Are there multiple streams of income and benefits, not gratifications, available for journalists to the augument the generally poor pay in the industry? Lekan Otufodunrins shares his experiences on the issue.

The answer is yes, based on my personal experience and many others I know of.

With increasing cases of non- payment of salaries by some media organisations and high rate of unemployment, journalists have to be alive to the opportunities they can exploit to earn legitimate and ethical additional income.
The opportunities are indeed available but it requires mastering your craft as a journalist, diligence, hard work, creativity and other attributes to maximize them.

You must first be a very good journalist before the profession can open other doors of income for you. The quality of your work will draw attention to your ability to do other media related work.
You also need to consciously develop and acquire the capacity to do the other tasks which you will be paid for. You must also be able to spread the word about your other abilities.

I’m not by any means a very rich journalist, but I have earned average income in my career from full-time employment and other media related extra work that has come my way.

Here are few of the multiple streams of income I know of in no order of importance.

Speaking engagements
In 2016 , I was one of the facilitators at training for Local Government Information Officers in Lagos. I spoke on Use of new media for Local Government information dissemination. I was invited due to my full-time work as Online Editor at The Nation and other new media-related activities.The invitation to speak is one of the numerous paid for speaking engagements at seminars, workshops and conferences that I regularly get.
A facilitator at training by the School of Communication, Pan Atlantic University recently asked experienced journalists to submit their application for consideration as speakers for the various short-time courses offered by the institution.
Sometimes you don’t get paid for some lectures, but every speaking engagement adds to your profile and can give you the opportunity to meet others who will pay you.

Part-time teaching
Related to being facilitators at training programmes is the opportunity to be part-time lecturers in media training institutions across the country.
A senior journalist told me how he taught for ten years at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, NIJ, Lagos along with his full-time job on the invitation of a former head of the institution who was on the judging panel of a media award. The journalist was the first runner up in the award.
I teach part-time at the University of Lagos and get paid for some of the courses. I know other journalists who also teach in other institutions. Sometimes, you have to ask for the opportunity to be engaged, even for free initially.

Freelance reporting
The first time I earned extra income for freelance writing was in 1999 while working at The Punch Newspaper. I wrote for the United States based online religion website and got paid generously in dollars.
I got the offer through a contact I made at an International Journalists Conference I attended in London. Before then, I had a free email-based Nigeria Online Christian News service that convinced the website editor that I was a suitable candidate as their Nigerian correspondent.
Since then, I have been a paid freelance correspondent for a number of international print and online publications and still do.
I am aware that most media houses in Nigeria don’t pay for freelance work. A few do, even if it is not much.

Research
I once earned a thousand dollars for a research work I did for an organisation on the role of Churches in the campaign against the HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Because of my involvement with Journalists Against AIDS, I read a lot about the pandemic and became a ‘media expert’ on it. I was able to do the research work and many others that came up later.
When an American journalist wanted research assistance for a book project on Sharia in Nigeria, I was contacted. The pay was good enough for me to resign from a defunct newspaper I was working for then, which was owing to me two month’s salary. I know a journalist who is also a research consultant for an international research agency. He is always asked to conduct interviews and research on issues concerning Nigeria which the agency is working on for its clients.
He was recently paid for research he did on expectations of Nigerians from the Buhari administration. The payment made it easier for him to pay his annual house rent.

Editorial service
Last year I was contacted by a Nigerian in the United Kingdom who wanted about over 20 hours of audio interviews to be transcribed. I was not sure how to charge for the job until a young colleague suggested that we check what is paid for such service abroad on google.
We did and found that it could cost as much $0.75/min per minute. We had to come up with a moderate fee which we were not sure the client will be willing to pay. To our surprise, he gladly did and those I gave the job to, got paid for what they normally do free or at a much lesser amount.
Proofreading and editing of reports and other publications are usually paid for by some organisations and individuals. I remember proofing about 120-page report for a Non-Governmental Organisation before
A colleague who contacted a magazine publisher about errors in his publication was hired as a consultant proofreader.

READ ALSO: Are you earning what you’re really worth in journalism?

Publishing
I once had an idea of publishing a motivational newsletter for journalists. Because I couldn’t afford the weekly cost of the publication, I opted to photocopy 100 copies of the two-page newsletter and distributed for free initially.
The newsletter, Stop Press was well received and the Managing Director of a top media organisation gave me N10,000 as his contribution to sustaining the newsletter.
I later compiled the newsletter content into a book for sale. The newsletter also resulted in a request for training and the launch of the first sponsored Young Journalists Conference and award.
I have published for sale some other books based on my media career development work.
As journalists, we know so much about the beats, issues and the people we report.
At a point in our career, it should be possible to publish a book or booklet on what we have reported for years that can be sold.

Blogging and online publishing
In 2000, long before the Linda Ikejis and other current Internet superstars started publishing online, I launched the Nigeria Online Christian News distributed through email and at a time had a full website and other online platforms.
Almost 15 years after, the later years online publishers are smiling to the banks while I am probably not known beyond my traditional media associates and a few others and make little or no income online.
The difference between me and the internet ‘money bags’ is simple. I lost steam along the line and have been comfortable with earning the income I can get from my traditional media jobs.
The new age online publishers are however wiser to remain consistent and earn as much as possible income through various platforms.
Asked how financially rewarding blogging is, publisher of ladunliadinews.com, Ms Oladunni Liadi In an interview with The NATION said ” It is just like “yahoo yahoo scam.”
“The money just keeps coming in, and sometimes you say God, this is something I started like a ‘joke’. I just wanted my own voice, I just wanted to write. But today, the story is different. It has been very rewarding financially and I owe it to God.”
For her, advert patronage on the award-winning blog is “where the real money is” in blogging.
It could sometimes take years before you start making ‘real money’ online with a lot of hard work and sleepless nights involved, but what is sure is that there is additional income waiting to be made on the digital platforms if we are interested and learn the skills involved.

Advertising
With some newspapers offering as much as 30% commission for adverts, journalists cannot afford not to be interested in sourcing for adverts where they have direct links with corporate and individual advertisers. There can however be ethical dilemmas in some cases where some advertisers want editorial favours that should not be granted.
In many other cases, there are no strings attached and you can even earn from one full page advert more than a month’s pay.

Speechwriting
After posting the first part of this topic, I was contacted by a colleague who told me that journalists should also consider earning extra income from writing speeches for political office holders and others who regularly deliver speeches.

I used to have a staff who was hired as a speechwriter by a state government.
The inauguration speech of late President Umaru Yar’adua was reportedly written by a Nigerian international award-winning journalist.