New York Journalists — Their Pay

1895

In New York city the salaries are higher than anywhere else, partly because of the superior standard of proficiency and partly because the cost of living is greater here than in any other large city. One editor in chief has the same salary as the president of the United States, $50,000 per year, and others receive from $10,000 to $12,000, or more than members of the cabinet. Managing editors are paid from $100 to $150 per week, or better compensation than that of senators and representatives in congress. Editorial writers get from $50 to $75 per week, as a rule, and in cases of rare ability as much as the average salary of a managing editor. City editors receive from $50 to $75 per week and in a few instances $100. The pay of news editors is about equal to that of city editors.

Literary, theatrical and musical critics average $50 per week. Copy readers are paid from $40 to $45 per week. Reporters earn all the way from $15 to $60 per week, with an average of $40, and space writers of particular talent have been known to make as much as $125 per week, though the limitation of topics and the pressure of competition usually keep their incomes down around those of the best paid reporters. There are some writers for syndicates of newspapers, men with names that have a certain value, who earn from $5,000 to $6,000 per year, and there are others of first class technical capacity in various lines whose salaries occasionally reach $5,000. The pay of all classes of journalists averages 10 per cent lower in Brooklyn than in New York city. — Forum.