THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAGGIE WELTER, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 54 lines
THE TITLE on Bill Frischling's business card reads ``Mad Scientist,'' but his job at Digital Ink, the Washington Post's Internet site, has nothing to do with test tubes or laboratory experiments.
``Webmaster,'' ``online production associate'' and ``interactive news writer'' are just a few of the job titles of the young, techno-savvy professionals who write the words, design the graphics and create the links on the Internet.
The offices that bring the Internet to life may surprise you. Many are filled with twenty-somethings like Vladimir Edelman, an associate producer at MSNBC.com, the online version of the cable news show.
They offer young journalists and designers a way to bypass unpaid internships and low-paying jobs at small-town papers and TV stations. Instead, these cyber-journalists head straight to the big name media players, including NBC and the Washington Post.
Take Donna Freydkin, for instance. The 23-year-old graduated from the University of Maryland last spring expecting to start her broadcast career at a tiny television station in the Midwest. Enter cable giant CNN with the promise of a a larger salary and the chance to stay in Washington, and Freydkin is now producing web pages instead of newscasts.
A recent national survey of journalism graduates conducted by Ohio State University showed an average annual starting salary of $18,000 for broadcast journalists and $22,000 for daily newspaper reporters. According to John Pavlik, professor of journalism and director of the New Media Center at Columbia University in New York City, those salaries can double for cyber-journalists.
``Typically, the salaries are ranging from about $35,000 to $50,000'' in the New York area, Pavlik said.
Pavlik said the increase is warranted because online producers usually perform additional, sometimes tedious, tasks that other journalists don't. ``They are expected to do more than just write and report, they have to understand the technology and do a lot of repurposing and HTML coding,'' he said.
An online job also can be a beeline to the top of the media mountain. ``The Internet is allowing people to get their foot in the door with some really big-name organizations, a process that usually takes a decade,'' said Edelman, who offers himself as an example. ``Look at me. I'm 23 years old and the probability of my working at NBC's MSNBC is minuscule, but thanks to the Internet, I'm here.''
These young journalists also are enjoying more creative flexibility and having input into the final product. ``You go to a newspaper and there is a set way things are done,'' said Frischling, 24. ``Here, nothing is set in stone. We're always looking for better ways to do things, and the best ideas can come from anyone from a top editor down to a producer who's been here for two months. There's a lot of room to dream and play, because we're working with a blank slate.''