Who Here Is Still Working in Journalism?

Still in the business. Will probably stay in it as long as I can. Definitely scared of the business dying out, as well.

 

Left my full time job in the summer because of a move. Working part time for the local big daily sometimes up to 30 hours a week.

 

Left a paper after a year to do online work for a uni. Some writing (mostly sports), some editing, some web work. Love the variety, better pay/benefits, good work environment, regular hours -- plus I still am kinda doing sports writing.

 

I think that with everything in this industry falling apart around us, this is the only way to be.

WFO.

 

Left daily newspapers two years ago to pursue journalism academia.

That pursuit continues.

So still in, sort of.

I just can't let it go yet. But I also didn't want to continue the daily grind for a skinflint owner who only cares about his wallet.

 

In, but schizophrenic about it. I love it, was born to do it, can't see myself doing anything else ... but I frequently wonder if I'm wasting what could be good years in my second career, whatever that may be.

 

I am in, still young (23) and worried about what kind of future I am resigning myself to by sticking with it ... and yet, I get to read about sports for a living. People pay (or get it online for free) to do what I do. Something cool about that. I doubt I will retire as a journalist ... but I'm single and sticking with it for now.

 

About as far out as you can get.

When I go back to the States, I don't plan to return to news, but I would like to pursue one of those cushy federal writer/editor jobs. And maybe do some freelance.

 

Sill in after five-plus years. Don't know why. Don't know why I ever got in or really remember how. I don't ever remembering wanting to write sports at all. I'm almost hoping for a layoff so I'll be forced to change my life. Too lazy to do anything about it right now. Fuck it.

 

Ten years later, I'm still here, though behind the desk now. For some reason, I'm not as worried about my job as others at my workplace. But then, I've never been the doom and gloom type.

 

I'm 71/2 years in, been at a unionized daily now for a year and a half, currently on the night desk. Things are definitley getting tighter at the office. The format size is being cut for the second time since mid-September. I feel somewhat safe in my current position as a desker, hoping to survive the down turn in the economy and hopefully move off the desk into a fulltime writting spot at the paper. If I got laid off I don't know what I would do. I know there are small weeklies I could move back to but that would be a last resort. I think I would actually enlist in the Canadian Forces if it got to that.

 

Still in it.

This April will be the 30th anniversary of my first newspaper byline, a hand-written account of my high school's pitiful baseball team. I was a sophomore on the team, a reserve utility player who was lucky to see playing time before the mercy rule kicked in. I was also a damn good scorekeeper. The mother of twin classmates worked for the hometown weekly, and she asked if I could write an article each week. Hell, I didn't know how to type, so I scribbled out my stories by hand. I got paid for them. A journalist was born.

These days, I manage a community news magazine for a 35K newspaper. I've worked for just one paper after college graduation. Been here 23 years: 10 in sports and the rest alternating between community news and online. The community news mag is popular with readers, but the section isn't hitting the ad goals set up by the bigwigs. The newspaper axed an entertainment magazine last year because of poor advertising, so I'm worried my section is next up on the chopping block. And when the section goes, I'm sure management will look at my salary and say that can be cut, too. Our paper has said it has a no-layoff policy, but if things don't improve I suspect that policy will change.

I want to stay in this business for the long haul. I'm scared, but fear is also a great motivator.