Emory closing journalism school

Community Journalism.... get used to it.

 

When I was in college, the question was always how long I would earn peanuts before landing a decent paying reporting job. Now, it seems like the issue is less the starting salary and more the long-term earning potential. The jobs that have disappeared through buyouts, layoffs and attrition are mostly those that were the well paying "destination" jobs when I was in school: general columnists, takeout writers, national writers, etc. Twenty years ago, you figured the low-paying job covering preps would pay off in the long run because you'd eventually work your way up to making high five or low six figures. Now, if you are covering a pro or college beat and earning in the high 60s, it feels like you have reached the ceiling. There are exceptions, of course. But for every national reporting/writing job that has been created at a place like ESPN or Yahoo, two or three have disappeared at newspapers. 20 years ago, working your way up to columnist felt realistic, since every major metro had at least two of them (most had more).