Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Editing vs. Sausages


You know there's something wrong with the world when you can make more money frying sausages and putting them on toothpicks than you can being a newspaper editor.
As I was perusing the job boards tonight, I came across an ad for an editor's position for a tri-weekly newspaper. The salary offered was $25,000-$30,000—an insulting amount. Then, while checking the retail jobs (yes, I'm thinking of going back into retail), there was a job advertised for a "sausage demonstrator," which paid $15 per hour (plus mileage allowance). That equals $31,200 per year!

Yes, you can earn more by frying up sausages, slicing them, putting them on toothpicks, and distributing coupons than if you "have experience in Quark, front-page layout, AP style and be ready to lend a hand in writing stories" and can produce a three-times-a-week community newspaper. The message: we value sausage slicers more than wordsmiths.

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