Kentucky papers use, pay of stringers varies widely

Susan Reed Lambert, editor of the LaRue County Herald News, uses freelancers every week to produce her newspaper.

A coach at the local high school covers all the sports, a freelance photographer takes pictures and two non-staffers write for the news section.

"I'm the only staff writer here. I'm the editor and the general manager, and without the help from my contributors, I honestly don't see how we could put out as good of a paper," she said.

But not everyone agrees that freelance writers are the best way to beef up local coverage.

Loyd Ford, who is owner, publisher and editor of The Lake News in Calvert City, said his paper hardly ever uses freelancers because it is too difficult to find people who are reliable. Freelancers don't always come back with the stories they are assigned, he said. For his newspaper, it is better for just him and his wife to take care of everything.

"I would love to say, 'Lord, we use freelancers all the time, and boy we got some good ones,' but we don't," he said.

Across Kentucky, there are as many different policies, procedures and attitudes about freelance writers as there are newspapers. Pay for freelancers' sporadic work varies, ranging anywhere from $5 to more than $100 per story depending on the size of the paper and the complexity of the article they write.

At most newspapers, freelancing is not a lucrative career opportunity.

"Generally, when people call, I tell them ... if they're looking for money, they're going to have to look somewhere else," said John Nelson, who is the managing editor at the Advocate Messenger in Danville.

He said the ones who write, don't usually do it for the money they do it for exposure.

"It is an opportunity for local writers to show their stuff," he said.

Some editors, like Lambert, say they rely heavily on freelance copy while others, like Ford, say their papers hardly, if ever, use them.

"I guess we are one of those middle ground people," said Somerset Commonwealth Journal news editor Carol Coffey.

Coffey said at the Commonwealth Journal, they do not use freelancers for main news, but they do use them in sports and features sections.

The Somerset Commonwealth Journal pays $20 per story a stringer writes, Coffey said.

Coffey said the people who write for her newspaper are very good writers and very knowledgeable about the topics about which they write. She said the freelancers fill a void in the Commonwealth Journal staff.

"They are very important to any newspaper," Coffey said. "I don't think anyone can underestimate their importance."

Kelly Menser, editor of the Sentinel-News, a biweekly paper in Shelbyville, said she uses freelance writers about twice a month. She said the Sentinel-News puts out a special section about once a month, and she often uses freelancers to help with those stories.

The paper pays from $5 to $25 for a story, but Menser said she is willing to pay more. She said she once paid a freelancer $200 to write an in-depth story about a state legislator.

"I think the important function they play is to take some of the pressure off of our regular staff. A staff like ours is bare bones," Menser said.

Some newspapers use contracts that freelancers must sign before their work can be published. The contracts outline the agreement between the newspaper and the freelancer. Still, some papers just make verbal agreements.

Last September, a federal appeals court ruled that publishers can't include work by freelance writers in their electronic databases without the writers' permission.

The Lexington Herald-Leader is revamping its freelance agreement. Starting in 2001, the newspaper will require its feelancers to sign a contract that will give it permission to store the articles in the electronic database, said editor Pam Luecke

The Herald-Leader uses freelancers in their Bluegrass Community, Sports and Feature sections, Luecke said. The paper usually pays somewhere between $50 and $75 depending on the story, but may pay more for a more difficult article, Luecke said.

She said when the newspaper recently advertised for new community columnists for their Op-Ed pages, it got about 200 responses.

"There's no shortage of people who want to write for us," she said.

The difficult task, Luecke said, is finding the combination of availability and talent.

There are plenty of people who want to write for some smaller papers also. Pat Gish, co-owner of the Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, said her newspaper runs articles from eight to 10 community correspondents each week. She said they are not paid for what they write, but she considers them a very important part of her staff. Each week, they write about what's happening with the families in their communities.

"I don't think we could have gotten where we are without them, and I don't think we could stay where we are without them," she said.

But, not every newspaper has a good source of people who are eager to write. Kentucky Standard Publisher David Greer said his newspaper has written stories and run classified ads searching for some help with sports coverage. He said they got only one response from a high school student, who quit once he found out how difficult the work is.

"The experience I've had is that pool of people who want that glory, or experience, or whatever, is drying up," Greer said.

Lambert said she is lucky that she continues to have such a good pool of writers that she can depend on.

"They're really life savers in a lot of situations because I can only be in one place at one time."

Click Here to go back