for weeklies owned by a major metro. The economy was in crummy shape and few papers were hiring. I didn't know anyone in the area, and I moved there just for the job. The paper offered to pay for movers, but everything I owned fit in my car. I was happy to land the job, gain skills, prove myself and put a recognized paper on my resume. Within a year, the economy started recovering and papers started hiring again. Within three years, I had switched to my third paper, a top paper in a huge city, which more than doubled my salary.

By the time I graduated, my resume included years of freelancing, three internships and a part-time job at another major metro. I could've stayed at that metro and made more part time than I did by taking the full-time weeklies job. But I figured the weeklies job would train and position me better. Looking back, I wouldn’t do things differently.

From my experience, much of success can depend on how well you evaluate opportunities, anticipate and adjust as circumstances change. Hard work is a given, but it's not enough.

Testy Copy Editors

Lousy pay and extra duties in North Carolina

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