Dreams vs. Nightmares

I put this in another thread, but I'd also like to run it out here on its own and see what the discussion brings.


It used to be so cool to get into this field because we were dreamers, and so we wanted to go out and write and edit and publish the stuff that we, and others, dream about. We could put it in the paper, and everyone who reads it could skate along, play along, read it, love it, and think that could be them, whatever.

Good stories feed imagination, and imagination feeds ambition. You can dream it, so you can do it. That's what I think newspapers are losing now -- their ability to inspire others, which is one thing I think newspapers do best.

Other than your mother.

By closing the ranks, we're putting less good stuff in the paper, and the trickle-down loss is obvious. We're not here just to report the news, although that is our primary task. We're also here to inspire others to greatness, and that should be evident -- to anyone and everyone -- by the way we conduct our business. But our business is losing touch with our readers by scaling back and no longer providing them the things they used to rely on from the local newspaper -- and only from the local newspaper.

It's a business now, a corporate business run by people your town has never heard of or met, and that's just stupid. Back then, the local newspaper was a trusted friend, whether the news was good or bad. We have gone so far off the rails by not realizing that our core mission is to be our readers' trusted friend, even when the news is bleak.

And I don't see many dreamers in my newsroom anymore. That's the tough part.

Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?"
Others dream things that never were and say, "Why not?"
~ George Bernard Shaw​

Share your stories.
I hate this business,
And I love this business.

 

I quit dreaming about six months ago. Every story I've pitched, every series I've pitched, every "web innovation" I've pitched has been shot down at this paper. Not enough time. Not enough space. Too much red tape (i.e managers meetings). Not enough resources (unless I want to do it "on [my] time," say the bosses — Right. On my own time. Isn't that when I'm supposed to raise my daughter? Love my wife? Travel? Lounge on the couch?)

I understand this isn't a 9-5 job. That's what made it "cool" when I got into just 10 years ago. Now it's what makes it a pain in the ass. Because every single day is a 10-hour shift because we don't have enough manpower. Not enough time. Not enough support.

I used to wait for the printed paper with baited breath; to see what we accomplished each night. Now I wait for the quarterly earnings report and the seniority list to see if I still potentially have a job the following year.

As I type this, I'm less than seven hours from sitting down at a local college and discussing with someone there my return to school to get the hell out of this nightmare.

Layoffs. Cutbacks. "Voluntary" buyouts. Outdated equipment. Bonuses for the suits and shareholders.

Dreams?

Try dream on.

 

Man, I used to do that too.
A real shame that it's not like that anymore.

Raise your daughter, Pete. Love your wife.
That's all that's important anyway, ain't it?

No way I'll put my job before my life anymore.
Not with these corporate bozos playing chess with peoples' lives.

 

All that shit's fine and good, but what'd the stock do today?

 

It was always a business. Newspapers were always in business to make money. Those companies never would've existed if they didn't make money. The difference is that newspapers used to dominate the market and was gaining revenue, making it easy to spend some of that money into the business' journalistic ventures. When the going gets tough, as it has, they now face a choice between business and journalism, and it's pretty clear which one the industry has picked as its primary aim.