Is It a Good Time to Go into Journalism? Are You Thankful to be a Journalist?

I have a confession to make. Despite the love I have for my career as a journalist, I think it's pretty natural to sometimes be depressed about the prospects for my industry as we continue to read about layoffs and publications folding.

So when I saw this post on the Flip The Media blog -- Why It’s a Good Time to Go Into Journalism -- my first reaction was "what is he smoking?" But the title was intriguing enough for me to read the post, and writer Mark Briggs, CEO of Serra Media and publisher of Journalism 2.0 (free!), makes an effective case. In his post, he offers three premises:

1. Journalism has a bright future. "Experimental news operations are popping up all over the Web as this decade draws to a close. Some have become sustainable businesses in a very short time. Others are still searching for viability while finding new ways to cover issues and communities," writes Briggs. I have written about these organizations both here and over at the National Association of Black Journalists Digital Journalism Task Force blog. Some of the ones of interest are MarylandReporter, Baltimore Brew, Voice of San Diego, and Texas TribuneDNAInfo, to name a few.
2. That future is in your hands. "Journalism needs you. It needs someone who can bring a fresh approach without the baggage that burdened earlier generations," he writes. I see myself straddling between old school and new school journalism, and this old dog is working hard to learn new tricks to stay relevant in the future.
   
3. Journalism will be better than it was before. "Transformation and evolution are messy, emotional processes. When they produce advancement for society and business, they are seen as healthy and worthwhile, but not necessarily to those on the front lines," writes Briggs. I have seen first hand my old school brethren continuing to resist making the changes needed to be relevant. They want to stick to the old ways, convinced that the old ways are still the best ways. I firmly believe that you can stick with the basic tenants of journalism while taking advantage of all the tools and technology out there that enhance your journalistic efforts.

And this gives me the perfect transition, to a post I saw on the Knight Digital Media Center's Online Journalism Review blog: How thankful are you for your role in journalism today?

The poll, done by Robert Niles, is completely unscientific and only had 58 respondents. But I still think the numbers are worthwhile as media companies continue to adapt -- sometimes painfully -- to the new journalistic world order. Thirty percent say they have a job in journalism, working for someone else, and are thankful for it. Fifteen percent say I have a job in journalism, working for myself, and am thankful for it.

I encourage you to take a look at the poll and take your own temperature on the issue. Despite everything, I still love journalism in general and my job in particular. I don't know a whole lot of people who are paid for their lifelong hobby, like me!

Friday New Media News Roundup

• For those of you keeping track of layoffs, here's the latest: Thomson Reuters has cut 240 staffers at its legal publishing division, reports PaidContent.org; Washington Times has cut 40% of its 370 employees as it moves toward an online format, reports the New York Times; the Miami Herald cuts 24 jobs, reports the New Times; and Gannett lays off 37 and brings back furloughs, reports PaidContent.org.
• YouTube has launched a channel dedicated to citizen journalists, reports the Telegraph. The new channel lets media organizations "request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”
• Bloggers can now get free legal help from the Citizen Media Law Project, reports Online Media Daily. The project targets independent journalists who write about matters of public interest, with those adhering to standards of "truth, fairness and transparency" receiving first priority, according to the program's FAQ.
  
• The Telegraph has a profile of Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington. And you can read her thoughts on the new path for journalism, written for this week's FTC 2-day workshop here. You can also see my NABJDigital blog post on that topic here.
  
• And former National Association of Black Journalists president Bryan Monroe's guest post on Huffington Post -- Why New Media Looks A Whole Lot Like Old Media -- is a must read.
  
• Do journalists actually look like this? asks the 10000 Words blog. None that I've ever worked with!!

Hey! People Are Still Reading Newspapers!

I just spent the Thanksgiving week home in San Antonio with my family. My Dad loves to walk out to the driveway and pick up his San Antonio Express newspaper and spend time in the morning with a cup of coffee reading it from cover to cover.

I tease him about being a dinosaur, but I admit I do enjoy doing the same once he's finished with the paper. But it's something I don't do at home, having recently canceled my subscription to the Baltimore Sun. A new report from Scarborough Research find that my Dad is not alone: 74% of U.S. adults, or nearly 171 million people, read a newspaper ‐‐ in print or online ‐‐ during the past week, it found. Other findings include:

• 79% of adults employed in white collar positions read a newspaper in print or online
• 82% of adults with household incomes of $100,000 or more read a printed newspaper in print or online
• • 84% of adults who are college graduates or who have advanced degrees read a printed newspaper in print or online

This is a bit of good news for those working at newspapers. But looking at the bigger picture, my question is -- how long will it last? We've all seen the statistics about the younger generations relying strictly on the web -- and not necessarily newspaper sites -- for their news.

And even if we have this glimmer of hope, are the ad revenues needed to support readership ever coming back? I don't think so, as witnessed by media publishing companies continuing to scramble to find ways to bring in new revenue. To me, finding new ways to sustain the traditional newspaper business model is the real puzzle that needs to be solved moving ahead.

What New Media Journalists Can Learn from Sarah Palin's Book

Ok, I'm going to admit it -- I did watch Oprah's show interviewing former VP candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin on her new book "Going Rogue." And I have marveled at how she is steely in her resolve to use said book to go after everyone (yes, that's you, Katie Couric) she feels has wronged her.

During last year's election, I became addicted to the St. Pete Times' PolitiFact blog, which fact-checked the promises, pledges, statements and "truths" told by the presidential campaigns. The Internet has made that job a lot easier for anyone, not just journalists.

To this end, I really enjoyed this post on the Talking Points Memo blog on the Associated Press's fact-checking of Palin's book -- even before it hit the shelves Nov. 17. In its fact check, AP found a virtual treasure trove "that detailed where her claims didn't line up with reality," said TPM. You can see some of what AP unearthed in the book here.

"[AP editors] bought a copy, ripped it from its spine and scanned it into the system so it could be read and electronically searched. A NewsNow moved within 40 minutes, followed quickly by multiple leads as details were gleaned from the 413-page manuscript," wrote Mike Oreskes, an AP senior managing editor in an internal memo obtained by TPM.

The point is, with all the tools out there -- free and low cost -- any reporter worth their salt can do similar checks on all types of stories. This kind of work does 2 things -- it helps sharpen our investigative skills, and, most importantly, it gives us a way to offer that extra value to readers -- who might even pay for it!

Friday New Media News Roundup

• Folio magazine offers up the latest on layoffs at BusinessWeek magazine as it makes the transition to new owner Bloomberg.
• The Associated Press ends up laying off 90 employees to meet its goal to cut payroll by 10%, reports AP. And the Gawker blog is updating a list of those being let go.
  
• AOL is handling its layoffs of 2500 employees a bit differently. It's asking for volunteers, reports the Mashable blog.
  
• The nonprofit Investigative News Network has raised another $500,000 in a bid for more than 20 nonprofits to collaborate on journalism, fundraising, and back-office operations, reports the Nieman Journalism Lab blog.
• News organizations including the Washington Post and Huffington Post are using the new YouTube channel dedicated to citizen journalism, reports the Telegraph.
• The Techdirt blog asks why "The Daily Show" -- a fake TV news program on Comedy Central -- has better fact checkers than some real media outlets.
• Two brothers are hoping to compete against the Detroit Free-Press and the Detroit News by launching the Detroit Daily Press, according to the Isak blog.
• And eBay founder Pierre Omidyar is launching a similar effort in Hawaii.
  
• The excellent 10,000 Words blog has a funny post about the types of pictures stock photo agencies use to portray journalists. I've never seen these people in my newsrooms!

Why You Need that Career Blog

Lately, I have been doing resume reviews for young people. Most of them have pretty good resumes, but I've had to help them on putting them in order and getting them to show off what they can really do. I was surprised at how many of them did not have career web sites or blogs to be the home of their professional work.

With the explosion of the Internet and myriad tools to self publish, there is no reason why everyone -- especially those seeking a job -- can't have a professional web presence. And it doesn't have to cost money. Some people will pay for a professional web site, while most will just use free platforms like Blogger or WordPress to create a blog.

The professional web site/blog serves as your calling card. You can connect it to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. It's especially important to use it for LinkedIn, as more employers look to that site for hiring. A trend I'm seeing is companies using LinkedIn exclusively to hire new employees.

There is no one way to create a career site, but the Personal Branding Blog offers four tips to follow when you decide to start one. And don't forget to include direct links to your best work.

Friday New Media News Roundup

There is just way too much news going on in journalism these days. I had 34 items for roundup this week, but that's just too much, so I managed to whittle it down to 12. Enjoy!

• Anthony Moor, deputy managing editor/interactive at the Dallas Morning News has been wooed away by Yahoo to head up its local news page, reports Editor & Publisher.
  
• The Mental Floss blog posts about 9 times they should have stopped the presses. Events cited include a profile of Pakistani Prime Minister candidate Benazir Bhutto on why terrorist fear her-10 days after she was gunned down by terrorists.
• It seems surprising sometimes, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt is actually a fan of newspapers and print journalism, as outlined in this interview with the Nieman Journalism Lab blog.
• Speaking of Google, it has launched a function that allows users to customize and curate their own news feeds using targeted key words, reports the Mashable blog.
• The New York Times has launched something similar to what Google has done, allowing readers to create custom RSS feeds of its stories, reports the Resource Shelf blog. Did I mention the venture has 30,000 tags for you to choose?
• The Times also reported a story that the company is laying off at least 25 editorial jobs next year and shipping them to the Gainsville Sun. The Sun is owned by the Times and its editorial staff is not represented by a union, the article noted.
  
• The TweetMeme offers up the top 100 Twitter news sources, including BBC, CNN, LA Times, Reuters, Chicago Tribune and Education Week.
• That Rupert Murdoch! First he plans to put up pay walls at all his newspapers. Then he announces that he will "hide" News Corp.'s Web sites from Google Searches, reports Mashable.
• Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog reports that News Corp. is looking at joining Time Inc. on its "Hulu for magazines" venture.
  
• WYPR's The Brian Lehrer Show has TechCrunch columnist Paul Carr and Jeff Jarvis, professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and author of the blog BuzzMachine.com, discussing the merits of citizen journalism in the wake of the Ft. Hood shootings.
• A copy editor at the Toronto Star shows the Torontoist blog why copy editors -- who are being outsourced at the paper -- are still needed.
• And last, but not least, the UK's Times Online has an interesting column on how the Internet is killing storytelling.