FAQs Answered | How 101Reporter works

Republishing Rights

All materials published on the 101Reporters website is under Creative Commons. What does this mean?

Payment Related

Rate

For stories published on partner websites: We pay reporters Rs3-5 per word. Word count of the edited story, and not the reporter's draft, is considered for calculating payment. There is a ceiling of 900 words per article. So even if an edited article runs into a thousand words or more, payment will be made for 900 words. The maximum payment one can get per article stands at Rs4,500. We pay Rs 5 per word 99% of the time. For non-English articles that need translation, we pay Rs4 per word. We pay Rs3 per word only in rare cases, such as when a reporter sends in a half-baked story and refuses to provide further information despite repeated reminders.

For stories published on 101Reporters website: We pay a flat rate of Rs3,000 for all the stories—be it text, photo essay or video—that are commissioned for publication on our website. For wider reach, we give these stories to publisher partners at zero cost. Hence, no additional payment is made to the reporter for republished stories.

Photographs

For every original photograph or video that a publisher uses, we pay the reporter Rs250. This is over and above the amount due to the reporter on per-word basis. We pay for a maximum of three photos and/or videos. Payment is made only for original visuals, shot by the reporter or an associate. We do not pay for visuals that the reporter has sourced from a subject.

For stories published on 101Reporters website, we pay a flat fees of Rs500 for original photographs and videos accompanying text stories. (Not Rs500 per visual, but a net amount of Rs500 for any number of photos and/or videos.)

Payment Cycle

Payment cycle: We make payments once a month. By the 1st or 2nd of the month, the invoice is uploaded on their dashboard in our content management platform. Reporters are required to complete the formalities and submit the invoice by the 5th, post which the amount is transferred to their bank account by the 7th or 8th.

Our publishers also have the right to republish the story. So if the same story is translated and published in another language, the reporter (and 101Reporters too, for that matter) cannot claim payment for it

If a reporter fails to submit their invoice by the due date, they are paid the next month.

We pay neither in advance nor immediately after a story is submitted. In other words, payment is not released outside our monthly payment cycle. No requests regarding the same are entertained.

There is no minimum threshold for payment.

We don’t pay for travel or accommodation for reporting.

If our desk approves a story but the publisher fails/refuses to carry it, we will still make the full payment.

We don’t guarantee payment if a publisher refuses to carry a story because the reporter submitted it after the deadline lapsed.

No payment shall be made if our desk refuses to approve a story for want of inputs.

Tax Deduction at Source:

If a reporter's net payment crosses Rs30,000 in a financial year, we are required to deduct 10% of the net amount as Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) as per Government of India rules. All the subsequent payments will incur 10% TDS once a reporter crosses the Rs30,000 threshold.

eg. If a reporter has received Rs27,000 in payment from 101Reporters in a financial year, all the payments made till then incur no TDS. Suppose the reporter's next invoice in the same financial year is for Rs5,000, taking his/her net income from 101Reporters to Rs32,500. Now, 101Reporters will have to deduct 10% of the net payment made to the reporter so far in the financial year. In this case, the amount comes to 10% of Rs32,500 = Rs3,250. Hence, instead of receiving Rs5,000 from 101Reporters, the reporter will receive Rs1,750 (Rs5,000- Rs3,250).

All the following payments to the reporter will incur a 10% deduction only on that particular invoice. Suppose the reporter's next invoice is also for Rs5,000. This time, the TDS will be only Rs500 (10% of Rs5,000), since the tax for the previous payments has already been accounted for in the previous deduction.

101Reporters is required to deposit this TDS to the government and provide a TDS certificate to the reporter. If the reporter's annual income in the financial year is within the exemption limit to pay income tax, the reporter can claim a refund from the Income Tax Department while filing annual income tax returns. More information on this is available on the internet.

General FAQs

What is 101Reporters? What exactly do you guys do?

How exactly does it work?

Here’s the workflow:

Reporter submits story idea, it goes to our editors.
The editors:
1. like the idea and pitch it to the publishers. OR
2. send it back to the reporter for additional information. OR
3. decline it.
4. (In all of these cases, the reporter gets status update by SMS and email.)
A publisher approves the story idea. (The reporter gets SMS, email updates.) Or all publishers ignore the idea. (No update sent in this case.)
If an idea is approved, the reporter works on it and submits the draft, which goes to our desk.
The desk examines the draft and either sends it back to the reporter for more inputs or starts editing it if it’s satisfactory.
The edited story is sent to the reporter for approval.
The story is sent to the publisher after the reporter okays it.
The reporter gets paid by the first week of the following month.

What kind of story ideas are you looking for?

Are there any eligibility criteria for those seeking to work with you?

How do I send a story idea?

If all the ideas go on a common platform, are they safe? Can’t other reporters see them and copy them?

Do reporters get paid for submitting story ideas as well?

How long should a story be?

If a story needs the reporter to travel, does the company reimburse the travel and accommodation cost?

Is there a limit on the number of stories or story ideas a reporter can submit in a month?

Do you also accept videos and photo stories?

After a story idea or a story is submitted, how long does it take to get a response?

If an aspiring contributor is already working with a news publication, can he/she write for 101Reporters under a pen name?

Which publishers are associated with you?

What's the payment policy like?

We pay Rs 3 - Rs 5 per word. Word count of the edited story, and not the reporter's draft, is considered for calculating payment. There is a ceiling of 900 words per article. So even if an edited article runs into a thousand words or more, payment will be made for 900 words. We release payments once a month. The money is transferred to contributors’ bank account. There's no minimum threshold for payment.

Are reporters allowed to post the final story on their blog or personal website?

Will 101Reporters give me a letter of support/recommendation for a fellowship, grant, workshop or award that I am applying for?

At 101Reporters, we are happy to support those who are an active part of our network in their application for grants, fellowships, workshops, etc.
Those seeking a letter of support or recommendation must write to [email protected] with a short bio, details of the programme they are applying to, particular requests and specifics of their pitch, if applicable.

Those requesting a letter of support must have published at least three stories with 101Reporters in the past six months. Any exceptions will be processed at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.
Please give us at least a week to process your request.
While we will make every attempt to stand by our letter of support (which is why it helps to have as much information as possible about the reporting project on the onset), it is not binding on us and publication is subject to the final story adhering to our editorial scope and guidelines.

Join our network to tell untold stories

Quick Links

Rukhmabai Initiatives

The Promise of Commons

101Podcasts

101Talkies

101 in News