Newsletter publishers pay recent graduates higher than national average.

A study released last month revealed that newsletters and trade publications pay first-year bachelor's degree journalism graduates more than the national average, but that those salaries dropped nearly 6 percent from the 2003 survey.

Newsletters and trades led all categories in the 2003 survey, but fell to third place this year--behind online publishing, with a $32,250 average salary, and cable television and public relations, both coming in at $28,000.

The average salary for recent grads working for newsletters is $27,000--compared with the national average of $26,000.

The University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications conducts the survey annually.

Survey highlights

The survey also found that:

* The level of full-time employment for journalism and mass communication bachelor's degree recipients remained low in 2003. The actual figure was at a level that has not been seen since the depression of the early 1990s.

* Only half of the journalism and mass communication bachelor's degree recipients in 2003 found work within the broad field of communications.

* Benefits offered graduates continued to decline. Less than eight in ten of the graduates with full-time jobs reported having a basic medical plan as part of their employment.

www.grady.uga.edu/annualsurveys/

What is an editor?

Pertinent to any discussion of journalists' remuneration is the fact that their job descriptions have dramatically changed since the introduction of, first, desktop publishing and, second, online publishing and "website maintenance."

John De Lillis, editor and publisher of Writing That Works, wrote in the current issue, for example, that "many classified ads for writers specify that they also must be editors and designers--for both print and web publications."

Reporting on comments made on the Washington Independent Writers Listserv, De Lillis stated, "Several freelance writers said that they go beyond writing and editing because that's what the market requires, but no one claimed to do everything equally well."

De Lillis continued:

* "A veteran writer and editor described problems in finding work because she doesn't know how to code HTML and maintain a website. Employment specialists have assured her she could learn to do these tasks on the job, but her impression is that web-related duties have become the core skills expected for an editorial position."

* "Employers who don't recognize the difference between the skills needed by writers and designers certainly don't realize that both groups break down into specialties. If you expect outstanding products, you don't ask the same people to write or design a newsletter, technical manual and direct mail, for example."

* "Editors have always carried some responsibility for design, others pointed out.... Many publication jobs require both writing and editing, particularly when the staff is small. And, of course, since desktop publishing hit in the 1980s, editors have assumed more and more design and production duties."

Writing That Works, 7481 Huntsman Blvd., #720, Springfield, VA 22153, 703-643-2200, www.writingthatworks.com