Multimedia pay scales for college media

Image via WikipediaAn interesting discussion popped up on the CMA listserv this week about pay for multimedia work. Some college newspapers, for instance, pay reporters a certain amount per story. They pay photographers per assignment or per photo.

So how does that structure translate to multimedia. Jim Killam, adviser for the Northern Star at NIU shared their pay structure on the list and agreed to let me post it here.

• Video story (max. 2 minutes)
  Shoot, edit: $15
  Shoot only: $10
  Stories must be posted online for payment to be made
• Video Catch of the Day (max. 1 minute) [this is a quick personality profile on a random student]
  Shoot, edit: $8
  Shoot only: $5
• Audio slide show
  Extra $5 above what was paid for shooting the print assignment and slide show
• Slide Show (no audio)
  No extra: Normal payment made for shooting the print assignment
• Blog
  $7 flat fee per week (minimum of three posts)

Jim says the structure is still in flux and may change. I noted that the shooting part of the video pay structure was higher than the editing part, even though editing can take much longer than shooting.

I do like the fact that they are paying for blogging, with a minimum required amount of posts. And they put a cap on the time for a video report (2 minutes).

Anyone else got information about pay structures for multimedia work? Is this a good structure? Any suggestions for improvements?

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