When Should an Academic Write for Free?

Tressie McMillan Cottom:

Should writers work for free? What if those writers are academics?

That is a real question up for debate in several media outlets this past week. But I'd like to ask why we work for free and why we don't shame organizations that expect us to.

The Internet has created a bottomless void that requires content. In a classic case of how expansion breeds stratified access, an increase in platforms that require writing has resulted in fewer outlets that pay writers to write. In the New York Times recently, Tim Kreider argued that he cannot afford to write for free. He encourages other writers to reject the freemium culture for the benefit of all who make a living by penning the word. In a column for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Sarah Kendzior says that journalists may find it beneficial to write for free occasionally, but that academics should never do the same, even though "[p]ublishers like to evoke academics' professional status to justify not paying them."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 9, 2013 6:48 AM
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