The Threatened Value of Freelancers in Journalism

From October of 2010 to the present, I have been a continually published professional freelancer. In that time, I have been blackmailed by sources who threatened to go over my head; I have had rich and/or semi-famous people screw me over by cancelling interviews at a moment’s notice; I’ve had publicity agents go over my head to get more favorable coverage (hanging me out to dry); I had an editor (Mary Kim at Connection Newspapers, it’s been 11 years, why not say it out loud? You’re welcome, Mary) who fired me when I reported out that a colleague was being paid less than…