Why you should volunteer for not-for-profit media

“Exposure” and “experience” are common media euphemisms (lately all too oft expressed) for “we won’t pay”, but just because they have no price attached doesn’t mean they have no value.

Today’s revelation by freelance writer Byron Bache that Crikey’s new online arts journal The Daily Review will not be paying for publication is drawing an irate petition from many media content makers.

Understandably so: any commercial venture that profited from the services of professional pundits then traded on that reputation to create a revenue portal without remuneration would draw ire.

This is not to single out Crikey for criticism: many media outlets baulk at paying for content, but when its creation is your career, you can’t afford benevolence: bylines alone won’t pay the bills.

However, it would be a sad day for the community broadcasting sector if those profiteers scared away our volunteers, without whom hundreds of community radio stations could not fully function.

You want exposure? Count the 5.2 million Australians who tune in to community radio every week, as verified by McNair's National Listener Survey in September this year.

You want experience? Join the 22,000-plus volunteers who help put 350 community stations to air, some of them for decades throughout the CBAA's near 40-year history.

We commend the content makers who fight the good fight for fair pay for creative property, but also praise the people who generously do good for their communities beyond the measure of a dollar.

- Jon Bisset, CBAA General Manager