The Daily Northwestern is in a unique position to adopt leading business models, yet we rely on an outdated mix of advertisements and donations to pay full-time editorial board members stipends as low as 59 cents an hour.
This pay is even lower for assistant editors, whose time commitment is sandwiched between the aforementioned full-time editors and reporters. It’s a sorry state for the leading publication at the top school for undergraduate journalism, but it’s one that can be remedied by implementing dynamic paywalls. However, there’s still some contemplation we need to do.
Before asking readers to pay for content, we have to ask ourselves: is what we’re producing worth paying for? If the information from our guides can be found online or if our news briefs are regurgitated University emails, then I’m not comfortable putting a price on what those in our immediate community can find out for free.