What do you think freelance journalists’ typical rate is? The National Writers Union-Freelance Solidarity Project found that, on average, it’s $1/word — with steep discrepancies across race and gender. Though their data is incomplete given some caveats (a comparatively small and self-selecting sample size of 1,275 entries, with no ways to track repeat entries), NWU-FSP members jen byers and Elena Novak say it reiterates that “the media industry is in crisis, especially for the working class.”

Novak and byers encourage freelancers to anonymously share their rates via the Rate Sharing Database to make the data more robust for future organizing to pressure publishers to increase their rates.

Read on for more, and find an abbreviated version of our media round-up on Instagram each week. (Here’s our most recent example.)

Please note: This newsletter’s media round-up includes one section on the Cornell Seven case, and links out to articles that include descriptions of sexual assault and drugging.

—James Salanga

Twenty-six years ago, the National Writers Union advocated for a $1/word pay rate. Since then, the cost of living in the United States has approximately doubled. Between 2020 and 2026 alone, living expenses in the U.S. have increased 29%, and rent has increased, on average, 34%.

Thus, if that $1/word rate from 2000 matched today’s inflation, the average writer should be making about $2/word. But — according to data from the National Writers Union-Freelance Solidarity Project’s Rate Sharing Database — they aren’t.

Since 2020, the average reported pay rate has hovered around $1/word, and stagnant wages mean that freelance writers are functionally making less money now than they were 26 years ago.

Though our data and analysis were limited, write NWU-FSP members Elena Novak and jen byers, they raise major red flags nonetheless.

Trans and Hispanic survey participants, whose communities have been heavily targeted by the current political administration, reported significantly lower than average rates — $0.38 and $0.34 per word, respectively.

Read the full story.

📝 ICYMI: Student journalists broke the ‘Cornell Seven’ case, about the school’s failure to protect a student who alleged sexual violence and assault at a fraternity house, after months of reporting. Student journalists have been continually working to answer questions about keeping vulnerable sources safe, and have filled in investigative and accountability reporting gaps despite institutional and state pressures.

📖 The Columbia Journalism Review interviewed historian and activist Assal Rad, spotlighting her new book Don’t Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide. “What I would argue is, if a genocide is happening and you refuse to call it that, you’re not being impartial. You’re being partial because you’re not telling it as it is.”

📰 The Yappie, a newsletter dedicated to covering AAPI politics and power, is relaunching after a two-year break. It’s already made an open call for freelancers for 2027. “Power Shift,” the flagship newsletter on politics, will be written by William Tong and Hojung Lee, while EIC Shawna Chen will write a round-up called “AAPI Nation.”  

🗃️ The Homelessness Beat Reporters Collective published its 2026 guide, which includes context on common arguments around encampments, places to find data on homelessness, and recommended reading. It’s aimed at reporters working at national and local newsrooms, regardless of where they are. “This is an issue without borders,” wrote contributor Stefania Lugli, who covers homelessness for The Journal in Wichita, Kansas.

📩 In a moment when newsrooms have withdrawn resources to covering diversity, equity, and inclusion, NPR’s Code Switch newsletter is going away. Leah Donnella writes, “I’ve spent years writing about the type of racism that makes headlines. Now that it’s ending, maybe I’ll have more time to think about the kind of racism that doesn’t make for much of a story. The kind that is slow and patient and faceless.”

⛰️ FOLLOW-UP: The Seattle Times Union picketed on Sept. 30 with the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, seeking to call attention to its current demands: wage increases and AI guardrails to protect newspaper jobs. 

Have a story you think we should include in this section of next week’s newsletter? Let us know here or by responding to this email.

This issue is by Marlee Baldridge and James Salanga. Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.

— 30 —