Saturday, March 9, 2013

What's the Real Cost of Writing for Free?

In the wake of all the hoopla this week surrounding Nate Thayer - the journalist who refused to give The Atlantic permission to republish his work without compensation- Gawker posted an article that addresses the real cost of writing for free.

It's an interesting read, especially considering that many of us will do (or have already done) some freelance work.

What do you guys think- is their harm in working for free? What about unpaid internships or internships for "college credit" only? Do you think it's okay that young journalists sometimes have to put in their time with certain publications before officially getting put on the pay role? Where is the line between doing a little free freelance work and being exploited?

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this. It is an interesting read. Even though it's scary. Maybe I'll go into professional wig-making instead.

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  2. That is an interesting question. I dig the parallel between that and unpaid internships, as it is really a legitimate question. The long-term payoff of potentially finding a place within a company versus the prospect of getting paid immediately is worth a lot of consideration. That is pretty scary.

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