Status Anxiety | 19 September 2009

I have often toyed with the idea of writing a book called What They Don’t Teach You at the Elephant and Castle Journalism School. Under such headings as ‘How to Fiddle Your Expenses’, it would contain the kind of information that is usually only available in the saloon bar of the White Swan, the legendary Daily Mirror pub known as the Stab in the Back.

A whole chapter of the book would be devoted to the ticklish subject of how to extract fees from people who expect you to contribute your services for nothing. If you’re a relatively successful journalist, scarcely a day passes without you being asked to appear on the radio, or be on a panel, or give a ‘talk’. There’s never any mention of a fee, presumably in the hope that you’ll be too embarrassed to raise the subject. For the first few years of my professional life I never once asked to be paid for this extra-curricular work — I just happily agreed to do whatever was requested. Perhaps if I had spent more time in the Stab I might not have been such an easy mark.

The turning point for me came in 1993 when I wrote a profile of James Whitaker, at that time the Daily Mirror’s royal correspondent. In the course of the week I spent with him, he was constantly fielding calls from radio and television producers wanting him to comment on the latest royal story and he had a stock way of dealing with these requests. ‘Am I talking in my own time?’ he would drawl. There would always be a pregnant pause as the person on the other end processed this question and after a few seconds the penny would drop.