I've been without a job for a good week, and in that short span of time I've discovered that journalism is far from dead, it seems.
There's still lots and lots of jobs out there. High paying jobs? well, no, but there are jobs. I have my first interview on Monday and another one likely down the pipe. I've tried applying for at least one or two jobs a day.
Just my personal opinion here, and sorry for going completely off the track, but there will be a day, probably sooner than a lot of people think, where a well known newspaper cuts print operations altogether and becomes a strictly online operation.
It may go broke in the process, but when has the first of anything gone on to flourish? It'll be a mess trying to make a profit, but it's going to happen.
Where newspapers will continue to grow, it seems, is in smaller communities. Or even smaller sections of large cities. Everyone in this business surely knows this, but I think there's lots of ways to make more of a profit that papers aren't capitalizing on.
When you're able to download the latest scores, headlines, stock quotes, and other newsworthy information, why can you do it for free? It's nice, but there needs to be a price to pay.
Newspapers could start programs where they beam out, for a modest price, daily local headlines and photos, local sports scores, and any other stuff that can't be found anywhere else to cell phones, PDAs, and whatever other digital device you prefer.
People would ***** about it, but they'd pay because they're not getting that information anywhere else, except from the paper's website, which gives it away for free for some stupid reason.
(And my contingency plan actually IS to move back to Montana
)
