More sobering news. I need a beer . . .

I'm close to your age; I don't have the kids; I'm contemplating the same thing.

 

With all respect to Moddy, he's someone who was at the top of his game. Most likely, the folks who hired him knew who he was or at least knew what qualifications might be befitting someone who did what he did.

Lots of folks are trying to make the transition after spending just a handful of years in journalism. It's much more difficult, of course, to land a key SID job or a PR job or whatever one might aspire toward with just five or so years as a sportswriter.

In fact, it's even tougher now that so many people are leaving at once. I have to wonder how many people are competing for the same jobs. i.e. Every time an opening appears somewhere, how many resumes are mailed off?

There can't be enough soft landings for everyone. Some folks will be forced to reinvent themselves. That is to say that they will need to find new skills rather than finding new ways to use those they've already developed.

I think there's no choice but for young folks to go back to college or otherwise add a new skill. Sure, they should apply for jobs and see what's out there. But I don't think someone who has five years of experience as a newspaper reporter should expect an easy transition.

 

Don't want to be insensitive or see anyone go through hard times. But let's face it, if you only have five years of experience in newspapers, you should have seen some of this turmoil and anguish coming. It's like someone who started smoking five years ago complaining now that he has lung cancer. Sheeeeeeeet, the ominous signs (smoking = bad) all were well-known before he even got started. Even factoring in four years of college, hell, the decline and demise of newspapers has been a prime topic for more than nine years.

I feel worse for the guy who is 40 and older, and had a career rug pulled out from under him.

 

And people's attention spans are so short now too. Either because they are too busy with other things (kids, etc) or too lazy to actually sit down and do some reading.

 

I remember debating the state of newspapers with profs in college in 1995 and knowing then it might be a shaky career to pursue. They all said in 10-15 papers wouldn't be what they are now (then). They certainly weren't wrong.

 

Mrs. Editude got out before the wave of layoffs/buyouts hit her major metro. She's found a niche with freelance editing and writing, and I do OK. It's the 32-year-olds, starting a family and trying to make real-world roots, who need to see where they may be headed.

 

5 1/2 years ago, I lost my job at a community edition of a metro. I spent 10 months sending nearly 120 resumes out to various papers around the country -- resumes of an award-winning writer with 17 years of experience covering everything.

I got two nibbles: both columnist jobs. Didn't get either one of them.

What this told me was two-fold: that nobody was going to hire a 37-year-old because they could get a 22-year-old for cheaper, and that if there was no room for someone with my capabilities and qualifications, I needed to look elsewhere and pronto.

Fortunately, I got into PR. And the longer I'm away from the business, the less I miss it.

When I teach my college news-reporting class, I stress the ancillary elements of the business: editing, PR and other areas where there's always room for growth.

The problem sportswriters face is the steepening of the pyramid: there are fewer and fewer ideal jobs out there and when they come out, there's always some twentysomething "effin stud" seamlessly moving into it. The days of talented folks moving up the ladder seem to be coming to an end; you're either working at a metro by your early 30s or you'll never make it.

And that's wrong.

 

joe - i think it's only fair to say the sky's been falling only for the past two.

 

I got into this business roughly 10 years ago but didn't graduate until six years ago. I knew the times were a-changing'. I can't deny that. But I never got the impression from any of my profs that times might get tough. If I had to pinpoint my greatest mistake, it is probably avoiding the online revolution. I sort of presumed that it would happen and then they'd plug me into the system somehow. But I'm now learning that journalists are driving that revolution. It's not as if the company just throws together a Web site and tells you how to upload your story.

Sure, it seems pretty bleak right now. Of course, I don't know that there's a safe place in today's economy. I'm reading Barbara Ehrenreich's book Bait and Switch. (By the way, she had an interesting piece on the economy in the Washington Post this week.)

I keep nodding in agreement to all that she writes. First off, there's no such thing as the one-income family these days. It's almost unheard of. And, if it does happen, that one person is shucking and jiving 12-14 hours a day, sometimes more. And for what?

Essentially, lots of people go home at the end of a workday happy to know they made it through another shift without a pink slip. I have a friend whose business was bought by a company that turned around and sold it to another company. The new owners plan to trim off the fat and sell it again. His life is in constant flux.

And it's not just him. I wouldn't want to be in banking, insurance, the stock market. Doctors are complaining about malpractice insurance. Painters are out of work because nobody is remodeling or building new homes. Car salesmen are out of luck. Factory workers are screwed. There was a story today showing that most of the folks who received Walmart gift cards for Christmas are using them just to buy groceries.

The newspaper industry is hurting partly because everyone in the country is hurting. That means drops in ad revenue and drops in circulation. Add to it a paradigm shift and a corporate world that has been ruled by greed at least since the early '80s.

Lots of shit is taking place. That's why I love these threads most. I enjoy reading stuff on this board from people who have lots of knowledge. So carry on. Oh, and Sam Zell says, "Fuck you."

 

We will end up like radio DJs, needing to sell spots for our sections to earn our pay.

 

It's a variation on what Churchill supposedly said about democracy, something like: Capitalism is the worst system we have, except for all others. The problem is, capitalism taken to current extremes has exposed some serious flaws. It isn't perfect, and it has us headed toward some possible, ugly class wars. Wringing labor costs to bare minimum, in wages paid and jobs staffed, with little regard for long-term viability of whatever the industry, and putting hardly any emphasis on sustaining and growing businesses for the kids and the grandkids are big parts of the problem.

Also: Maybe I was too harsh in my previous time frame. But something tells me that, if you were walking out of college with a journalism degree in 2004 and didn't realize pain was getting worse in this industry, you weren't paying attention.

 

But they aren't, and that's the point. They're mostly owned by public companies dealing with insatiable demands from investors for unrealistic profit margins in a declining market.

Hence, the slash and burn tactics so main chains practice. And why the business sucks to work in nowadays for so many talented people.