1. The ASME reported yesterday that the newspaper industry lost some 5900 newsroom jobs last year -- a plunge of approsimately 11.3 percent. Read about it here.
Does anyone know how that percentage compares to the job cuts in other industries? Might be a way to gauge how much of the newspaper deathwatch is due to a failed business model -- and how much is due to a tanking economy.
If the scale dips in favor of the latter, maybe there is a chance that TK's optimistic prediction (er, false hope?) that five years from now the newspaper industry will be back on its feet, will come to pass.
Seems like a question Jack could answer.
2. Of the many of the online news sources that have sprung up to fill the watchdog void on the local level, most have not begun to address what ELSE we lose with the demise of local newspapers: coverage of the local culture and the arts -- the riverbanks stuff. Or sports. Or even reporter-writen obits. Clearly, with limited resources, the investigative imperative trumps the rest. But we need other stuff, too. It is, in fact, where local reporting and writing often shine, and where you get a sense of your own community.
Is anyone addressing this? On a professional level? Just asking.
btw, check out the post below this one. much better. bk
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j.linx: news, connections and conversations on the future of journalism
- barbara kelley
- I teach journalism and direct the journalism emphasis at Santa Clara University. As a freelance journalist, i have written for daily newspapers and their Sunday magazine sections as well as a variety of regional and national magazines. Among them: Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, salon.com, California Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, Utne Reader, Health Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Redbook, Bay Area Parent and Pacific News Service. This blog is for students -- and anyone else who wants to join the conversation about the future of journalism.
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I think that print newspaper still has a potential to be maintained because there are many loyal readers who enjoy their paper in print. With the downsizing of newspapers I think that there will be even more reporting from the local level because reporters will have less funding to travel and write about investigative stories from abroad. As insightful as local news might be I think there is a real loss in the opportunities reporters have to be oversees and investigate. The local stories easier to encounter (although not always), we need to be exposed to those stories not as easily accessible to create exposure to new issues.
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