The Best Advice that No One Will Share With Young Journalists
Chris Jones of Esquire and ESPN, perhaps best known for "The Things That Carried Him”, did a talk yesterday for the J-school’s writing day, and I was lucky enough to find a seat near the back of the room. The title of the talk was “Lies My Editor Told Me,” and it was completely apt; Jones described his relationships, good and bad, with the editors he has worked with over his long career.
Jones, like many vets in the field, likes to break down big ideas to really good quotes. There were plenty of references to “the one thing you should know,” and “the thing is.” Though Jones is perhaps a comedian at heart and many of hi pieces of advice were at least partly facetious, he offered up a few gems that I find both interesting and completely novel.
1. Never bring up a number.
Because I’m going into a field that is notoriously underpaid and overworked, I’ve heard countless times that there’s no money in journalism, that journalism is dying, and that I’m going to die, like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone Episode “The Obsolete Man,” useless and tired in a room full of books (in this case, maybe reporter’s notebooks). Jones was the first journalist I’ve ever heard that discussed negotiating and salary. He recounted how, on numerous occasions, he has “brought up a number” when offered a job, and every time has been short changed. He said that it’s important to understand the value of your work, and not to be afraid to ask for a raise in a highly competitive industry.
“Editors want you to work for nothing,” Jones said. “It’s not because they’re evil... But don’t do it. Your words are worth something.”
2. Be there when the guy in charge says, “Uh, I don’t know, him.”
A big chunk of journalism is really just being in the right place at the right time: maybe you’re lucky enough to witness an important event, or you happen to be close by. The same principle, Jones said, can apply to getting work. As a young journalist, he said, the best decision he made was to stand around in meetings when editors threw stories at whomever was closest.
“You get on the radar for showing up,” Jones said.
I feel like many journalists who are trying to encourage students neglect to mention the importance of sheer, dumb luck, but Jones was unabashedly and completely honest about the unlikelihood of some of his breaks. He describes himself as “kind of stupid,” but just being there has still gotten him fairly far. He got his first job by “showing up with donuts,” and, Jones said, something as simple as that can be all it takes to break in. And, as he joked, “once you’re in, you’re in -- money falls from the sky.”
3. Editors will lie a little; lie a little back.
Jones’s talk, “Lies My Editors Told Me,” was just that. His editor once told him that he was competing against nine other applicants, when really the editor was just trying to motivate him. An editor once told him that two desks were fighting over him, when in reality they were fighting over who had to take him. The lies were good-intentioned; they were meant to motivate him to be better.
So, Jones said, it’s good to lie a little bit yourself.
“Never say that your story’s not going so well,” Jones said. One should only call one’s editor with good news, never bad, or run the risk of having a story pulled. This is something that veteran journalists are probably reluctant to share, because they are the editors who are being lied to. Still, it’s a valid point.
4. Be a person.
Jones didn’t say this so much as demonstrate it.
He wore jeans and a Guns ‘n Roses t-shirt.
He swore with gusto.
He told two -- TWO! -- stories about s****ing in beds.
What did I learn from a scruffy, middle-aged dude who looks a little bit like my dad and used the phrase “calamitous s***” in a paid speaking engagement?
Be a person. It’s charming. It puts people at ease. It’s okay not to be a journalist all the time; in fact, it’s better to have a personality than to be a quote-hounding robot.
Journalism is hard. The hours are long, the pay is garbage. So, when you leave the office, be a person.