The Federal Trade Commission banned nearly all non-compete clauses on April 23, doing something good for American workers. I support this action from Joe Biden’s administration. It makes the labor pool more of a free market to the benefit of those willing to work—especially in journalism. Non-compete clauses hurt news media employees, including me. Journalism’s a low-paying profession, so if one wants to earn a decent living, one typically must have multiple jobs to monetize their skills as much as possible.
I know first-hand how much these non-competes hurt. This lousy concept that lets employers and contractors force you to choose between writing for them or other outlets creates expensive opportunity costs where one must choose between money and better resume material. I always chose money in that scenario.
My first experience with non-competes came during my time with The Boston Globe. The high school sports editor abruptly decided at the start of the 2017-2018 season that some people had to stop covering high school sports for other publications if they wanted to continue working for the paper; that often meant going into The Globe office, answering the phone, and logging high school sports results—not covering games. I covered high school sports for multiple publications during the 2016-2017 school year, including The Globe, without issue. I told The Globe yes if they let me be a high school football beat reporter; The Globe said no, so we parted ways. They still contact me annually about covering high school football games on Thanksgiving. I never do it. If I wanted a minimum-wage job answering the phone somewhere, I wouldn’t have gone from Marshfield to the heart of Boston where there's no parking to do it—let alone lose money to benefit John Henry’s Globe.
These non-competes also followed me into political journalism. When BizPac Review wanted to hire me in 2019, the company said they had enough work for me and I couldn’t write elsewhere. At that time, that meant giving up writing about sports, pop culture, and politics for LifeZette and the Washington Examiner. The interviewer wanted me to accept the job on the spot and expressed shock when I said I'd think about it and let her know. I never contacted them again.
Thankfully, NewBostonPost and other outlets I contribute to are okay with me writing for others. The owner of NewBostonPost told me he doesn't care as long as I do my job for him; that's the right approach as it allows people to make money to pay their bills, invest, and have fun. During my time at NewBostonPost, two news outlets have attempted to poach me and have me sign a non-compete despite not applying to work for either: The Boston Herald and Fox News.
A high-up person at The Boston Herald who called and told me he wanted me as one of his State House beat reporters also said I couldn't write for NewBostonPost, Washington Examiner, and others anymore if I chose The Herald. The recruiter from Fox News told me the same thing.
The embarrassing part for those two media outlets is that, with the non-competes, they effectively offered pay cuts and touted their outlets as having competitive pay and prestige. I don't care about prestige, nor do I care about exposure. Can you pay for housing, food, or medical care with prestige and exposure? Now Fox News steals my stories from NewBostonPost and doesn't give me credit, so they got what they wanted without paying for it—especially regarding transgender athletes. And The Herald has a State House reporter who thinks men can get pregnant; so much for being a center-right publication.
Individual employers, including news outlets, may not like the news from the Biden administration, but it benefits journalists. Letting people make a living will allow people to stick with the field rather than moving into doing public relations for some multinational corporation or finding a technical writing job. The move also highlights the importance of looking at the individual actions of presidential administrations. Has the Biden administration taken harmful actions? Yes, but it deserves praise here.