Chicago Sun-Times Wants Journalists to Work More for Their Money

Lucy Morgan has the right idea: shoot video and talk to your editor at the same time. (Flickr Creative Commons: State Library and Archives of Florida)

How’s this sound?  The Chicago Sun-Times wants its journalists to work 10 hours a day before they can qualify for overtime pay, according to Jim Romenesko.  They’re also calling for the “creation of a new, lower-paid classification of reporters, photographers, designers and copy editors” to work for as low as $13.50 per hour in an intern capacity, with the hopes of being hired as (ostensibly) part of the higher-paid classification.  We know the newspapers are trying to gauge the best way to handle this crisis of technology.  The European newspapers are starting to feel the plague too.  The notion of “overtime” does seem to change in online journalism, where the cycle doesn’t abate.

Smart Businessmen Still Buy Newspapers

NY Times from 1960. (Flickr Creative Commons: The U.S. National Archives)

The New York Times recently reported that New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg might buy The Financial Times.  Why are billionaires thinking of investing in newspapers, the dying breed of media?  AdAge suggests it may be because several papers (including The New York Times) are doing quite well.  The piece also says that struggling papers don’t dissuade shrewd buyers either, as evidenced by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev’s purchase of The Independent.  The AdAge compiled graphics showing some of the current winning and losing papers.

Pew Poll Shows Men and the Highly Educated Read Most News

Men lead the way in the gender race for the most news-informed. (via Creative Commons: The Library of Congress)

Poynter has the results of a Pew poll that shows men and the more highly educated are the most active news junkies out there.  The study also showed that young people–despite their almost total aversion to print publications–take in digital news at a similar rate as older people.  Most of those polled said that they prefer a “print-like reading experience” on digital devices.  Obviously, this bodes well for advertisers seeking to reach the 18-29 demographic through the web.