Articles for less than the price of a coffee

The hashtag #gratisnotrabajo (or, iwontworkforfree) has spread like wildfire on the social networks, becoming a trending topic in Spain on December 3 and 4. According to Twitter's own statistics, the hashtag has spread throughout 15 countries after the Madrid Press Association (APM) created it following a complaint it received from a young journalist.

On January 10, the association will launch a watchdog group to monitor subpar job offers in the field. "Companies have taken advantage of our silence, but that's all over now," said a spokesperson for APM.

The heated online debate over underpaid journalism work began with a job offer for online writers posted on the employment website Infoempleo. "Pay will be 0.75 euros per article, which must contain a minimum of 800 characters and be subject to quality criteria based on spelling, semantics and expression," read the offer. Novodistribuciones, the employer, also asked that candidates specify their experience as content generators and their knowledge of search engine optimization techniques.

Azahara Cano, a 27-year-old journalist who graduated from Seville University two years ago, was selected for one of the 10 positions with Novodistribuciones. But far from celebrating, she shared her indignation over the terms on an online forum. "I know that many of us who are just getting started in this field need platforms where our articles will be viewed, but it is better to make oneself known through a personal blog than to work for a company that lines its pockets by offering miserable pay," she wrote. "Getting a degree takes a lot of money and effort. We can't let ourselves get treated this way, nor accept things that tarnish the profession. I think the time has come to unite, and to not allow this kind of degradation. We're in a sorry state, but this is tantamount to prostitution for our profession."

Carmen del Riego, the new president of APM, picked up the thread on Twitter and said that both her association and those of other Spanish regions must undertake an internal debate and find solutions. The APM also offered Cano legal assistance.

"We are not a union, but we cannot look the other way in the face of offers like this, which go against content quality," says Del Riego, who nevertheless considers that this case does not strictly fall within the bounds of journalism. "These positions are for paid, undercover advertising, not information. Even so, many professionals embrace them in order to weather the tide of unemployment."

Eulalia Sacristán had to do just that after losing her last job as a community manager at age 56. She has a 10-year-old child in her care and one thing going against her. "Experienced professionals are less and less interesting to companies, because employers are not willing to pay them what they're worth. The sector's precariousness feeds on young people who work freelance at four different places in order to make ends meet. You can't do a good job that way."

Sacristán says that in recent weeks she has seen a constant drip of similar offers to the one posted by Novodistribuciones - and in some cases, candidates are even invited to write for free. "Unemployment is also a business, and job portals exploit that fully. There are shameful offers out there that stay up for weeks without any filtering," she complains. "If we allow the standard to be so low, then we're all going to hell in a handbasket - even those who don't complain."

In the latest annual APM survey of journalists, 62 percent of respondents said precarious work conditions were one of the main problems in their field. Nearly the same percentage of those surveyed, 62.9 percent, have had their salaries reduced. This same report shows that journalists are only positively viewed by 38.6 percent of society. "These offers are an indication of the little value that is attached to journalists. They're OK with anybody writing content, and they pay in bulk, as if writing were not a trade," says Sacristán.

Félix Bahón, a journalist and professor of digital journalism at Carlos III University, is more optimistic: "We journalists are no longer the only creators of news, and when we write we must distinguish between content, quality of information and conversations. Our next task might well be to filter and manage the quality of the information circulating out there, rather than to generate it."

Ever since Jeff Howe of Wired magazine coined the term crowdsourcing as a way to harness the possibilities of the internet for employing cheap labor among the multitude of web surfers, many companies have sought day laborers on the World Wide Web. "Most of them are not specialists and less than a third of what's produced meets required quality standards. The goal, as with outsourcing, is to lower costs," says Bahón.

"The origin of this low-cost journalism lies in content farms, which generate thousands of texts a day using crowdsourcing strategies," explains Beatriz Calvo, a professor of online journalism and citizen participation at the same university. She is referring to a working method by which a company creates digital content by appealing to citizen participation.

"Earnings for the participant are usually based on the number of visits his or her article gets, or on earnings through advertising, but it is not a job offer even if it is advertised as such. We have to distinguish between contributions and professionalization. If they try to sell us something else, we need to report it in order to stop the problem," she concludes.

Novodistribuciones has posted a statement on its website to the effect that "we are evaluating the impact of this case and the damages to our image in order to consider appropriate action in connection with the people responsible for the dissemination [of negative messages] and the person who originally launched these negative messages and hurt the corporate image of Novodistribuciones.com."

Azahara Cano, now finding herself in the eye of the storm, has stopped talking to the media about her case, but she reported the threats through her Twitter account. "We have the offer in writing, so it is real. We have legal assistance, don't worry. All that's been done is to say what they did."

Meanwhile, the offer has been pulled from the website. "We have to view this step back as a victory," says Carmen del Riego, who is working on new initiatives against precarious working conditions.