"Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality" The future for a multimedia journalist can look bleak depending on who's looking at it. That's why I started TalentBlvd.com with a fresh set of eyes.

Changing the way journalists and producers brand themselves, the way they go to market, and the reduction of redundant expenses in today's TV News talent acquisition model are critical to the future of the multimedia journalist.

Below the credits line is a short read on the industry's current state and some action items for the early and mid-career journalist. As always, I look forward to your feedback and insights.

Follow TalentBlvd, see change at TalentBlvd.com

Quote cred: Nikos Kazantzakis

Photo cred: TalentBlvd.com, former KRIS TV reporter Chelsea Torres (News 4 San Antonio)

The Future And Reality of Pay For The Multimedia Journalist

August 17, 2023 by Mike McNamara, Founder/CEO TalentBlvd.com

I would bet that most j-school students and their parents didn't know that when they graduate and start their job as a TV Reporter that their compensation will be nearly minimum wage. If you are a Mizzou, ASU, or Syracuse journalism grad it can be hard to believe. The good news is that there are changes in the industry that should improve that over time but first, a snapshot of where we find ourselves today.

Due to declining labor participation rates and the gross of service businesses over the past decade, minimum wages in most urban cities in the US is pushing $18/hour. Multimedia Journalists who are accepting roles making $35k a year are earning the equivalent of less than that depending on their schedule and contract. It's not uncommon to see entry level offers of $16 or $17/hour.

There are a number of factor that cut into these wages that you don't find in most entry level service roles. Young journalists overall compensation can be impacted by:

•  Clothing, hair and make-up expenses. Face it, showing up to work expecting to look like a supermodel requires some significant out of pocket expense and without an allowance, this costs you thousands of dollars.
•  Requiring your personal vehicle for business use (depending on reimbursement schedule and use). You can always document mileage and claim it as a business expense.
•  Hire a talent agent to secure employment on their behalf. Considered a status symbol by many young journalists, the pre-tax cost could be 10-12% of your salary! The barista at Starbucks in Portland or a communications manager in Dallas making $18/hour certainly doesn't need an agent

There are other variables that can have an impact on the young journalist's ability to stay above water financially. Other expenses such as child care and cost of housing in some expensive urban areas can significantly put a $30k year wage earner under water. Did you know that if they were a single parent, $30k/year is just slightly above what the US Census Dept. sets at the poverty level.

There are both internal and external industry reasons for the current pressures on wage in this space and they are sometimes common in other declining industries as well, like Higher Education or Retail.

The reasons include:

 1.    Declining viewership and lower revenue. The competition coming from streaming media sources has given the news seeking audience alternatives on every single screen - phone, tablet, desktop, smart TV. Traditional networks got significantly behind the curve and may never catch up without some significant acquisitions.

Also stacked against the industry is an ever changing demo as Millennials and Gen Z's begin to make up the majority minority of the potential audience. Not only are they tuned in to alternative channels but they aren't the slightest interested in the content flowing from CNN, Fox, or MSNBC. Anecdotally, my guess is this also applies to the new wave of streaming networks like Newsmax, News Nation, BNC, The National Desk, and others.

2.    Non value added and redundant expenses in the procurement of talent. In terms of the redundant expenses, think about the structure and costs. Most organizations have national / regional talent acquisition, local /regional HR, in addition to others involved in the recruitment process - Assistant News Directors, Executive Producers, News Directors, and VP/GM's. All of these salaries and related expenses are hitting administrative and payroll lines on the general ledger. Administrative cost and overhead have a negative impact on production payroll. Be clear, I'm not saying these roles aren't needed. What I'm implying is that there are significant redundancies that add to payroll expenses.

3.    There is a lack of focus on retention primarily because it's a lot easier (but more expensive) for management to switch out talent than it is to make systematic or strategic changes. Think about this, most agreements are 3 years in length. Of those 36 months, up to 12 can be spent focused on either resigning or planned attrition. The cost involved in those processes are significant in terms of direct payroll but also in on-boarding, offloading, retiring, severance, and ramp up time. According to SHRM, the cost of turnover can be as high as 50% of the employees' annual salary.

4.    The agency model is tired, obsolete, and not only reaches into the pocket of the talent, but also raises the payroll expenses of the media outlets and local TV stations. If an agent secures you employment and gets you a salary 5-10% higher than you could of yourself, here's what's really happening; the station's payroll is increased by 15% (salary plus the cost of your benefits), the first 10-12% of your salary (pre-tax) goes to pay the agent, and in the end, the additional 5-10% of pay earned doesn't cover your costs and the station's payroll increases requiring pay cuts and job eliminations somewhere else.

Additionally there is much less flexibility in the compensation model today than there ever has been. The reporting of payroll data and the fact that supply exceeds demand has systematically kept salary ranges flat or declining in the US for the last 5-6 years.

So, the above examples are a bit over simplified and don't apply to every situation and fortunately for young talent, they are trending in their favor. The consolidation of talent agencies started in 2017 and more and more young journalists are coming out of school and filling roles without assistance outside of their university placement offices. Even if they are poised to take positions at a lower salary than recent grads with agents they will still manage to come out ahead because of the 10-15% pre-tax salary savings over the 25 or 26 yr old with an 8% agent.

There are a number of trends that I see will impact the compensation of the future multimedia journalist, some of which will have a positive impact and increased earning opportunity.

First, the future of the MMJ role is certainly debatable at this point but is still a rather new phenomenon to an industry that operates in a similar fashion as it did 75 years ago. This role is basically a newsroom on wheels with reporters writing, shooting, hosting, and editing their own 'stand ups' and 'packages'. This eliminates significant production costs and capital required to televise local news.

There are some disturbing recent events related to reporter safety and security that are making the future of the MMJ unclear. To be honest, the role isn't necessarily the issue, it's the application of the role that is troubling. Asking a budding multimedia journalist to create packages during dayside shifts in safe and supportive environments should be standard best practices. Assigning a lone MMJ to a remote street corner at 4am or 11pm under dangerous circumstances is NOT a best practice is I would consider a questionable managerial practice.  

In the end, as small and mid-market stations become increasingly unprofitable they will be force to look at how local news is produced and distributed. Payroll remains one of the largest expenses for station management and leadership will continue to look for ways to consolidate roles and eliminate payroll. This will drive new formats and platforms to deliver local news that haven't been proven. This will result in large platform/network-wide pilots. Stay tuned.

Finally, the market continues to be flooded with young journalists willing to perform these duties and the principles of supply and demand will impact salary ranges until the industry finds a level of equilibrium.

In short, this role isn't going away soon.

•  Compensation of on-air talent at the high end of the comp structure are getting squeezed harder than they are on the low end. Real dollars are coming out of the anchor roles, especially in top 50 markets. Everyday a 45-50 yr old anchor is being replaced with talent making $100k LESS or in some cases not being replaced at all. Obviously this could actually benefit young journalists at the expense of the more seasoned and tenured.

As a talent management professional, this is extremely difficult to watch but it does create significant down market opportunity in two ways. First, it's obviously lifting up talent that is feeling road blocked and seriously hungry for opportunity. Next, as the payroll costs and the organization become flatter (not fatter), this will create an opportunity to rebalance resources allocated to field reporting. This will include the potential of more photogs working with reporters and positive changes in compensation packages.

From my perspective the greatest opportunity at the moment will come from differentiation, in essence making your personal value proposition to a local market great than your competition. My recommendations would be to focus on:

•  Strengthening your professional toolkit with a focus on diverse experiences and content creation. The more playing time you get, the better you will be at improving your game. Forget about the top 20 market opportunity where you sit on the bench. Find an opportunity that get you as much writing, producing, hosting, and editing experience you can out of school. I can show you dozens of big school grads in big markets that are career stagnant. Also, and equally important, is that you are going to need content. The challenges get nearly insurmountable without fresh and high quality content. It is without question the greatest obstacle to overcome.
•  Differentiate your brand by focusing on your personal brand packaging, specially your reel, resume, LinkedIn and social media. First, clean up your social media. Leave the bikini and booze pictures for another day. The stuff lives forever and literally one screen cap later, nothing is private. Your packaging is your brand and the more time you spend packaging your reel, resume, and LinkedIn profile, the more professional your brand. We have to get the door open to shine and these are the elements to get the door open.
•  Building a very strong 360 network, meaning inside and outside the industry. Networking all starts with your "Elevator Pitch". It is simple in concept, difficult to have the discipline to practice. This is so critical to building your network (your next role is 98% likely to come out of your network) that I've posted the do's and don'ts here:

This is one of the very first things I focus on with my clients and your most important networking tool. The best thing you can do is check out this article on topic "Your Elevator Pitch in 3 Simple Steps". The three steps are simply:

 1. Who You Are: This is a very brief overview; "I'm a University of Missouri-Columbia grad and I've been working as multimedia journalist at WXYZ TV since 2014"

 2. What You've Done/Your Skills: "My ability to develop a story from concept to camera has been recognized as Emmy Award winning and along the way I've built a social media audience of 30k followers."

 3. Where You Are Going/What's Next: "Having reached my goals of being the lead reporter in ___ (market), I'm ready to expand the scale and scope of my stories to a larger audience, specifically a top 10 market."

You need to use this pitch every time you get the question "So Susie, what are you up to these days?" or when you get an opportunity to introduce yourself while networking. Sometimes this can also be called a "reason for leaving statement" or "my reason for change" if you have recently left a job or company.

The first few steps can be brutal in any career but especially one in an industry facing extreme disruption. If you are entering into a traditional broadcast journalism career for the near term earning potential you are going to be very disappointed. If you are willing to make an investment in exploring new ways to create compelling content and tell important stories, you could be on the way to a very rewarding and lucrative career. Regardless, the most important thing you must embrace is going to be change.

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