OK, that may be redundant, but now there’s now a site for venting and venting about the venting. A lot of folks are whining about post No. 470, who in turn was asking the angry jouranlists to stop whining. Life is so meta these days. Says No. 470:
First off, I’m tired of the bitching. I’m a 25-year-old editor of my 24k circ paper and the newsroom (oops Information Center) is filled with bitching. Much of it of horses that have been beaten to deah years before I even entered higher education. Ok, we get it. We’re journalists. We aren’t going to be millionaires. Deal with it. I’m guessing you picked the profession for a number of different reasons, none of which was the financial gain you would get from it.Yes, the industry is in a downturn, so to speak. It has been for a while now. Many of us are being asked to do more with less. It sucks. I know. But how many of you are actively trying to create solutions for the problems facing your paper/company in an attempt to quiet the “bitching� How many of you are trying to make things better? Life sucks right now for journos, and you can either sit there and let the suckdom take over your job or try to turn it around and create a positive out of a negative. You don’t buy in the stock market when everyone else is buying and prices are high. You buy when everyone is selling, prices are low, and you weather the storm. Eventually you’re on top and have a pretty penny in the bank.
And, lastly, I’m tired of hearing day in and day out that the industry is dying. Yes, major metro papers are hurting, but only because people are starting to look more locally for their news. We can get national and international news anywere. Where are all the stories about a paper like mine where we were able, for the first time in YEARS to keep our circ numbers stable for 2007, where we grew web traffic by about 60% YOY from 2006 and where we started 2008 off by exceeding revenue marks by 6%. Where are those stories?
But hey, I guess I’m just a glass-half-full guy in an age of half-empty co-workers.
No. 588 says in response (there are, sadly, no permalinks):
I’m angry because 25-year-old shit heads like Angry Journalist #470 can ignore what he is hearing from seasoned professionals about corporate journalism, the demise of the fourth estate and how it endangers our democracy and then has the nut sack to get all excited about his revenues being up 6%. Making money is easy, even in a down stock market (which your analogy proved you also know nothing about “Gee, buy low sell high is the only way to win†– plenty of folks are making a fortune right now shorting in a downturn.) Making a difference it what it is supposed to be about. I didn’t notice you mentioning that while you were practicing polishing your publisher’s butt with your nose. Go join the Ad Department as you are not a journalist.
Such anger.
Whoa, whoa, whoa is me. Yup, it isn’t too difficult to get tired of all the kevetching. Right Jeff?
Solutions?
As much as I don’t like USAToda, I must say that hidden in their design just might be some of the solutions. I read the Oregonian. This paper is anchored in 1966. It is dying in one of the most wired of cities.
If their newsroom is worried, and anyone over 57 should be, then what the heck are they doing about it?
Where are the change agents in this business?
Thanks for mentioning the site, Jeff.
I was a bit shocked at the reaction to #470 as well. I think I have to agree with parts of what he/she said, but I also think that many of the commenters are too angry to care about his/her valid points.
I agree that there’s a lot to be done to improve the industry and there’s people working damned hard to do that. I think the main issue that a lot of people are coming up against is the leadership above them and poor decision making from those who won’t push back against stockholders. Of course, the flipside includes the dinosaurs resistant to change.
After having read every comment on the site, I still don’t know what the solution is to fix all of this. While I’m excited that I’ve managed to come up with a popular idea for a Web site, I’ve grown more depressed about the industry than I was before I left it last week.
And about the lack of permalinks, I’ll have to look into that sometime this weekend.
[...] the best of all these worlds–journalism jobs & bitching and moaning has come together here. A website where journalist can vent about their job. Ironically enough they post anonymously (lord [...]
> I’m angry because 25-year-old shit heads like Angry Journalist #470 can ignore what he is hearing from seasoned professionals about corporate journalism, the demise of the fourth estate and how it endangers our democracy
As a reader, I’ll point out that “Mr Angry” should be ranting at a mirror.
The so-called “fourth estate” hasn’t been worth a crap for quite a while, and that’s the fault of professional journalists. The only thing that has changed is that readers are now noticing the huge difference between the potential and the reality.
“Making a difference it what it is supposed to be about.”
No, it’s not. It’s about reporting the news. If you want to make a difference become a politician or a social worker.
Andy Freeman and Penny have it right.
The industry is in a well-deserved decline because of arrogant journalists like #588, who feed the public their personal opinions instead of the information the public wants.
I don’t want to know which candidate #588 thinks I should vote for. I want to know the policies and records of all the candidates, and #588 refuses to supply that information. So I’ll find someone who does.