"I can't just show my landlord. Hey, here are my invoices"
A young Black journalist shares insight into life as a freelance reporter
To say journalism has seen some layoffs and kicked people out over the last few years would be a gross understatement. Even before job cuts, the institution (full-time employment with benefits) wasn't great for many Black journalists.
So, how does a younger professional stay the course and keep themselves in the field? More importantly, why do keep going as jobs and people in journalism continue to shrink? I spoke with an anonymous writer about this reality and how they're making sense of it.
This writer was a full-time staff writer at a larger website. However, they were laid off due to "business reasons" and pivoted to becoming freelance journalism.
They were inspired to pursue a career by some media platforms and cultural analysis from other writers that weren't the norm for some media. The journalist explains that their reporting approach is to find solutions to pressing questions across entertainment.
"My purview going into reporting is, we always get negative things about everything going wrong, everything being bad, and we never get the follow up to that unless it's some update on an older article as an addendum…[However] here are the people who are actually trying to make a change, here are the solutions that are available right now," they explain.
Maintaining this drive to have a portfolio of solutions-based work wasn't easy. When working as a full-time staff writer at a larger publication, they had to adhere to business mandates. These guidelines normally mean sticking to what's SEO driven and the talk of the town today or that week -a journalism model that may or may not be good, depending on whom you ask-
They say, "It becomes where you have to do a lot of burn and turn reporting on a lot of stuff that just feels honestly really silly. Sometimes, I can have fun with the silly and treat it as a brain exercise. How can I approach this in a way that other websites, who are also aggregating the same article, wouldn't think to connect those dots to do things like that."
Still, the writer met the demands of their then-employer to the best of their abilities. Despite their output and abilities, the reporter became another name in the long line of recent media layoffs.
When the news arrived, there was some unintended humor.
"[They] basically talked to me over Zoom to let me go and didn't even realize that we talked literally months prior when I pitched [an assignment]," the reporter explains.
"That was rough…the whole thing when I'm receiving the news, [then] there was that need to act immediately and not really mourn the fact that all that's happened. In my head, this is a decade's worth of time and energy spent chasing this goal, getting it. I'm not sure if I won fully or appreciated it too. If the dream is dead, there's not gonna be a chance to do it again."
The journalist highlighted that when they were let go, they were a part of layoffs that mostly impacted employees from underrepresented communities at the site. The last ones in are the first ones out, as the saying goes.
With the mindset of not giving up on the field, the professional decided to keep on pursing journalism. This meant a pivot to freelance journalism. Most Black journalists that you know/follow are likely freelance vs that of being full-time staffers. Or they have their own independent outlets.
The writer says that navigating freelance work has been frustrating regarding pay but not securing work with various prominent publications.
"I'm navigating the permalancer (permanent freelancer) thing at different places and figuring out that I don't really want to work at some of these places. They'll invoice me really late sometimes. Or they won't really tell me the rate up front," they add.
They shared that a rigorous time and research-heavy assignment resulted in a $60 payout from a massive multimedia platform. The reporter explains that this was rather disappointing as it still didn't help their precarious economic reality.
Unfortunately, the reporter says this wasn't their only concern as they work to seek a new full-time job. They've noticed a few trends that are hard to miss as they get new work published. The work they add is unique, highly informative, and timely.
"Every time I'm seeing [roles] filled in, it's always not going to people who look like me. So I'm just getting kind of elbowed out of this industry; what's going on? That's been my feeling that I've been more upfront about on social media and less giving a fuck about," the writer says.
They also gained frustrations from other journalists with larger audiences and more privilege. While they say they support reporters in need, they seem more preoccupied with loud online jousting with bad actors spreading hate and misinformation. The reporter adds that they're just asking for the bare minimum from people with far more reach than themselves.
Despite these frustrations, the journalist knows that their work has value. They've been told in person that their work was respected by strangers and the subjects of their articles and features.
Still, they emphasize that their writing life is still highly difficult, as bills do not stop. While having talent and a drive is admirable. They emphasize working as a freelancer and trying to make a living from it is not for the faint of heart.
"People see my work; they appreciate my work. But the competition for the work isn't showing when I need the work to be showing. I can't just show my landlord. Hey, here are my invoices. I've technically made rent three times over, but I won't be seeing it until the next two months. So that doesn't make sense to me."
They continue, "…Honestly, I don't know how I keep doing it. I guess I like having a new challenge. As a freelancer, it's felt like I've had this freedom. I want to write about this thing. Let's write about this; it has been more freeing to do in the year I've done it as a freelancer. [Before] it felt like I had a tooth and claw my way into saying, "Hey, I've got this; this connection is just here."
Navigating the field as a freelance journalist has not been easy, but they remain focused. They hope someone somewhere notices the quality of the work they've published in the past year and prior. Confidently, they say no one is writing like them in entertainment.
The young writer explains, "I'm on TikTok. I'm on Twitter. I'm on Tumblr, which is honestly the biggest little boon to find shit out about fandoms and stuff. So being tapped into shit naturally, oh, I'm noticing a fandom is moving this kind of way, and maybe an artist is moving this kind of way in response to it. Let me explain it to people who aren't as brain-broken as I am, to pay attention to how these things are moving."
Welcome to the 411’s insight series. The interview series features Black professionals across fields to allow them space to speak freely about their profession and career to offer honest perspectives.