So I have some thoughts about this. I'm going to start with the optimistic: congrats on learning your desired path at an early age & wanting to jump in. That's genuinely great, however your thread is very defensive of toxic industry traits which shouldn't exist to begin with.
https://t.co/GrgBWG50xQ
I started The Indiependent in 2014 when I was in sixth form, and have worked on it VOLUNTARILY ever since. I probably spend about 20 hours a week working on the site, alongside a day job which I need to do to live.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
https://t.co/cdd4q9nIm5
The amazing editors all give up their time to do the same, often juggling their positions alongside university/work. For them, they get the editorial experience which to someone looking to apply for a journalism course or go on to work in the media industry, is valuable.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
https://t.co/FTnLRm0TUf
Trying to pitch to national publications is depressing for an experienced freelance journalist, let alone inexperienced newcomers who i) don\u2019t have any clippings and ii) don\u2019t understand what a pitch is or how to write one.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
https://t.co/t2TNp3m8jV
https://t.co/TWPLcFUzoD
https://t.co/rs3lEYSrFX
https://t.co/xlbmuCtn1y
https://t.co/jktlNEZcf6
https://t.co/hoYdbflRtI
It functions as a communal portfolio site, where people do not have to spend any time or money setting up a website or learning digital skills, you can just write words and share them with an established readership.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
https://t.co/XZBQ4YKm5L
Spending some time writing for a publication that can i) give you those clippings and ii) teach you what a good pitch should contain is a useful experience.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
As a student, I wrote for free for a national newspaper and got very excited about my byline.
https://t.co/ooSHWz9Wnu
But the bottom line is, The Indiependent is a money pit. Maybe that\u2019s my failure to monetise it effectively - if it is, then I would love to hear from the \u201cshould not write for free\u201d crowd how to change that.
— Beth Kirkbride (@BettyKirkers) December 7, 2020
More from Life
"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
As a dean of a major academic institution, I could not have said this. But I will now. Requiring such statements in applications for appointments and promotions is an affront to academic freedom, and diminishes the true value of diversity, equity of inclusion by trivializing it. https://t.co/NfcI5VLODi
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) November 10, 2018
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
