I've just recently ventured into freelance writing, and the top payment I've received to date is $0.13/word. A buck sounds swell to me. No increase in 35 years, tho? That's fucking appalling. Maybe a general strike's in order...

Edited by author 02-12-2004 01:28 PM
The top rate for freelance journalists in 2004 (apart from a few that you could count on one hand, like The New Yorker and The Walrus), is $1/word.

The top rate for freelance journalists in 1970 was $1/word. Writers could actually make a decent living then. Humph.

And that's just the payment side of things. Never mind that the content is being systematically liquified to shite (I should know, I'm a freelance journalist).

I applaud PWAC's efforts (I'm a member) and do hope for some change, but feel cynical about how this can realistically be brought about. With a few media giants' stranglehold on the industry, how is this going to change?

I'm behind this too. I don't personally know anyone who makes a living as a freelance writer, above the poverty line or below it.

The situation is just going to get worse as media outlets and publishers continue to downsize, outsource jobs to Asia, and generally squeeze whatever concessions they can out of writers.

Forget "cultural emergency" -- we're already in a cultural disaster.

Boo Hoo.

Edited by author 02-10-2004 02:00 PM
"Creators, already low-paid, marginalized and poorly treated, are effectively subsidizing Canadian culture through the loss of their livelihoods."

I'm behind PWAC %100 on this. The requests put forth in this press release all seem like terrific ideas to me.

"Given the importance of Canadian creators to our culture, the fact that their annual incomes are routinely below the poverty line, and that other countries, such as Ireland, have implemented similar tax reforms, we ask that a new bill supporting creators be submitted."

This makes complete sense to me, especially since my own tax situation has been nothing but a headache for the past couple of years, and in those same years, my income has been officially below the poverty line.

The copyright issues definitely need to be cleared up, especially for periodical writers, and I don't see why some of the Canadian Magazine Fund bankroll shouldn't find its way onto the tables of those people who actually write the damn magazines.

PWAC Takes the Gloves Off

The Periodical Writers' Association provides Paul Martin's new government with a wish list to avert a "shameful cultural emergency."



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PWAC (the Periodical Writers' Association) calls on the newly formed government of Paul Martin to rectify what it sees as a "shameful cultural emergency."

(Read the original press release here)



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