Response Post for Journalism

As a student of journalism, it’s startling to think what lies ahead on the horizon for print media.  We could be facing a world that becomes entirely digital with no forms of media on paper.  Information and communication will be made up of ones, zeros, and bits.

Although the budgets and staff of traditional print newsrooms are shrinking in today’s digital world, 60% of all news reported comes from print staffers.  Yet they are the ones that are being the hardest hit.  At first I think it doesn’t seem fair.  These are professional journalists that stock the flow of information to everyone around the world.  But who knows how much longer their efforts will be needed.  What will happen when our main source of reporters is left with no funding to continue?  The only answer is for print to find a replacement for traditional print advertising that can rake in the same amount of profit as before the digital age.  But what is that answer?

When I first jumped into the professional field of journalism in the working world, many news sites were beginning to put up subscriptions wall to their online content.  This in turn drove reluctant readers away and didn’t help bring in any new profits.  As a result this idea was abandoned and all bets were placed on online advertising, or “pay per click”.  This wasn’t much of a success either.  As the print paper shrank, online content grew.  And money woes stayed the same … or worsened.

Today we hear of media sites thinking about the online subscription model yet again.  Maybe this time it will work.  Maybe society wasn’t ready for online payments a few years back when the online media boom was just beginning.  Statistics now show that online news is the most popular source for daily information.  The only problem is, will these statistics still be true if readers are required to pay for their online news consumption.  May people enjoy online news because it can be personalized to their tastes and is convenient.  These factors won’t change.  Media outlets are only asking for some compensation to their reporting.

Keep in mind that it’s not only the reporters that are suffering.  How do you think the paper is printed each morning?  What happens if one of those giant printing press machines breaks or the paper trucker needs to make an extra run for more newsprint?  Regular human workers run all these functions at a print institution.  Usually, the staff in the pressroom outnumbers the workers in the newsroom and advertising department of a local paper.  The reporters are not the only ones that are facing layoffs and company bankruptcy.

I hope society learns that media is an industry just like any other well-oiled machine in this country.  In order to stay afloat, profits need to be made and competition needs to thrive.  I hope I don’t see the day when professional journalism is swallowed whole simply because we want to save a few dollars a year on an online subscription to news.

Tags: advertising, budget, digital, journalism, professionals, profit, reporters, response, subscription