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Our industry and nuclear war

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by BB Bobcat, Jul 22, 2008.

  1. BB Bobcat

    BB Bobcat Active Member

    It has occurred to me lately that I view the future of newspaper business the same way I viewed the future of the world when I was a kid during the late '70s and early '80s. I pretty much just assumed that sometime in the next 20 years, the US and USSR would get into a nuclear war and the world, as we knew it, would be over.

    Oddly, that didn't bother me. (Shows how a 10-year-old mind works.) I just accepted it as fact. (I also figured that by the 21st century, there were be robots playing major league baseball :) )

    Now, I just assume that 10 years from now, there won't be any more newspapers, and most of us will have lost our jobs long before then.

    I have friends who are realtors or mortgage brokers and they, of course, are lameting the downturn in their industries. I tell them that people will always need houses and always need loans to buy them, but I don't think people will always read newspapers. I feel better about where they will be in 10 years than where I will be.

    I think I'll become a plumber. The internet will never unclog a toilet. :)
     
  2. JakeandElwood

    JakeandElwood Well-Known Member

    Maybe the internet will break down under a corrupt, oppressive regime like the USSR did?
     
  3. Pendleton

    Pendleton Member

    The trees are finally having their revenge, I guess.
     
  4. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I get where you are coming from, and sort of agree, but I keep coming back to this:

    I can't envision a day when those passionate about their sports teams will not want to read about those teams. There IS a demand for sports writing that is both well-written and informative.

    The problem is, I don't see a way to monetize that demand just yet. At least not to the point where the suits will be happy. But there HAS to be a way to monetize it. Right?
     
  5. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    There are only two things I fear in this world and one of them is nuclear war.
     
  6. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    You might want to spent a few minutes considering the possibility that your current assumptions – just as poisoned by everything you hear and see today – is as wrong as it was about the whole nuclear holocaust thing. Again, though, when you were that age that's probably all you heard about, wrong as it was.
     
  7. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    The other, I presume, is Keyser Söze.
     
  8. StraightEdge

    StraightEdge Guest

    There should be plenty of jobs writing for the team/league Web sites, right?
     
  9. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    The Google is not oppressive.
     
  10. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Just duck and cover, BB. You'll be fine.

    And what makes you think that robots aren't playing major league baseball?
     
  11. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Oh, they'll read about it, so there will be a demand for good writing. They just won't be reading it on dead trees. Bobcat's right: People won't always read newspapers.

    The key question is this: How do we start moving the consumer toward the idea of paying for good online news? Eventually, it has to go there and it should have been there from the start. Unfortunately, the suits (and, admittedly, some of the journalists) were certain the Internet was just like AOL and would never be the primary way to get the news.
     
  12. ink-stained wretch

    ink-stained wretch Active Member

    Yikes, I left plumbing for this business 30 years ago. Good thing I still have my journeyman's license.

    Karma's a bitch. Go trees!
     
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