Columnist's pay?

Butch Cassidy

Does anyone know how much columnists like Fintan O'Toole, Tom McGuirk, Sarah Carey and Vincent Browne get paid for their weekly blurbs?

jdivision

Fintan O'Toole is staff and said his salary on air before - something like E80k
Vincent gets paid a lot, between the two you're into six figures
Does anybody read Sarah Carey?
McGurk's is woeful

Butch Cassidy

I was just wondering in general how much commentators like them get paid. Would they be paid according to the quality of their writing? As you say McGurk's pretty dreadful but Dave McWilliams must be paid a fair bit I'd imagine?

jdivision

It really depends on publication and what they're willing to pay, Irish Times, S Times and Sindo would be best payers. Think it was the Phoenix that wrote that Liam Fay had been on six figures to write a column and a piece for Culture in S Times which is crazy money. Some columnists earn six figures, some write for nothing. Depends on paper and audience that a newspaper feels a columnist brings

expectationlost

irish times reconsidering a partial paywall i hear, i'd love to see these guys go behind it, newspaper should be journalist who every week have to pitch a story to get it in, if theyre not beat reporters, analysis yes, colmunists no not needed.

jmcc

expectationlost wrote: »

irish times reconsidering a partial paywall i hear, i'd love to see these guys go behind it, newspaper should be journalist who every week have to pitch a story to get it in, if theyre not beat reporters, analysis yes, colmunists no not needed.

That should be fun. I wonder if they'll take the lifestyle tripe in the technology section back behind the paywall?

Regards...jmcc

uvox

WRT columnists pay, why not cross-post a question to www.irisheconomy.ie - I see most of them mouthing off there... like this example:

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2010/11/14/blog-comments-reminders/

I am sure they'd like that.