Nearly 900 journalists (anonymously) responded to BuzzFeed’s salary survey. Men and women appear to start their media careers on the same footing, but what happens at more senior levels?
From left, in June 2011: Dean Baquet, the new executive editor of the New York Times; Jill Abramson, ousted executive editor; Bill Keller, Abramson's predecessor, who was reportedly paid more than she.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times via Associated Press
The abrupt firing of New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson sent waves through the media industry this week — particularly when reports surfaced that Abramson was paid less than her male predecessor, along with the suggestion that her request for pay equity may have factored into her termination. (The Times has denied this.)
Abramson's firing inspired dozens of think pieces about the pay and power gap, but few hard numbers. Do female journalists really make less? If so, how much?
To find out, BuzzFeed created a survey, which was emailed to BuzzFeed editorial staffers, as well as to former colleagues and contacts working at the biggest websites, newspapers, magazines, and broadcast networks in the country; they were asked to pass it along. The survey was anonymous and did not record respondents' names, email addresses, or employers.
Between Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and Friday at 8 a.m., nearly 900 people completed the survey. A few salaries exceeded half a million dollars; several hovered around $20,000. We did our best to remove the few responses that seemed to contain typos or obvious trolling.
The goal was to take an honest look at pay discrepancy. The sample wasn't random, and the survey is far from perfect. People who felt less satisfied with their salaries, for example, might have been more likely to complete the survey. But it's a useful step toward knowing how big the gap might be, and at what stage in our careers it widens the most.
Justine Zwiebel
Which makes sense, given the lack of room for negotiation. Both men and women working in New York City reported median salaries of $40,000 at the entry level. (Since cost of living varies so widely, we isolated respondents from New York City for this part of the analysis.)
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