In early November, a spreadsheet where journalists could anonymously disclose their salary, company and location, went viral. In a matter of weeks, the spreadsheet had over 1600 responses from media workers across the continent. The purpose? To challenge the workplace taboo of sharing your salary according to the spreadsheet.
"Talking about how much or how little money you make feels taboo, and it shouldn't. Knowledge is power and Glassdoor info is hit or miss," the document said. "Wouldn't it be great to know what your peers make so you can use that to leverage a raise? Or if your company does a 'market adjustment' yet you don't see the data, wouldn't it be great to know how accurate it is or isn't? So, let's share what we make and any relevant info to help each other learn our worth!"
The spreadsheet created an opportunity for anyone to go in and see what salary they could possibly make as a journalist. We averaged out that the salary people were making in the form (with the exception of a few million dollar outliers) as $64,899 with an average experience of 6.7 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2018, the median salary of journalists is $43,490, well below the average salaries reported in the spreadsheet. The difference may be due to that the majority of responses came from high cost of living areas such as New York, Washington and Los Angeles. We created a tool below with a map of each respondent.
Mapping each salary across the U.S. and Canada
Click here to launch this tool externally
The information on the spreadsheet has not been verified and there is no way to tell if what people are saying is true. In an interview with the Washington Post, Patrick DeLany, editor of the York Dispatch, said that someone reported a salary that nobody at the newspaper was receiving.
Some news organizations reported on this spreadsheet going viral across the internet and caught some slack, like the Columbia Journalism Review.
Other news organizations, such as the Washington Post, chose to redact salaries from an edited screenshot of the spreadsheet. Regardless of the implications that a freely accessible salary survey can impose, some journalists say it could a good tool for those considering entering the field.
"I think the idea is great and it can really help somebody who is looking to become a reporter," said Levi Edwards, a breaking news reporter for Al.com in Mobile, Alabama. "I can for sure say I probably wouldn't getting by alone on my current salary in a city like Los Angeles or New York."
Edwards, who entered the workforce earlier this year says he is making more than what most TV stations in the Alabama market were going to offer him.
"It really just depends on the position," Edwards said. "I'm not sure what the bare minimum is but it's pretty solid money right out of school."
The market for journalists is bleak. According to the BLS, the field is expected to decline by 10 percent over the next 10 years. The average salary according to the spreadsheet of those with zero to one years experience was $43,119, just below the median reported by the BLS. With the low salaries offered, many people elect to change careers or go to a smaller city or rural publication where the cost of living is lower.
Kim Swindell Wood, editor of the Sparta Expositor in Sparta, Tennessee, says she finds it hard to find qualified people willing to relocate to a small town for low pay.
"I have had to fill many reporter positions over the years and it gets to be hard finding someone who wants to uproot and move here," Wood said. "The cost of living is very low but so many kids these days don't want to live in the country after going to college."
Sparta, a rural town located between Nashville and Knoxville, has a steady population of about 5,000 people. The town is located approximately 20 minutes south of Cookeville, the home of Tennessee Tech.
"I've had some students from Tech come down and write for us," Wood said. "It's convenient for us to be close to a (university) and have access to students wanting to gain some experience."
Wood said she thinks that if students get exposed to community journalism and engage with the town, they may be more likely to take on a role at a smaller paper.
A Closer Look at NYC
New York City had the highest number of respondents on the spreadsheet. The city is a hotspot for journalists but also experiences some of the highest rent costs in the country. New York City has the highest cost of living in the U.S..
The tool below will show you the salary of individuals versus the fair housing rate for a given area.
Click on the area of the map on the left to show fair market rates.
Click here to launch the tool externally
A Closer Look at the U.S. Northeast As a Whole
Cities in the U.S. Northeast held the highest concentration of respondents from the survey. Cities along this corridor see some of the highest rent costs. The following tool below will let you take a look at the average fair market housing rate for a given area.
Click here to launch the tool externally