Don't blame me: The Beyoncé and Taylor Swift reporter jobs are not what they seem

Now is your chance, Swifties and Beyhive members. USA Today is offering coveted positions that may change the trajectory of your journalism career. Brace yourselves for the job opportunity of a lifetime as the potential new Taylor Swift and Beyoncé reporter.

In similar listings posted for the Taylor Swift reporter  and the Beyoncé reporter positions, USA

Today and The Tennessean (under the ownership of Gannett) are looking for an "experienced, video-forward journalist to capture the music and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. " (Substitute similar language throughout for the Beyoncé listing.) But that's not the only qualification they are looking for in this Swift-focused reporting job. 

The role will require a multimedia journalist to be an energetic writer, photographer and social media expert who has an "undeniable thirst for all things Taylor Swift with a steady stream of content across multiple platforms." The journalist will be reporting on the biggest moments on the next leg of Swift's Eras Tour so they are "looking for a journalist with a voice — but not a bias — able to quickly cultivate a national audience through smart content designed to meet readers on their terms." 

Like every other job in journalism, the Swift reporter job pay won't be paying all that well. The range is from $21 to $50 an hour, and compensation is based on experience and skill. Generally with such a broad range in pay posted, it's likely they're looking to pay someone on the lower end of the scale, despite seeking a candidate with about five years of experience and a degree in journalism. 

So does this dream job sound enticing to you? Is it calling you? If it is, you should probably hang up. For any Swiftie unfamiliar with how the journalism world operates, let me deromanticize the glamour attached to the job. First and foremost, in the last handful of years, the industry has suffered widespread layoffs, and USA Today's owner Gannett, which owns over 200 daily newspapers and is the largest newspaper chain in the country, went under financial collapse last year. In order to fix the company's financial dilemma — Poynter reported that the company laid off more than 600 people, forced furloughs and suspended 401 K contributions. It's so dire that journalists employed under 50 Gannett papers also took to the picket line earlier this summer to demand an end to the cost-cutting measures slashing local newsrooms across the country. Sure, Gannett is hiring now, but longterm job security as a pop star reporter seems unlikely.

Let's assume that in a perfect world, these glaring labor issues wouldn't affect the way a Swift/Bey reporter would do their job. Even in that perfect world, these labor issues would still find a way to creep into the crux of the job's responsibilities. This position requires the reporter to be a multi-skilled talent with a list of expectations that sound like they want a young, green journalist eager to work long hours and turn out content like AI software (another labor issue threatening the industry.) The job does not specify what the workflow will look like but it sounds as if you'd be working overtime being milked as a content mule.

As much as Swift's and Beyoncé's mere sneezes may count as pop culture news — how often can you write stories about these megastars without becoming unoriginal, redundant or maybe even boring? Neither artist is known to give interviews very often so the stories you're writing about them would mostly be centered on analysis of their music and public appearances. It seems like this job could also be used to help the image-conscious singers control more of their public personas because the job will streamline seemingly positive press.

Nevertheless, my biggest gripe with the job is that they are looking for someone who has an "undeniable thirst for all things Taylor Swift" while being "a journalist with a voice — but not a bias." Emphasis added. To me, this sounds blatantly contradictory. If they are searching for essentially a die-hard Swiftie but also a journalist, what happens when the stan has to perform journalism that requires them to critique Swift for her actions as a public figure? I don't know if it's blasphemous to say this but what if they also don't like a particular performance?

There's nothing wrong on its face with being a journalist in a niche genre that you are a fan of. I think reporting on what you love is one of the joys of the job. But this only works if you are willing to critique something or someone that you love. In this case, I'm not sure that a reporter solely focusing on Swift would be so willingly enthusiastic to write up a scathing criticism of her or her music. In the long run, the world of music journalism has bent to the whims of the hyper-consumerist digital age just like all journalism has changed to meet the demands of the digital age. I just wish the best of luck to the fresh-out-of-college 22-year-old Swiftie who's ready to be another puppet on a string in the failing Gannett factory machine.