‘Incompetent egomaniacs’ or ‘pitiful slaves’?

Posted by Martin Stabe on 25 April 2006 at 12:40
Tags: BBC, Guardian Media Group, Journalism

If you ask Chris Dillow, young, poorly-paid journalists are “irrational incompetent egomaniacs” who have entered a high-risk career tournament in the hopes of one day commanding seven-figure pay packets (not to mention fame and influence over public debate) like Jeremy Paxman.

Writing in the Times, however, Libby Purvis has a more conventional analysis of “the pitiful slaves of showbiz” toiling in the creative industries, including journalism.

Purvis has two striking examples: BBC researchers who still earning well under the national average male full-time earnings of £31,500 two decades into their careers — and Guardian Media Group regional newspaper trainees who were on £10,486 in 2002.

For Purvis, unlike Dillow, “to opt for poverty and a buzzy job is a reasonable thing to do, and it is not unreasonable to proffer your services free, at least until disillusion or a real job intervenes.”

The real problem with the recent outrage over BBC salaries, Purvis suggests, is that the entry fee for the journalism tournament is becoming prohibitive to all but those wiuth wealthy families who can subsidise long stints of low- or no-pay work.

Tags: BBC, Guardian Media Group, Journalism