Journalists are fiercely independent.
They are independent thinkers and writers. They don’t play by anyone’s rules, except their parents.
Too often for journalists, when it comes to housing, independence goes out the window when their landlords are also their parents.
Most journalists have lived with their parents at one time or another during their career.
Often journalists will spend four years in J-school only to discover that it’s easier to become president of Zimbabwe than find a job as a journalist. Thus, they move back into mom and dad’s basement. Ironically, as much as journalists are independent when it comes to the rest of their lives they have no qualms with shacking up with the parents.
In fact, of those journalists that have resided with their parents during their careers, seven out of 10 of them said they did so willingly and didn’t move out even when given the opportunity.
Journalists who opt to cohabitate with their parents try to distance themselves from the stereotypical nerd living at home by stating that they don’t live in their parents’ basement, sleep in “Star Wars” bed sheets and play World of Warcraft all night. For your information, our parents live in a ranch-style home so there is no basement, we prefer Superman and we just play WOW because we got a trial offer.
Obviously the main reason journalists like living with their parents so much is because of money, or lack thereof. While peers who majored in business and economics go on earn more than newspaper companies alone, journalists share the same income tax bracket with Starbucks baristas and telemarketers.
Journalists are left to defend the First Amendment with nothing more than enough money for a rent-controlled studio apartment infested with rats and asbestos. Some journalists make a go of it and try living next to the same drug dealers they cover in court, but after bullets start flying though the wall, living with mom and dad looks awfully appealing. And while most young people with a college degree would be embarrassed to live at home, thrifty journalists take a sense of pride living at home. If co-workers, sources or potential hookups question a journalist’s living situation, the journalist will add the caveat – “hey, it’s free rent and food.”
So during the day, journalists are brushing shoulders with politicians and heads of businesses, asking the tough questions and bearing the responsibility of reporting the first draft of history but when they come home, they’re waiting on their sister to get out bathroom, asking mom and dad when dinner will be ready and avoiding the responsibility of laundry.
This post was written in the homes of two journalists’ parents.
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Topics:
living at home with parents, living at home, living at parents´ home
“Some journalists make a go of it and try living next to the same drug dealers they cover in court.” – LOL this really happened to me about six months ago. I’m still mad at my husband for not waking me up to get action pics the night he watched them get raided and arrested.