Commentary

Newspaper Reporter Is The Worst Job In America

As if the newspaper business didn’t have enough trouble already, the position of “newspaper reporter” has been named the single worst job in the United States – again.

The extremely dubious honor was conferred on the beleaguered industry by CareerCast, which offers job listings in local and niche job markets. While it’s probably not much comfort, a number of other traditional media careers are also in the doghouse.

According to CareerCast’s list of the 400 best and worst jobs, newspaper reporter came in at the very bottom with a median salary of $37,200 for a print reporter, plus a negative growth outlook for the industry of -9%.

CareerCast summed up the bad news: “A gradual decline in print publications at the turn of the century became a steep downturn for the past decade. Publications folding mean far fewer job prospects, and declining ad revenue means unfavorable pay for those in the Fourth Estate.”

Newspaper reporter has been the worst job in America several years running now, clinching the top spot in 2015.

For comparison’s sake, per the same listing the second worst job in the U.S. in 2016 is “logger,” followed by “broadcaster,” presumably referring to a local TV news anchor or reporter, and “disc jockey” – all united by their low pay and dismal industry growth outlooks.

“Advertising salesperson” wasn’t far behind, with a median annual salary of $47,890 and stagnant growth outlook.

Turning to happy and highly compensated careers, the best jobs are all about numbers. CareerCast’s list of the most desirable positions in 2015 was led by “actuary,” “audiologist,” “mathematician,” “statistician,” “biomedical engineer” and “data scientist.”

No word yet on the fantastic prospects of online media bloggers.

6 comments about "Newspaper Reporter Is The Worst Job In America".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 22, 2016 at 9:51 a.m.

    It's a sad commentary on our "values" when the "best" and "worst" vocations, plus all that lies in between, are judged only by the size of their average salaries.

  2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, April 22, 2016 at 5 p.m.

    Local newspaper sales closer to $25,000. Major metropolitan newspaper sales with complimentary management can be $100,000. The greed and stupidity of ownership is the cause of this media dropping so badly; it is not the internet. Know this as fact.

  3. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, April 22, 2016 at 5:21 p.m.

    I agree with Ed and Paula's assessments. I'll add that whoever it was at CareerCast who chose the parameters for "best" and "worst" jobs must be the dullest party guests, ever.  If I was in charge of seating arrangements, they'd be over in the corner with the actuaries, statisticians and data scientists, all discussing how empty their lives are. 

  4. Michael Blumfield from Michael Blumfield Business Communications, April 22, 2016 at 5:24 p.m.

    Not sure how the author assumes that "audiologist" and "biomedical engineer" are jobs that are "all about numbers." Might wanna look up what those folks do.

  5. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 22, 2016 at 5:43 p.m.

    Just one added comment. When evaluating average income stats by occupation it's important to look at the average age of those in each vocation. For example, one reason why secretaries tend to earn less than sales managers is their age---with secretaries, generally, being much younger, hence less likely to have had numerous raises in their fairly short careers. Sex is also a factor as women tend to be not only younger than their male counterparts in many professions but also suffer from some degree of gender bias. Gender bias does not appear to be an across-the-board- constant. The last time I studied the Census data, the differences in income between the sexes---while still evident---was considerably lower in the upscale professions compared to many "blue collar" and service job caterories.

  6. Alex Miller from ViaSat, April 25, 2016 at 10:50 a.m.

    Shitty pay aside, nothing prepares you better for a host of writing jobs than being a newspaper reporter -- particularly on a daily. The last paper I worked for featured salaries below $30k, so the $37k average shown here would be welcome to lots of small-town reporters. While it's a pity that newspapers pay so poorly and have such a bad reputation, it could also be looked at as a better option than paying for some useless master's degree in English or journalism. As someone who looks to hire writers, I count a couple of years in the newsroom as significantly more valuable than an advanced degree of any kind, and budding journos should know that many large corporations have good-paying jobs for people who know how to write. 'Put in your time and cash in later somewhere else' may be the best advice for aspiring writers, even though I understand that's a grim assessment of the industry.

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