- You don't like change - because change is all the industry has to offer you
- You don't have passion for your subject - because people with passion are already talking about your beat on the web, and they're more interesting
- You want to do the job you signed up for five years ago - because that job is history
- You don't like the readers talking back - because they have innumerable methods to respond to your work, whether or not you have comments on articles
- You don't like linking - because links are the new economy of content
- You want to decide what is important - because that power is firmly back in the hands of the public
- You hate technology - because it is the future (and anyway, the printing press and typewriter were technology back in the day)
- You have a narrow view of what skills you need - because the skills you needs are evolving all the time
- If you don't like competition - because your competition is increasing every day
- If you can't listen more than you talk - because if you can't do that, you've never been a journalist at all...
This is a Bad Time to be a Journalist If...
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Adam, that's a fair list but on a few of them:
You don't like the readers talking back - because they have innumerable methods to respond to your work, whether or not you have comments on articles
You don't have passion for your subject - because people with passion are already talking about your beat on the web, and they're more interesting
You don't like linking - because links are the new economy of content
For these you can't blame the journalist. On talking back and links, that's the sort of thing that's decided at a top level, not by the reporter and as for 'passion' you can have passion all you want but in this age of cutbacks most reporters have to focus on the general and not the specifics (which is short-sighted but that's a topic for another day).
Good list though.
Yes, you can blame the journalists for that, if management are already encouraging linking, and are providing reformed structure that allow journalists to concentrate on a beat (which is what's happening at RBI).
As for the response? Well, I clearly stated that people's response doesn't have to be in article comments. It can be in forums, on blogs, on Twitter, none of which are part of your site… Even if management has actively banned you from participating, they can't stop you reading, can they? And if you read, you can learn and shape what you do - or find indirect ways of responding.
This is a good list - sums up how the way we work is changing. Hard as it may be, but I think journalists have to be thinking about their own development and skills right now. If you work for publishers that do not engage with linking, user engagement etc then you are probably working for a business that is not sustainable. If you can't do it 'at work' but have a passion for a subject and the desire to learn new skills then you should be doing that in your own time.
Might add: "You would rather whinge about management than take responsibility for your own career, using whatever tools are at your disposal."
"the printing press and typewriter were technology back in the day" reminds me of scenes from Deadwood (set in a gold-rush town) where the newspaper guy would greet packages of new tech (a camera in particular) coming in on the stagecoach with childish glee while all around him were non-plussed. He saw the potential and that's what made him a journalist.
On the other hand, using television programs to back up opinions is really quite tragic.
It's more a best of times, worst of times thing for me.
Best of times in that we have never had more ways to tell the story and interact with our readers. That is exciting for everyone.
Alot of journalists work hard to make that happen, but they are restricted by the worst of times - embedded working practices based on outdated thinking that are hard to break as an individual in a newsroom, and by cutbacks that heap more work onto their to do list, as Craig McGill said.
Some people do manage to make that development despite the system, but in my experience many feel swamped and struggle to find the time to expand their skills.
That is short sighted and ultimately self-destructive, but if that is the reality now, in your organisation, it can be hard to break out of that way of working.