Work in Progress, Worklife, Workplace, TIME

November 1, 2007 10:50

We're all web writers now

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | Comments (11) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

My colleague Jim Poniewozik blogs today about the impending Hollywood writers' strike--and how it relates to the sitch faced by us right-coast writers. Seeing as he's totally invading my turf and writing more eloquently than I could about labor, damn him, I'll simply reprint his argument here and agree with it. [Jim, I expect the same courtesy later when I review the new Gossip Girl.] He writes:

As somebody who gets paid to produce content, i.e., write, I can't pretend to be unbiased. If content is platform-agnostic in this brave new media world, then money should be platform-agnostic too.

Here's how all this affects me and Jim (bolds mine):

This kind of argument is playing out in many workplaces--mine, for instance. You may notice that you are reading this article not in a print magazine but on an electronic computing box, serviced by an Internet hose. Writers and production staff at Time Inc. are covered by a union, which just finished a drawn-out contract renegotiation. ...A big point of contention between the union and management has been the fact the website's editors and production staffs are not covered by the union--although union-covered magazine staff, like me, do work for the websites as well. The deal the company and union reached: magazine staff (like me) can't be compelled to work for the websites, and the company will not extend union coverage to the website staff.

Okay. So let me back up here. This is probably inside baseball for many of you, but stick around anyway; web-vs.-mortar issues affect all workers in some way. The Time Inc./union deal came about as a result of a kerfuffle kicked up by a certain memo sent out by my boss, TIME managing editor Rick Stengel. It's been widely disseminated already in the press, so I'm not spilling company secrets by reprinting some of it here. Here it is on Gawker:

As good as TIME.com is, it still needs to be better. And it still needs more content, much more. ...I sent out a memo last week about evaluations. Let me make this explicit: evaluations of every Time writer, correspondent, and reporter will be based on the quality and quantity of the contributions each of you makes to both the magazine and to TIME.com. TIME.com is a daily responsibility; Time magazine is a weekly responsibility. TIME is made up of both.

Pretty explicit, right? If you got that memo in your inbox, you'd think, hot damn, I need to get me some TIME.com writing assignments or my ass is on the block, right? Furthermore, this came not long after a series of brutal layoffs, the latest one in January 2007--layoffs whose central message was that Time Inc. was now focusing on the web, and it would need to cut resources from its traditional print publications in order to do so. The headlines announcing the layoffs in The New York Times were almost identical in both 2006 ("Time Inc. to Cut 100 More Jobs as It Focuses on Web Business") and 2007 ("Time Inc. Cutting Almost 300 Magazine Jobs to Focus More on Web Sites").

So. How confused do you think we were when we received another memo from our editorial leaders this year telling us we were not obligated to contribute to the web? Said the e-mail from Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey (reconstructed from WWD, so again, boss, I'm not spilling insider blood here):

As we are all aware, Time Inc.'s Web sites have become a critical part of the company's plans for the future....Many of our best journalists are writing stories and covering beats for the magazine and the dot-com simultaneously, and, your managing editors and I strongly encourage each of you to consider how you can best contribute to Fortune and Time to ensure their success.

However,

Guild-covered employees of Time Inc. are not required to contribute to the Web sites as part of their jobs; and will not suffer any negative impact as a result of not contributing.

Huh?! On the one hand, we're told, in so many words, that our futures as content creators depend upon our ability to master the digital realm. On the other, corporate claims our digital future is still made of ether, and therefore our digital contribution can't be quantified (and compensated).

Here's a simple start to what's likely to become a complicated solution. Why not write up new job descriptions for us? When I was hired as a staff writer at this company 10 years ago, the web was not even mentioned. Today, it's a large part of my job, mainly by dint of my blog. I embrace my web duties; it's unquestionably more work than just churning out for the magazine, but I recognize my own and my industry's future lies here, on this blinking, electronic page. Yet I'm still getting mixed messages. One editor told me I shouldn't "waste" more than 10 minutes a day on the blog. "The magazine comes first," the editor told me. "It's what pays you."

Fine. So quantifying our web contributions remains a management puzzle, perhaps one for those high-priced McKinsey drones to figure out. But legitimize our work online by redefining our jobs. We're all web writers now.

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Reader Comments (11)

daddy in a strange land:

Ooh, you made Romenesko: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=132434
:)

Posted by daddy in a strange land | November 1, 2007 2:23 PM

Yadgyu:

I think you have it easy, Lisa.

You are a part of a union and you get a nice salary to write for the magazine. But you must realize that this website is just as important as the magazine. It appears that your company is in a transitional state between the print magazine and the website. This is an excellent opportunity for you to step your game up and show that you can excel at both the website and the magazine.

I believe that you are doing a good job, but you could be doing so much more. You really do not have to work harder. You have to work smarter.

You should write stories for the magazine and have people to ghostblog once a week for you. Eventually the magazine will become less and less of a concern and your main duties will be to keep the website going. These ghostbloggers will help you because they will do grunt work and feel as if they are making a great contribution to your site. All you have to do is take all of the credit for the work.

Eventually, you could give these ghostbloggers some credit and help these people gain some fame. In the music industry, many musicians work for hire while the main artist and the record company get the credit and the publishing money. The fame is the incentive here. You would not have to pay a dime to anyone.

Relax and find ways to make this new opportunity work for you. What you learned in school could never prepare you for the challenges you face. But your will and your wit will forge the way for you become a highly respected and highly paid writer. I believe that you could eventually become an executive if you make the right connections. You work in journalism, so you already have access to people and information that can be used to your advantage. Don't be afraid to step on toes and ruffle some feathers. A little aggression will take you a long way.

Posted by Yadgyu | November 1, 2007 4:09 PM

Curmudgeon:

Okay, I still don't understand it. I understand, in a sense, why blue collar workers have a union, and I understand the historical context. I cannot fathom what professional and creative people get out of one. Job security? Don't you get it? Your skills and your ability to keep up with current trends are your own job security. And I cannot fathom your working for the same employer for ten years. And that you are frightened about making a change. Do you really read the things you write about? Or do you really explore what professional and creative workers do for a career these days?

Posted by Curmudgeon | November 1, 2007 8:03 PM

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen:

hmmm. good thoughts all.

yadgyu: i'm just not in favor of ghost-blogging. i visit blogs for the unique voice and pov of the blogger, not some anonymous "grunt," as you say. that, i believe, is a big part of how my biz is going to change; we writers are no longer interchangeable, or we should strive not to be.

curmudgeon: once upon a time, reporters were considered blue-collar workers in need of organized representation. i agree w/you; not sure how relevant they are now. as for my own life/career changes, see post from yesterday (http://time-blog.com/work_in_progress/2007/10/scary_thought_i_must_change_my.html). but to clarify: i've been at the company for 10 years, but in three very different jobs. what knocks me for a loop is leaving the field entirely, or inventing a new one. i expect all this is coming up, and soon.

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | November 2, 2007 10:11 AM

Rick Ellis:

A nice piece, and I definately understand your angst about the mixed messages from management.

I have a full-time job (at an online company), and my wife and I also run our own web site (focused on TV, ironically enough).

I wrangle with these types of issues every week, as we all figure out where the lines between job descriptions. And whether or not the work we do away from our employer should be integrated somehow with the "real" job.

It's an odd world, without a lot of rules. I think that ultimately all we can do is hope we have enough value to the company that they are willing to keep us happy and hopefully well paid.

Posted by Rick Ellis | November 2, 2007 2:18 PM

Curmudgeon:

I didn't mean to be as curmudgeonly as I may have seemed, Lisa. I've held jobs at eight separate organizations, with distinctly different titles, in what are probably four separate career areas. And have my own business on the side. In at least half of those cases, the company no longer exists. That's probably not the norm, but nor is it extreme. As a knowledge worker and creative person, you need to embrace uncertainty and ambiguity, not fear it. And not expect a union or management or anyone else to protect you from it (they're too busy protecting themselves).

Posted by Curmudgeon | November 2, 2007 2:38 PM

Citizen John:

Curmudgeon,
Some folks are great writers, but lousy negotiators of health care benefits, vacation time or pay.
That's where unions come in.
It allows you to be creative and make the company LOTS of money without bogging you down on the "individualized" MBA requirements.

I want writers to think about writing, not building cases for their next negotiation with their bosses.

Posted by Citizen John | November 2, 2007 3:25 PM

Yadgyu:

"i'm just not in favor of ghost-blogging. i visit blogs for the unique voice and pov of the blogger, not some anonymous "grunt," as you say."

Your views will change when Time starts putting pressure on you. Either you will use ghostbloggers or you will find somewhere else to work. Journalism is going to get hypercompetitive and the internet will only hurt those who are truly dedicated to journalism. You are going to have to cut a few throats to survive this game.

Posted by Yadgyu | November 4, 2007 1:09 AM

Bianca Reagan:

I expect the same courtesy later when I review the new Gossip Girl.

I read at least three recaps of Gossip Girl every week, so please write another for me to enjoy. It's on Wednesdays at 9pm. I'll be waiting. :)

Posted by Bianca Reagan | November 5, 2007 4:20 PM

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Posted by libya | August 30, 2008 1:39 PM

About Work In Progress

Nina Subin

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a staff writer for TIME. She blogs about work. Why? Because TV was taken. Think of her as the grumpy colleague ranting by the water cooler.
More about the Author

Email her here:
lisa_cullen at timemagazine.com