Pros
- You get to write for money. - The reporters are hard-working and passionate about their jobs, and are fantastic colleagues.
Cons
- Reporters are expected to squeeze out four articles each day, despite management making us wait for hours to get certain things approved, or changing their minds about what they want the article to be after it's been written, requiring a total rewrite. Despite this, they will still tell you off (and it often does feel like a telling-off, as if you're still at school) for not hitting your targets. - Management speak to reporters like total garbage. They are often rude and blunt, pushing you one way and then the other over message, and ripping into you for small errors, or even things that you didn't actually do wrong. - Management offer little to no positive feedback at all: you will only get feedback on your work if they deem it to be substandard. These standards change from week to week, so you often only find out that rules have changed by being told off for breaking them. - Expectations of reporters change near-constantly, and it is very stressful to try to keep up with the new rules when they don't tell us exactly what they want from us. - Clicks are king, and often stories that you pitch are rejected because they won't "do well" (get lots of clicks), even if they are important or current. Sometimes management changes its mind about a story halfway through the writing process, deciding that the story won't do as well as they first thought, suddenly spiking the story. Then they will imply it's your fault for dropping behind on numbers. -You do not get enough time in the day to do the work they expect from you, and often will end up working late with no overtime, or working through your unpaid lunch break to hit their expectations.