BootsnAll Travel Community

As you no doubt have suspected, the sort of travel stories published most often in magazines and the newspaper involve old people traveling in luxury to far off, expensive places in a manner that is out of reach to the majority of mankind.

There are several reasons for this, the most important being that newspapers are places to deposit errant articles in between the full page advertisements that actually pay the bills. Newspapers are, after all, a business. (First rule: follow the money)

Another reason is that there is an uncomfortable, incestuous relationship with travel writers sucking at the corporate teat of the travel industry. They are literally in bed with them.

The newspapers themselves have no desire or appreciable budget to send travel writers on travel junkets; after all, those are happily paid for by the recipients of the favorable press. Usually, this glaring ethical dilemma is politely ignored by the readers: it is assumed that travel writers will be honest and truthful when recounting their experiences. As if.

Having tagged along with a group of travel writers who were being wined and dined at a Four Seasons Resort Hotel in the tropics, I can assure you that the writers themselves are not the least bit uncomfortable with all the pampering that they recieve.

One writer who marches to the beat of a different drummer is Simon Calder who writes for the Independent.

Check him out.

Yeah, he's great! He is an absolute expert on budget-airlines and has written a book or two about them which I'm sure are brimming with useful information. Must check for them in the library next time...

But saying that, he's the editor of The Independent's travel-zine which is full of articles paid for by press-trips. This is mentioned at the end of the respective articles and I find the writing is of high quality and appears to be honest--not that I myself could afford to go on such trips.

In a perfect world travel writers' expenses would be covered and they would be paid a great wage for their services. Neither of these is true, and hasn't been for some time, so only the biggest-budget newspapers and magazines (and their well-paid writers like Mr. Calder) can make ends meet without accepting sponsorship.

Travel writers are influencers, so they receive goods and services in order to spread their influence. It's the way PR works for any kind of publication--fashion, travel, or tech gear. You think celebrities ever pay for the clothes they wear to awards shows? Do you think golf writers pay their own greens fees, or that music reviewers pay for their own concert tickets? Do pro athletes ever pay for shoes? Has a rock star ever paid a cover charge at a club?

Only independently wealthy writers would ever be staying at a Four Seasons if they had to pay for it themselves, which means the resorts would never get any press. So of course they sponsor writers (and try their damndest to get celebrities to come by for a drink--on the house of course.)

I e-mailed the travel editor of the Chicago Tribune a few weeks ago to ask for their writers' guidelines. They specifically do not accept any articles generated while on a sponsored junket. And I'm willing to bet that is the policy for every major metro in the country. Just saying.

Chicago Tribune?
If you believe that this article was paid for out of the newspaper's or writer's pocket, I have a bridge to sell you.

The article was written by a staff reporter. If it had been written by a freelancer it would have said "Special to the Tribune" underneath the byline. Freelancers often have to foot their own expenses, but staffers don't.

Do I think Tribune, one of the richest newspaper companies in the country, can pay for their writer to get a massage? Yes, I do, and I expect that's what they did. Would they do it for a freelancer? Absolutely not.

Exactly, it's a double standard. Travel editors from these newspapers go on press trips all the time--I know, I've been along with them. They accept all kinds of freebies, but somehow think if only editors accept them, it's okay.

The paper pays a freelancer $250 for an article, but they're on their own for expenses and can't accept sponsorship. But if a staff writer goes, everything is covered. But as you'll notice, most newspapers are half-filled with wire stories these days anyway. They're getting pretty useless overall. Most of the good freelancers have moved away from U.S. newspapers unless they're retired or otherwise wealthy enough to work for less than free. (Or they have a book to promote, which changes the dynamic.) It's just so silly.

The Ethics of Accepting Freebies
Interesting thread! People here may be interested to know that we here at hidden europe magazine also don't accept freebies. Simon Calder is not alone.
Nicky
www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

Should we assume then Nicky Gardner that you cover writers' expenses and pay them market rates for their articles? Or do your terms require that they undertake the trip at a loss?

That information is suspiciously missing from your guidelines...

If you check our guidelines, you'll see that we quite explicitly say that we don't publish material that details a trip a writer has just done. We don't publish travelogues, but rather good writing that evokes the spirit of landscape and sense of place. We assume, and we say that very clearly, that a writer has a sustained engagement with the community about which she or he is writing. Accordingly, our writers are, by definition, usually writing about somewhere where they are already.

Of course we pay market rates for articles. We say very clearly in our guidelines that we don't expect folk to write for nothing. For a first contribution, we would typically pay about $200 to $250.

I am sorry you found our guidelines suspicious. That's not the usual feedback we receive - most would-be contributors comment on comprehensive they are. I hope this helps.
Nicky