I took this picture of the newspaper at "The Tribune" being printed on my iPhone
All throughout the workshop our instructors have been telling us how much they love their jobs as reporters. But, they have also been telling us that due to a harsh economy and transition to online, that journalism isn’t the industry that it used to be.
Newspapers around the country are cutting jobs and hiring less. They told us that the beginning of your career as a journalist is very tough and to expect to be working at several small newspapers or broadcast stations around the country before getting a good job in your area.
This isn’t something that was new to me but it really hit me today when we were told to write a cover sheet for a fake potential job opening. They told us to go on journalismjobs.com and search possible jobs in our area and such. While I was looking at these job openings I thought to myself, “Why am I going to be wasting my time through college to get a journalism degree, only to be a reporter at a small paper with a low salary?” It was really discouraging.
Later in the day the whole group went to a tour of “The Tribune” newspaper in San Luis Obispo. We walked into the building and all I saw was a dimly lit open room with tons of cubicles for reporters and such. All our tour guide was really telling us was how they have been making several budget cuts, laying off reporters and showing us tons of empty desks where people used to work. How depressing!
He then brought us into the printing press area and that is where I realized that I am doing it because of this:
As I was watching the newsprint being printed at an incredible speed I thought to myself, “I am doing this because that printer, that is currently printing several thousand copies of the newspaper, is the culmination of hours of hard work that is going to be spread to thousands of people to see.” I could be providing the service of giving news to thousands of people at home every morning.
I learned that one of the reasons why journalists do what they do is because they are doing something others can’t and are putting in the hard work to make sure everyone is up-to-date on what his happening in the world. As a journalists we carry a lot of power and we can never let that go away. This industry needs dedicated people like me to keep giving the world its news and “defending those who can’t defend themselves” as CSPA director Larry Welborn told us. As a journalist, I feel as if I am a part of something way bigger than me and it’s worth it to maybe not be the most wealthy man in the world so you the reader get your news.