There's been a long running discussion about the ethics of travel writers accepting "freebies" and it's an issue most professional travel writers consider a non-issue. Most travel writers accept free or subsidized travel since the industry does not pay enough to first pay all travel expenses and then write and sell the stories. A free or partially free trip or hotel room does not necessarily mean that the travel writer will give a positive review, but in most cases only means that the service will not be mentioned. It's all covered, once again, in a recent post by a travel writer in Texas.
Subsidized travel is controversial and lots of very ethical and pious journalists look down on me as tainted and corrupt because I do it. Fuck 'em. It's a debate I don't bother getting into anymore. Suffice to say that I can't be bought. I accept only trips I think I can sell. If something isn't worth writing about, I don't write about it. I include negative impressions in larger stories when appropriate but rarely write completely negative stories not because I am beholden to anyone, but because they don't sell. Editors with limited space don't want to squander it telling readers where not to go.
I'm an ethical person doing my best in a squirrely field. A lot of newspapers pay peanuts but don't accept stories from subsidized trips. A lot of newspapers have a don't ask-don't tell policy about subsidies but if you get "caught" you're in trouble, not the editor. Many magazines are less stringent in their policies, although Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure are among those with strict no-subsidies policies. They pay for their reporters' travel. I cracked T&L once a long time ago but got tired of the effort it took to get back in and haven't tried again in many years.
By stating here that I sometimes travel on subsidies I have ensured that I will never write for The New York Times, which claims never to accept stories from writers who have ever accepted a subsidy. I have heard differently from many publicists, who claim to frequently spot stories in the Times by freelancers they have hosted. Nobody will ever go on the record with that, though, because nobody wants to piss off the Times.
Sophie's Blog
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As another "ethical person doing my best in a squirrely field," let me add thatSophie Dembling's right on the money. Here's my take on the same topic:
Travel writing not all fun and sun
Strong ethics, research keys to success
By Susan McKee
(from the April 2007 issue of Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists)
As a professional travel writer, I occupy a place in the journalistic hierarchy somewhere just above pond scum. It’s tricky territory for a freelancer for two major reasons: press trips and poseurs.
Almost all newspapers and magazines still buying freelance will not pick up a writer’s expenses, and the rates they pay don’t come close to making up that shortfall. Freelancers are responsible for their own health insurance and other costs that are typically part of the benefits package for an employed journalist. Add in travel time and, as one writer put it, the profit margin shrivels like salted leeches in the sun.
If you don’t have a trust fund to underwrite your travel writing specialty, two solutions beckon: write only about your own hometown (yawn!) or take press trips.
Like many freelancers, I started out as a general assignment reporter for a major metropolitan daily back in the days when budgets were reasonably flush. If I had to travel somewhere for a story, the editor would approve expenses and send me on my way.
In a perfect world, editors and publishers would cover travel costs. However, it’s not a perfect world, and they don’t. I make a reasonable return combining trips hosted by PR companies and tourist boards with assignments for which my expenses are reimbursed by publications.
The major reason I accept media jaunts is logistics. I have limited time in a given destination, so I rely on the experts for scheduling. During my free time, I can revisit places I need to see more in depth. Occasionally I’ve used the press trips as scouting missions for later returns on my own nickel.
Of course, the risk I run is that the hosts will show me only what they want me to see, something I try to minimize through advance research.
The purists scoff that a writer can’t possibly be independent if traveling on someone else’s money. Yet, in my days as a newspaper staffer, freebies abounded.
Business writers were guests for lunch in corporate dining rooms. Entertainment writers were feted at Hollywood galas. Fashion editors bought designer clothing at “discount.” Automotive and electronics writers “tested” expensive equipment. And the sports guys — well, you know that life in the press box isn’t spartan.
A good journalist does not slant a story based on who paid for what.
Travel writing is devalued partly because everyone thinks they can just dash off “what I did on my summer vacation” and send it to the local paper.
I’m a journalist specializing in travel. I try to inform, entertain and educate my readers about some aspect of the wider world, accurately reflecting the destination or concept. Geography matters, so there’s information on land forms and weather. Weaving in history helps provide context for the present. Interviews with locals remind my readers that the human condition is universal.
As Mark Twain noted, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Most of my readers will never get to the places I’ve seen except through my words. I owe them honesty, good research and good writing.
However, much of the travel writing out there is written by amateurs — heavy on travel cliches and breathless epiphanies but light on reporting and fact-checking. These writers often think “the trip” is payment enough. Journalists in other fields usually don’t have to worry about competing against hordes that are willing to do their jobs for free.
The well-established practice of “don’t ask, don’t tell” also creates problems. Most of the articles you read in newspapers and magazines can be traced back to sponsored travel. Every travel journalist I know has been on a press trip with a writer for a publication that forbids taking press trips. Editors don’t ask, and writers don’t tell.
I, for one, am tired of the subterfuge. Political reporters attend politicians’ cocktail parties. Theater reviewers sit in box seats. Travel writers sometimes get discounted plane tickets and hotel rooms, free meals and more souvenir coffee mugs than will fit in the kitchen cupboard.
Travel writing is not like being on vacation. It’s work any journalist would recognize, filled with reams of notes, countless digital photos and hours spent fact-checking every detail. Nothing replaces goo
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