Journalistic innumeracy, contd.
Rainy Day reader Katherine Timmons writes and reproaches me for placing too much faith in Ricard Delevan's theory of the innumeracy inferiority of Euro hackers and bloggers (see yesterday's post). The "cousins" across the water aren't any betters she says and makes her point by directing me to the very astute and literate Felix Salmon. In a recent post, Salmon said:
"Whenever I rail against journalistic innumeracy, which is often, I tend to point out that journalists are normally creative arts-graduate types, who frequently have very little grasp of numbers. In turn, this means that they're at risk of being taken advantage of by people claiming to perform wonderful 'demystification' services for them. Today I came across one of the most egregious such quacks, in the form of Galia Gichon of Down To Earth Finance. Ms Gichon is teaching a MediaBistro course next week, where, for a mere $65, she will dispense advice on how to 'get a grip on debt' and other such staples of the personal-finance pages. Judging by her Q&A on MediaBistro today, however, you'd be better off spending that $65 on getting blotto in the nearest bar."
What enraged Salmon was this particular piece of advice that Gichon felt was vital for New York freelance journalists: "Hire a Bookkeeper. As a freelancer, this is one of the most important financial decisions you can make. You will save so much time and be able to focus on getting more business. "
Here's Salmon's surgical counterstrike:
"WHAT??!! This is completely insane. Bookkeepers, at their best, save you time and cost you money. Freelancers, in general, have lots of time and very little money. Saving time is not top of the list of most freelancers' priorities. Spending money on a bookkeeper, I think it's fair to say, is right at the bottom. What would a freelance journalist do with a bookkeeper, anyway? Give her a pile of receipts and ask her to add them up in the hope that they might count as a business expense? Get her to add up this year's invoices so she can see just how little money she's actually made? Bookkeepers are necessary for small businesses which have relatively high gross income and relatively high expenses. Freelance journalists have relatively low incomes, and nigh-on zero business expenses. Unless you need a bookkeeper to pay your phone bill, hiring a bookkeeper is a complete waste of money."
This is sooooo true. Read the full post here and for more delicious Salmon, check him out on the general hopelessness of journalists with statistics. BTW, Rainy Day has asked Richard Delevan to comment.
