Miner: Journatic offered to pay employees not to talk to reporters

Chicago Reader
On Monday the Chicago Tribune announced it would soon work with Journatic, a local “media content provider,” to produce its TribLocal network. Michael Miner looks into how Journatic pays writers ($4 for stories that take about 20 minutes to write, $2 for stories that should take around 10 minutes) and quotes an email from Journatic Executive Editor Peter Behle that offers an even better way for Journatic employees to get paid:

“Reporters will be sniffing around—and they are not authorized to talk with anyone about Journatic under any circumstances. Better yet, if you receive a reporter inquiry and tell us about it (without responding), we’ll pay you a $50 bonus.”

Journatic estimates the average hourly rate it pays its writers to be $12/hour. Narcing out a media reporter pays better than four hours of work.