Is this a "calling" for you?

Milwaukee J-S columnist Eugene Kane says that young people should look at it that way:

I encouraged them to consider journalism more like a calling than just another way to make money.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=774886

 

I didn't even answer my own question.

I guess I would say yes. I still may leave it for a while, but I eventually see myself coming back to it after some more well-rounded professional experience.

To clarify: Journalism. Not necessarily daily sports writing.

 

"Hi, this is journalism. Get the fuck out now."

 

Totally. At least for now. If you are in this for the money or to hear yourself yapping on TV then you have misplaced priorities.

And the more you love it the louder you should be screaming right now.

 

I used to speak at a job fair at the local J-school. When they asked me to do it again this year, I refused because I can't look at a bunch of young students who don't know any better and encourage them to go into a field that dies a little more every day.

 

I have always looked at it as a calling -- i definitely have a passion for telling stories using the written word, photography and the "canvas" of a newspaper page (and now the Web). The problem is that life often gets away, things like paying bills and trying to provide for a growing family. It's hard to make a living at my calling sometimes ...

On the same note, it's tough to be around management folks who ONLY look at media as a way to make money and could care less about community impact and the fact that we here in the newsroom actually care about more than the just bottom line...

 

For me, it used to be. Then I went to work for Gannett. A little piece of the passion died with each insipid initiative to ooze out of Virginia. Somewhere along the line, advocation descended to vocation.

 

Writing and journalism will always be a calling. It won't always be a career.

 

It's a calling...

"Hi, it's your SE. Come to my office and bring your playbook."

 

"Hi, it's journalism... Better pad that nest egg."

 

I consider it a calling. It's all I've wanted to do since Grade 9 and it's all I'm really good at. I love the art and craft of journalism. Hate the business.

 

"Hi, it's journalism... Change your major..."