Thread by @JessicaHuseman

It’s always mind boggling to me when newsrooms announce they’ve hired an imminently and uniquely qualified journalist with years of experience... as a fellow.

This rat race we do by only being willing to “take risks” giving temporary jobs to journalists who’ve already proven themselves to make sure they are worthy is wild.

Are they qualified? I guess but let’s see if they are willing to take 40 percent less pay in the most expensive city on earth just to make sure. Don’t forget to write a press release.

And what’s nuts is that these fellows leave stable jobs to take temporary ones because - short of winning a Pulitzer and being poached - it’s often the only way into National newsrooms. And we wonder why we have a diversity problem.

You want someone to cover a brand new, under-covered beat and help you fill a necessary hole in your newsroom? Commit to them. Develop them. Pay them a reporters salary, and help them flourish. Don’t relegate them to a temporary job and praise yourself for doing so.

The psychological impact of being in a job you’ve worked your ass off to get but ends in a year and you better damn well hustle your ass off to stay is intense. I did it. Many of you did it. And we keep doing it to those that come after. At some point it has to end.

Internships and fellowships are - at best - for current students and extremely recent graduates. Not people who’ve *been doing this well* for years. There are places for training programs, but there are also people who do not need them. And those are the people who get them.

I once had an editor say to me that there was no such thing as an over qualified fellow bc they knew what they were applying for. False. That’s all they can apply for bc that’s all we’ll consider them for. There are no other options and we decide that’s self determination.

There are lots of reasons to give temporary jobs. Newsrooms do this for valid reasons - lots of projects aren’t permanent and we don’t have endless money. But hiring an experienced journalist for a fellowship isn’t one of them.

And I’ll let you in on a dirty secret of big news rooms, they call internships fellowships in order to get people who are overqualified to apply because fellowship sounds better than internship. This is 100% true.

Have a great day! And if you’re an editor, stop doing this shit.