Have English, will write for peanuts

The job ad starts promisingly. "Looking for high quality article writers. Must have excellent grasp of English and must produce error-free articles that will pass copyscape. Must meet deadlines and be willing to rewrite articles that do not meet my high standards."

Fair enough, I say. All employers would want these qualities in a writer. However, then comes the kick to the guts. "I pay $2 per 500-word article."

The sad part is that this job ad has several bidders. Why do people accept writing articles at $2 a shot? It only serves to bring the market down. If the employer is asking for assembly-line BMR and SEO articles, then one could just about, at a stretch, accept this. But to demand high quality? Please!

About five years ago, a freelance writer could expect to be paid from $7 to $10 an article. Going back even farther, people would pay as much as $15 to $20 an article. These days, a decent gig would be about $5 an article.

However, we now have an influx of writers from all over the world, many of them whose English writing skills are on par with native speakers. Many of them, also, cannot string two sentences together. Whatever the case, they are willing to write for ever-decreasing prices.

Great for webmasters but not so great for the freelance writing community as a whole.

News writing and print-quality writing that demands solid news angles remain better paid options but that  requires more leg work in terms of building contacts, building reputations and, ultimately, building a viable freelance career.

The cheaper-paid jobs are the ones available en mass on the many websites that ask you to bid for work. However it is you earn your living as a writer, I hope your hard work is not devalued by those who write for peanuts and we can all band together and set certain standards so that our skills are appreciated financially and aesthetically.

The Paper is close to how newspapers really work

The Paper, a 1994 movie directed by Ron Howard, is an entertaining film that, in my opinion, most accurately reflects the workings of a real newspaper.

When I watched it, I noticed that almost all incidentals, such as journos struggling for spellings, tricky paragraphs or dealing with readers wanting apologies, is something that you see in papers all over the world.

News writing is universally similar and it was heartening to see that what happens in newsrooms all the way in the US is the same as what we experience in Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia.

I show this movie every time I teach Media Writing Skills at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpr so my students can understand the importance of quotes in news articles.

It stars Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, Glenn Close, Randy Quaid and other fine actors.

I'm still not bored by this movie even though I've seen it more than a dozen time.

By the way, Ron Howard, to me, will always be Richie Cunningham. I'm happy he has become a world-class director.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Media finds 'Captain Coward' guilty

I'm not here to judge Francesco Schettino, the captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which wrecked off the shores of Ligurian island, causing deaths and major financial loss for the owners of the stricken vessel.

But I don't have to. The world's media already have. He is now nicknamed Captain Coward for the way he reportedly abandoned his post while making token attempts to save passengers after the ship crashed into the rocks. Reports say he refused coastguard orders to return to the ship.

Schettino, in defending himself, says he actually saved more than two thousands lives.

Whatever the scenario, the media have already branded him and the whole world now has someone to target. Maybe he is to blame, maybe he is not. Whatever the case, his trial by media has guilty written all over it.

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No such thing as unbiased

It is inspiring and annoying to see young, budding journalists eager to enter the profession in their quest to change the world.

They go in convinced they will be unlike the writers they read and will only write objective, unbiased news based on truth, justice and with both sides of the story.

I say it's time to wake up and face reality. News writing is not and will never be unbiased. By simply choosing an angle, you are already taking a stance.

Of course, I'm not a complete cynic. Journalism is a great avenue for highlighting injustice, calling for equity and giving all parties a voice. However, each publication has an agenda, most of the time based on financial considerations. And journalists must adhere to the themes that boost advertising revenue.

More on this later...