New York City’s salary transparency law won’t go into effect until May but it’s never too soon or too late to share how much a company paid you on your own terms.
Victoria Walker, most recently a senior travel reporter for The Points Guy, tweeted yesterday that she was leaving the company. This morning, she paid it forward and tweeted her salary and tips for anyone applying to the role:
Oh! Before I forget — if you apply for my old job as Senior Travel Reporter, you should ask for no less than 115k, a signing bonus &a relocation bonus if you’re moving to NYC. In full transparency, I was at 107k. I believe being transparent is one way to achieve equity in media.
— Victoria M. Walker (@vikkie) February 2, 2022
I debated whether I wanted to be so transparent but as journalists, we cannot demand transparency from powerful entities without being willing to do the same ourselves. So, #shareyoursalary.
— Victoria M. Walker (@vikkie) February 2, 2022
I’m worth every dime.
— Victoria M. Walker (@vikkie) February 2, 2022
Walker didn’t have to do that, but doing so helps prospective hires get a sense of what the company can afford and what and who it’s willing to pay. Travel journalism in particular has a diversity problem and the news industry as a whole isn’t immune to racial and gender wage gaps. This tiny bit of transparency went a long way, with more than 2,000 retweets and over 32,000 likes and counting.
Pushes for more salary transparency make their rounds online every so often and actual transparency, like Walker’s today, is generally well-received. In between many, many, many quote tweets saying “more people need to do this!”, “normalize this!”, “love a salary transparent queen!”, “more of this!”, “yes to this!”, “this!”, and lots of clapping emojis, a few current and former media workers shared their own salary histories:
🙌Thank you for this transparency!
Journalists — especially journalists of color — are forever undervaluing themselves, and many companies take advantage of that.
So having an idea of what you can earn and receive is a wonderful and powerful place to start. https://t.co/69rVeRjWTr— Kathy Lu (@kathyluwho) February 2, 2022
Some quick journalism salary history for ya:
Bryan-College Station Eagle (sports copy ed, 2011): $29,500
Iowa City P-C (asst. digital ed, 2013): $36k
SB Nation (copy, part time, 2016): $10/hr lol
WaPo Express (sports ed, 2019): $58k
Sports Illustrated (copy, 2020): $75k https://t.co/psLkTdG9MI— sarah (@thesarahkelly) February 2, 2022
(In between there I had some marketing jobs in the 40s in Wichita, and I left a job making $50k in Kansas City to come to DC. Also spent a lot of time being unemployed.)
— sarah (@thesarahkelly) February 2, 2022
FWIW, I’ve changed careers twice in 15 yrs — tho they’ve all been related: sales/marketing -> education -> journalism, so I’m very frustrated I still haven’t cracked $75k.
Currently: $73.5k as a social media producer; approx $.75/word as a freelance reporter.#ShareYourSalary https://t.co/HHQ1r6YTg5
— victoria marin (@vixmarin) February 2, 2022
We gotta be more transparent about our wages. Thanks for being open. I’ll do the same.
I’ve made
35k – 2012 12 News Phoenix
42k – 2014 ABC 10 Sacramento
70k – 2016 Washington Post
70ish – 2018 Philly Inquirer
67k – 2020 Free Press https://t.co/VD3LTpxDp6— Tauhid Chappell, RP👨🏾⚖️ (@TauhidChappell) February 2, 2022
Love that Victoria has shared this and also love that while a Senior Travel Reporter in NYC is getting over $100k a year, an editing/commissioning job I applied for a while back in London had a salary of circa £35k 🙃😭🙃 https://t.co/5sDIq7m4K5
— Lottie Gross (@lottiecgross) February 2, 2022
When people tell me it’s crazy I turned down travel editor roles that offered $85K. https://t.co/FvwHSwOnXV
— Lola Méndez (@lolaannamendez) February 2, 2022
oh you know what this is fun:
Politico (2010 first contract after unpaid internship, 6 months prorated): $15K, no benefits
Politico (2010, full hire): $50K
Roll Call (2011): $65K
Yahoo News (2014): $75K https://t.co/ZLPNAYeGUT— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) February 2, 2022
Do what you will with this information now, and go get paid.
