A career pickle...

[thenimirra]

THE editor of the newspaper, Greg Moore has hired me to take portraits of his family on Saturday. I charged him...but damn that felt weird.

I reduced the price a bit...

Then he told me he wants me to start shooting for the Post. But...he said I would have to decide...either I'm going to be a reporter full time or a photographer full time because they can't figure out how they would pay me.

That's crap...why do I have to decide? Aren't I more valuable to the company if I can do both?

[ColoradoSkier]

Why wouldn't they pay you as a photographer for when you take pics, and as a reporter when you do reporting? Of course, I don't know what the pay system is at the place.

[Tiffany]

You are doing both now, but THEY pay you to be a reporter. Congrats on having the choice...do what you think is most valuable to both the paper and to YOUR career.

Me personally, I would go photographer. You will gain a ton of knowledge on a ton of subjects and you are still telling a story just in a different way and format. And a lot of times, the photo is far more important than the words.

[Tiffany]

Why wouldn't they pay you as a photographer for when you take pics, and as a reporter when you do reporting? Of course, I don't know what the pay system is at the place.
Simple answer, it's a union paper and there is no way the union will allow them to have one person playing dual roles. They had to create new union classifications for the web team as we were doing a lot of dual roles just to do our jobs.

[thenimirra]

wow...it's certainly a lot to think about. I still love reporting and writing. Maybe I could shoot as a photog and do writing on the side?

[OFRD_GRL]

Would they let you photograph for them fulltime and then do some reporting and writing as a *contractor*?

[thenimirra]

I think that might work out....

But what if I suck at being a photojournalist? Maybe a portrait photographer is all I'm good at....

Strike that!....there's that fear getting the best of me again!

[Tiffany]

wow...it's certainly a lot to think about. I still love reporting and writing. Maybe I could shoot as a photog and do writing on the side?
I would say that is definitely an option, but one you would have to talk to Greg about and your union rep. Understand, even if you are not a dues paying member the union still controls your position. The paper only has to have, I think, 87% participation.

Personally I would first talk to Greg...tell him your thoughts on how you would like to see things work for YOU. Explain how it would be an asset for the Post. From there, he may direct you to the union rep or he may explore it himself, but either way I would expect to hear from UR at some point.

If you have never dealt with the Newspaper Guild then be prepared to be bombarded with "You need to join and pay dues and we will do this/that for you". They only need 87%, they want 100% participation. They tend to get new folks on the rolls when that person has a problem. They can resolve just about any matter to your liking as long as you are willing to pay the dues and become a member in good standing.

This is a bit trickier than most I have seen them deal with though...the rules on who can do what are very clear cut with them. If you want more union info let me know...

[thenimirra]

I am a union member. As a matter of fact, my PS class was taken through a Guild Program. Greg did say that he's already talking to the union about what to do when situations like this arise because they want all reporters to be doing more work related to video, blogging, photography, etc. I'm just the first person they actually have that is taking on the photography angle.

[ColoradoSkier]

Gotta love unions... :shrug:

[Tiffany]

Cool so they are ahead of the game. The only issue I really see is that while the occasional blog post or photo essay project is fine, they want you to do two specific union jobs on a regular basis. In the past they have frowned on that big time.

My editor at the News got his hand slapped hard when the Guild found out I was writing and editing and doing my regular job as a editorial assistant back in the day. I didn't even ask for it, but the union forced the department to change either my job classification (beneficial to me) or my job description and tasks (sucked for me). The chose to change my classification (and that of all the other EA) which resulted in a couple grand in backpay for all of us.

Twas nice, but seemed to be a bit silly since I kind of needed to do all those things to be an editorial assistant.

Something about if you spend a certain amount of time doing a job of a higher classification then you are supposed to be paid at that classification level...crazy!

[Tiffany]

Gotta love unions... :shrug:
Normally I would frown on Unions, but in the newspaper industry those who work at non-union papers are paid ridiculously low wages...like substandard living wages.

While some of the rules and crap of the Denver Newspaper guild make me scratch my head, they have made it so that to work for either of the dailys in Denver doesn't mean you are bussing tables at night to feed your family.

When I worked in Boise, non-union, I was barely making enough money to survive each month. Maybe every other month I was asking the 'rents for a loan so I could make sure we had food on the table. Took the kids out maybe once a month for a movie...that was the entertainment. When I was hired back at the Rocky I was paid almost double what I was making in Boise to do the same job.

[ColoradoSkier]

With ad dollars going elsewhere and most newspaper companies not willing or able to adapt, I'd bet that situation will get worse.

[Tiffany]

I just recently had dinner with the heads of 4 of the biggest newspaper chains in the country. We got drunk lamenting over the fact that the war of trying to save newspapers may have already been lost when most dead tree editors made a stand against the move to the web.

[ColoradoSkier]

Wow, how did you manage to be at that meal?

[Tiffany]

They are lifelong friends of mine...we do it all the time. Before they were all big and powerful we all worked together at some point in time. We remained friends and try to get together every year or so to hang out.

These are the folks who guided me in my career choices until I decided that I was tired of fighting. They still guide me, just different path now I guess. When they were climbing the chain, when someone from corporate said they needed something done at one of the papers...they called me and knew it would get done no matter what.