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I love this business, but I am so depressed

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Billy Monday, Sep 21, 2007.

  1. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    Let's not forget the horrid JRC chain, either.
     
  2. Danny Noonan

    Danny Noonan Member

    Work at developing your skill set but find your happiness outside work. Stay away from the post-work "bitch session" bar sessions or parties full of miserable coworkers that are like sweet poison. Find a hobby, whether it's exercise (and I do about 10 hours of cycling, running, hard cardio a week these days) or something else that'll make you feel better about yourself and life in general. Work hard at your job, but play harder outside of it. That's the straw that really stirs my drink. :)
     
  3. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    On a bad day, reading this might help.
    It's from some letters by Ernie Pyle, one of the best there ever was.

    Written by Ernie as a memo to his reporters when he was an editor:

    "We have to MAKE people read this paper, by making it so alert and saucy and important that they will be afraid of missing something if they don't read it...We are asleep. Dead...Get alive...Keep your eyes open. There are swell stories floating around your beats every day that you either don't see or don't bother to do anything about when you see them...You can hardly walk down the street or chat with a bunch of friends without running into the germ of something that may turn up an interesting story if you're on the lookout for it. News doesn't have to be important, but it has to be interesting. You can't find interesting things if you're not interested...Always look for the story - for the unexpected human emotion in the story...Write a story as tho it were a privilege for you to write it...You don't have to be smart-alecky or pseudo-funny. Be human. Try to write like people talk."

    And this one that speaks to a lot of reporters now:

    "I just don't see how we can go on with this ogre that the job has become. I wish we had the nerve to quit before it completely destroys us. The pleasure in the freedom of the job has become only occasional little flashes, and the pressure of day-to-day writing after all the correlary (sic) distractions that have come with it, have become a specter to me; and I know to you too. But what the hell is a guy to do? I don't know."

    And self-doubt:

    "I'm not worried about what anybody thinks of my stuff; I'm worried about the fact that when I sit down to write I haven't any emotion or enthusiasm...I worry...that maybe I'm just a flash in the pan, and that I'm written out...I'm not trying to be any prima donna, as you must surely know, but I am interested in the column, and I'm also cursed with such a touchiness and melancholia. I feel that my stuff at its very best is just barely good enough..."
     
  4. Billy Monday

    Billy Monday Member

    Thanks. I'm not worried about my skills in comparison to others. And I'm not worried about just myself.
    I'm worried about how any of us are going to get paid 5-10 years from now.
    How are $25 (or whatever cheap price) Internet ads going to sustain and fund the resources we need to do our jobs?
    How is any newpaper/information outlet going to get significant revenue with just its Web site?
     
  5. ServeItUp

    ServeItUp Active Member

    As long as you keep it to 300 words or less with 45 seconds of audio and 60 seconds of game footage for the Web. And don't even think about missing the 10 p.m. deadline with that gamer from the 7:30 kickoff.
     
  6. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I agree with you to a point.

    Thing is, we don't make our money off subscribers. We make it off advertising. In the future, there will be plenty of readers willing to read your online product. The trick is to find a way to capitalize on that in terms of ad dollars. It isn't happening right now. The naive hope is that, maybe one day, it will.
     
  7. ServeItUp

    ServeItUp Active Member

    And don't bother asking for a raise, either. If you're not satisfied with your current wage, I'm sure one of the other 100 people who applied for your job originally would be thrilled with it.
     
  8. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Brave Man.
     
  9. lono

    lono Active Member

    It's not $25 ads. Not by a long shot.
    http://www.iab.net/news/pr_2007_06_06.asp

    And contrary to what some believe, the 'Net isn't just the flavor of the week or a passing trend. The world has changed and it's never going back to how it was 5, 10 or 20 years ago - that's not a value judgment, just an observation.

    Like others before me have said, open your mind, learn new skills, improve the ones you have and try to grow with the changes.
     
  10. Billy Monday

    Billy Monday Member

    Whatever the price of Internet ads are, it's not enough to pay for more than a few salaries. That's my point. Check the graph in here:

    http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/364264/newspapers-face-up-to-online-conundrum.html

    Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Somebody please tell me more than a few print journalists will be able to work for a living in 2015.
     
  11. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  12. Dan Rydell

    Dan Rydell Guest

    [​IMG]


    Man up, soldier.

    Keep your ass down and keep shootin'.

    Looks like them bastards mean business.
     
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