In most peoples’ mind, journalists are extremely busy — in daytime, they have to go outside to conduct interviews and at night, they work overtime to write stories.

Yet, journalists are poor professionals who receive very low salary — it seems that the salary of journalists is not in proportion to the efforts they put into their work and to the importance roles they have in society.

It seems that being a journalist is not an easy task.

Miss Chan (not her real name) works for a local newspaper. She is 22 and has been working in the field for several months. She often works from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.

When asked whether she thought the salary of journalists is low, she said, “I don’t think the absolute amount of a journalist’s salary is really low. The starting salary of a journalist for a fresh graduate is about $9,000, which is just a little lower than that of other professions.”

Nevertheless, she admitted that the reward is relatively low compared to the amount of effort journalists put into their work.

“I guess this is because, compared to other professions, journalists’ careers provide them with attractions other than monetary rewards. For instance, it gives them the opportunity to experience more and to widen their horizons. It also allows them to gain emotional satisfaction. Therefore, journalists subconsciously demand relatively less in terms of financial rewards and, therefore, their salary is relatively low. I think it is just a matter of supply and demand,” said she.

Mr. Tsui Siu-wa, former deputy editor-in-chief of Next magazine, is now a master of philosophy in communication student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He viewed the phenomenon in another way. Said he: “About a decade ago, the salary of a journalist who was a university graduate was about $3,000 to $4,000 a month, which was even lower than the salary of a salesperson.”

Mr. Tsui said the low salary was probably because the social status of journalists in Hong Kong was not firmly established.

“Compared to Hong Kong, the social status of journalists in countries like the United States is much higher. A survey in the United States found that journalists’ social status there was even higher than that of lawyers and doctors,” Mr. Tsui said.

Miss Li Yuet Wah, 35, the honorary secretary of the Hong Kong Journalists Association and assignment editor of Ming Pao, has another view.

Said Miss Li: “Journalists in foreign countries like the USA., Britain and Australia get higher salaries because they have stronger labour unions, which exert more power on the demand for higher salary.

“Besides, usually there are standardized salary patterns in these countries. This means that a journalist in a certain position is guaranteed a certain amount of salary, instead of being paid according to his or her performance,” she said.

According to Miss Li, the laws in Hong Kong concerning labour mainly favour employers instead of employees. Many labour unions are too weak to bargain with employers for better treatment.

Standing on the front line, a journalist’s contribution is undoubtedly important. However, Miss Li thought this did not necessarily mean journalists should deserve greater financial reward.

Said she: “I don’t say that journalists should get paid more just because their role in society is important. I believe that there should be a decent pay for every profession. If the pay does not reach even the minimum level, it is an insult to a worker. And I cannot say whether the salary of journalists in Hong Kong is generally reasonable or not, because there is no generalized salary payment,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tsui shared Miss Li’s view that journalists’ everyday performance is one of paramount effort. Said he: “One’s salary is in proportion to one’s performance, rather than education level. When interviewing applications for reporters, I would first consider their education level. But once they have entered the field, education becomes nothing and it is performance that counts.”

It then follows that good performers will receive higher pay.

According to him, a journalist with 2 years’ experience could experience a 100 percent increase in salary if the performance is good. This is mainly due to the low starting salary.

“Starting from about 1986, there has been an obvious increase in the salary of journalists. The increase reached a peak in the years between 1990 and 1994, when media like Next Magazine and infotainment programmes on television were desperate for media workers. The increasing demand caused journalists’ salaries to rise generally,” said Mr. Tsui.

However, a price war among several newspapers has altered the situation. A couple of months ago, Apple Daily cut its price to $4, which led to a further reduction in prices of some other newspapers and magazines such as Eastweek and Next magazine. A few newspaper enterprises have closed down. As a result, many media workers are now unemployed.

March 1996