Everyone, from Jeff Jarvis on down, seems to be pointing fingers this way and that, looking for who to blame for the current failures in journalism. The truth is, as usual, a lot more complicated than finding a good scapegoat, and probably a bit harder to swallow:
- It’s everyone’s fault.
- It doesn’t matter.
Now shut up and fix it.
A Bloated Industry
Like it or not, news is a bloated industry. For much of the past thirty years, newspapers have been living in a comfortable monopoly, which means they’ve been able to support a whole host of staff that frankly, don’t pull their financial weight.
We the public are fortunate to have experienced what has basically been a benevolent monopoly, but it was a monopoly nonetheless, and as it ends so will the record profits and charming frills that came with.
In all probability, there will be fewer journalists working for larger news organizations. I personally think we’ll end up with more people doing more journalism part-time. But we’re going to end up with fewer full-time, paid reporters.
And that’s probably OK. There’s Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and a zillion small shops in the software industry. That market seems to function alright.
The point is, newsroom cuts suck. And newspapers will probably end up firing more people than they need to, and once they get their business numbers straight, they’ll start hiring people again.
But when this all shakes out, there will almost definitely be fewer jobs all around.
So what’s a journalist to do?
Gateway drugs
Kind of like catsup or weed, reading blogs and joining Facebook are gateway drugs for social media. It can be pretty easy to become comfortable online by just trying little things and seeing where they take you.
If you’re reading this post, then you’re already on step one. If you like me, leave a comment on this post sharing your thoughts. If you don’t like me so much, save your comment for a blogger you do!
The larger goal, of course, is to get everyone in journalism to be both familiar and comfortable with the new tools and services that make up what we tend to call “web 2.0.”
The way to accomplish that is for everyone to take baby steps. If you’re a journalist and you’re not already, I’d suggest dipping your toes into the following:
Play around. See what you discover. Learn the little things first, and then go diving into the advanced features.
I think you’ll find it’s not as scary as it seems.
Like this post? Get more of the same by subscribing to my RSS feed.
Eat Sleep Publish is a Seattle-based blog that explores the difficulties and opportunities currently facing the publishing industry. 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, Jason … i’ve been a reader (and fan) of your blog for a while now. Interesting post. You’ve had previous posts where you’ve reflected on the “new” newsroom, the journalists within, and the resultant work flow patterns. It’s definitely worth discussing the evolving skillset of journalists, esp. in this 2.0 world … and your “baby step” links are good ones … It seems of late, in the journalism world, everyone’s a-twitter about Twitter. Journalists may also benefit with a glance at http://www.newsu.org — i think they have a number of online courses, especially, that deal with the emerging newsroom, digital, etc. I admit I haven’t yet participated in any of these courses, but on the face of it, they seem interesting and timely. I think these days there is even more of a challenge that journalists face: to expand their horizons, keep current, *and* keep marketable.
Jason, great clear-headed stuff. I’m making the transition from traditional newsroom creature to blogger/freelance writer/aspiring web designer and probably will never make a full-time living doing any of those things alone.
That’s the reality that’s setting in six weeks after taking a buyout from my paper, but I feel good that I’ve got some pretty good web skills to tout and build on. Even though I may never fully dig Digg . . . . that site just eludes me. StumbleUpon also, to some degree. Find myself spending way too much time on both.
I think in many ways you are right. But I also think that the web and micro publishing is going to open up a huge number of niches for journalists. But in general, I agree, the days of the giant, impersonal, general interest newspaper are numbered.
Doreen – thanks for chiming in, I’m glad you’ve been reading for a while and I’m even happier that you’re actually liking it!
NewsU is definitely a good resource for journalists looking to jump to the web, and I think we’ll see more resources like it as more people start to realize that they need to stay, as you put it, marketable.
Wendy – Thanks! For me, StumbleUpon is the real winner. I actually get a lot of traffic from it, and it can be quite fun to play with as well. I really like the idea of having a crowd-filtered way to “find random cool stuff” online.
I’d also tell you not to give up on making a living through your skills (although, you’re right, I think you need a combination of the above to do it). If you’d like, I can also point you to some good, free “online business” resources as well. Just shoot me an e-mail (address in the sidebar).
TeachJ – There are going to be TONS of niche opportunities for journalists and online publishers. The question is: how far down the long tail can they be profitable?
I’m guessing we’ll see a lot of part time volunteers or guns for hire working for a larger number of smaller shops.