Controversial-

You can’t tell young journalists to stop writing for free when the only other option seems to be pitching relentlessly which is incredibly time consuming (many are in full time education or work) and taxing on the mind to be continuously rejected. 1/5

It can come across as patronising from established writers to say ‘know you worth, don’t write for free’ when there are very few platforms for students to write paid and build their portfolio. Instead of lecturing and saying meaningless stuff about knowing our worth 2/5

We need to be discussing proper solutions, finding constructive ways to make the industry more accessible because the way it stands now, it is an unfortunate fact that for many, unpaid labour is unavoidable and this is not the fault of young people 3/5

Trying to give one another a platform. Instead hold big outlets to account when they take on unpaid labour, brief commissioning editors on building relationships and seeking out young journos, actually give us platforms! 4/5

And also all the information is so scattered across the internet and there are so many gatekeepers that even collecting all the info you need in order to have a good go at it takes a lot of time. Do you think we want to do this for free??? Stop lecturing us lol.

(Also paid outlets only seem to be interested in what I have to say if I am exploiting my life experiences and hardships... major attitude change needed)