Comments on: Should young journalists expect newspapers to exist in 10 years? https://bradlinder.net/2007/06/should-young-journalists-expect-newspapers-to-exist-in-10-years.html Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:17:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Davis Freeberg https://bradlinder.net/2007/06/should-young-journalists-expect-newspapers-to-exist-in-10-years.html#comment-185 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:17:04 +0000 http://bradlinder.net/?p=303#comment-185 It's certainly a fair question given how much has changed over the last 10 years. There will always be demand for high quality reporting, but I have a feeling that we are only just beginning to see consolidation in the industry. In the future, papers will look more towards sites like the AP for content instead of paying a full time writer. There will be a lot more deals with blogs for free content or freelance stuff. There will be some who will be able to make enough money as full time professionals, but there will need to be cutbacks in the industry, before it can become healthy again.

Today, anyone can start an online newspaper. This sets the minimum wage pretty low, but it also sets the overall quality pretty low. There are a lot of sites that just cut and paste content with very little analysis. Can a good writer be heard over the din of all those pounding keyboards? I think that they can, but it certainly won't be easy making a living out of it. If I was a young writer thinking about my career, I would be focusing more on trying to develop my own brand or ad network, than to try and rely on traditional papers to keep me employed. This would probably mean less job security in the short run, but more long term security, if you can get a publication to take off.

]]> By: Davis Freeberg https://bradlinder.net/2007/06/should-young-journalists-expect-newspapers-to-exist-in-10-years.html#comment-1374 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:22:11 +0000 http://bradlinder.net/?p=303#comment-1374 It’s certainly a fair question given how much has changed over the last 10 years. There will always be demand for high quality reporting, but I have a feeling that we are only just beginning to see consolidation in the industry. In the future, papers will look more towards sites like the AP for content instead of paying a full time writer. There will be a lot more deals with blogs for free content or freelance stuff. There will be some who will be able to make enough money as full time professionals, but there will need to be cutbacks in the industry, before it can become healthy again.

Today, anyone can start an online newspaper. This sets the minimum wage pretty low, but it also sets the overall quality pretty low. There are a lot of sites that just cut and paste content with very little analysis. Can a good writer be heard over the din of all those pounding keyboards? I think that they can, but it certainly won’t be easy making a living out of it. If I was a young writer thinking about my career, I would be focusing more on trying to develop my own brand or ad network, than to try and rely on traditional papers to keep me employed. This would probably mean less job security in the short run, but more long term security, if you can get a publication to take off.

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