I love this business, but I am so depressed

[Billy Monday]

Friends laid off. Budget cuts. Staff cuts. Hiring freezes.
Anybody got any good news about growth in this business?
Will the business be able to sustain decent staff sizes in 5-10 years?
Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

 

[da man]

Drink?

 

[Mayfly]

Friends laid off. Budget cuts. Staff cuts. Hiring freezes.
Anybody got any good news about growth in this business?
Will the business be able to sustain decent staff sizes in 5-10 years?
Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

Bottoms up big fella.

Edit: Seriously though, know that you are able to watch people play a game day in and day out and you are able to tell their stories in a cohesive, beautiful manner.

 

[Billy Monday]

Drink?

Obviously.

What else though?

 

[HejiraHenry]

Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

Quit paying attention to the news. It's designed to be disturbing so you'll buy more stuff. Just do what you do ... and if "what you do" happens to include the full spectrum of skills that modern newsrooms need to extend their reach on the Internet(s), then you have nothing to be particularly concerned about.

 

[sportschick]

Newspapers might eventually cease to exist, but there will always be a need for information and journalists to dispense it. We might all wind up as Web folks, but there will always be a need for us.

Which I guess is pretty much what HH said.

Oh, and beer always helps, esp. a nice, cold Fat Tire.

 

[spnited]

Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

Quit paying attention to the news. It's designed to be disturbing so you'll buy more stuff. Just do what you do ... and if "what you do" happens to include the full spectrum of skills that modern newsrooms need to extend their reach on the Internet(s), then you have nothing to be particularly concerned about.

Henry just nailed it.

If you love what you do, keep doing it, keep expanding your skills to include what you'll need to succeed in the Internet newsroom down the line.
Worry about you, what you do, how you can do it better and how you can make a future for yourself.

One other thing, there will still be newspapers 20 or 30 years from now.

 

[Some Guy]

Hope you guys are right.

Just so much crap happening nowadays, makes it hard to keep the faith.

 

[Yawn]

Go sit with a newspaper CEO. It will at least provide you with some comic relief, listening to so much BS.

 

[TyWebb]

It might not work for everybody, but when I'm feeling anxious about the career I've chosen, I do my best to engage myself completely in my work. I focus solely on how I can make my writing better, what good ideas I've had lately, how to pull them off, what is wrong with my interview style, how to improve it. Worry only about what you can control and I think you'll feel better, if not because of the distraction it offers.

 

[Tom Petty]

Newspapers might eventually cease to exist, but there will always be a need for information and journalists to dispense it. We might all wind up as Web folks, but there will always be a need for us.

Which I guess is pretty much what HH said.

Oh, and beer always helps, esp. a nice, cold Fat Tire.

but if newspapers cease to exist, won't we all lose the lucrative retirement plans our papers have set up for us?

 

[Tom Petty]

Go sit with a newspaper CEO. It will at least provide you with some comic relief, listening to so much BS.

i'd be more worried about having a job next week if i were you.

 

[Colton]

Billy, sounds like you're a CNHIer, too.

Hang in there, pal.

 

[Joe Williams]

It might not work for everybody, but when I'm feeling anxious about the career I've chosen, I do my best to engage myself completely in my work. I focus solely on how I can make my writing better, what good ideas I've had lately, how to pull them off, what is wrong with my interview style, how to improve it. Worry only about what you can control and I think you'll feel better, if not because of the distraction it offers.

Good advice. Of course, buggy-whip makers did the same thing. Really focused HARD on making better ones. Sure helped them.

 

[Some Guy]

It might not work for everybody, but when I'm feeling anxious about the career I've chosen, I do my best to engage myself completely in my work. I focus solely on how I can make my writing better, what good ideas I've had lately, how to pull them off, what is wrong with my interview style, how to improve it. Worry only about what you can control and I think you'll feel better, if not because of the distraction it offers.

Good advice. Of course, buggy-whip makers did the same thing. Really focused HARD on making better ones. Sure helped them.

Now they just sell them to the porn industry. Problem solved.

 

[fishwrapper]

Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

Quit paying attention to the news.

This would seem to be the genesis of our current worriment.
Who let this slip and told the public?

 

[Cansportschick]

Friends laid off. Budget cuts. Staff cuts. Hiring freezes.
Anybody got any good news about growth in this business?
Will the business be able to sustain decent staff sizes in 5-10 years?
Anybody got any somewhat serious tips on how to cheer yourself up in this age?

If you enjoy doing what you are doing, then you should be fine. Days can be stressful and yes, there are times that the news is not so great in the industry but remember that you aren't the only one feeling this way.
You just have to keep on pressing forward and stop worrying about the future of the business. Think of the present.

And might I add that a drink often helps most of the time when there are days like this. I can attest to that. ;D

 

[pressmurphy]

Start changing your mindset. You are not in the newspaper business, you are in the information business. Practice your craft with diligence and enthusiasm to be the best that you can be, and embrace the new technologies such as the Internet so that you will be ready to thrive in the new paradigm of news delivery.

And then slash your wrists when you get downsized from your $27,000 job because corporate missed its quarterly net profit target twice in a row and needs to replace you with someone who doesn't know the difference between "its" and "it's" but only costs $23,000 a year.

 

[Billy Monday]

Billy, sounds like you're a CNHIer, too.

Hang in there, pal.

What is CNHIer?

I realize there will always be a need for what we do. The republic depends on it.
But who's going to pay for our salaries?

A few Internet ads that cost $25 each won't fund the resources and staff we need to do a good job.

Somebody please tell me I'm wrong before I go back to the liquor store this weekend.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I hate to say it, but anyone who is expecting this to get better sometime soon is living in Happyland...

It's going to continue to get worse and will probably never get better... Right now the main thing keeping print editions out there are our grandparents, who are the primary subscribers to the morning paper because they're creatures of habit and aren't on the Internet as much... Everybody else isn't willing to pay for something they can get for free online...