Kept Watchdogging: Good Work, if You Can Get it

Buried in this typically goo-goo pro-newspaper ombudsmen piece in the American Journalism Review (my prebuttal is here) is this factoid: "When Nemeth surveyed public editors in 1999, he found they earned average salaries between $75,000 and $100,000." I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. Sulzberger!

Comments

[SR]

For those of us who have no clue what the payscale in journalism typically is, how about clueing us in so we can feel appropriately outraged?

[joe]

Is that way out of line for top-level editorial staff?

[Matt Welch]

There's no reason necessarily to be outraged -- the types of news organization fat enough to afford an ombudsman usually pay good salaries. (To answer your question, those are excellent numbers for 95% of all newspaper jobs.) But it's really more about my own personal bitterness. And also, I thought the data point interesting enough to be worth sharing with those who might communicate with these people.

[joe]

"And also, I thought the data point interesting enough to be worth sharing with those who might communicate with these people."

Good point. What does the Executive Director of the Reason Foundation pull down?

[Franklin Harris]

For those of us who have no clue what the payscale in journalism typically is, how about clueing us in so we can feel appropriately outraged?

That's OK. I'll feel outraged enough for all of us, especially when I cut the check for my Visa card later in the week.

[Czar]

"Good point. What does the Executive Director of the Reason Foundation pull down?"

If they were going to be consistent it would be a big fat zero, seeing as how they don't believe in intellectual property.

(Zing.)

[Douglas Fletcher]

What does the Executive Director of the Reason Foundation pull down?

Good god, joe, didn't your mama teach you any manners?