Maybe I should’ve sought a career as a milkman. You know, delivering fresh milk every morning to the doorstep in quart-sized glass bottles with cardboard caps and a couple of inches of cream on top. You don’t?
Instead, 40 years ago I became a newspaper reporter at a small suburban daily in Texas. I went on to jobs at another Texas paper and then at papers in Shreveport and Miami. None of those jobs exist anymore because none of those papers exist.
Perhaps that is one hint as to why Careercast.com has chosen to recognize the career of newspaper reporter with its highest distinction: The Worst Job in America. Yes, newspaper reporting has leapfrogged from No. 5 a year ago — over roughnecking, soldiering, dairy farming and lumberjacking — to the top spot. The recognition is well earned. The pay is lousy at an average of $36,000 and going down. The prospects for jobs is awful, projected to be 6 percent fewer by 2020.
In fact, Paul Gillin, founder of NewspaperDeathWatch.com, predicts newspapers will disappear in 10 years. I suspect he is a bit premature, and small town papers will still fill a niche.
But if you are showing no anguish over the loss of this once vaunted profession, check out this item over at NewspaperDeathWatch.com: It seems someone at a popular social media website decided to experiment with “crowdsourcing journalism” and asked site users to sleuth the ‘net and find the Boston Marathon bombers.
Allow Rabbie Burns to explain what happened:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
4TH ST8 
Sent from my iPhone
John L. Smith says “nothing”???? It’s an old quotation but “no answer is an answer”. It’s only my opinion but if news people give a story without bias they might gain readership, most of us that subscribe to newspapers would prefer some unvarnished truth on current events, why not just report that the Boston bombing was a carefully laid plan by individuals that wanted to kill and harm Americans. We readers make up our own minds, we don’t need Obama or anyone else explaining it as if there were monumental intricacies. It wasn’t politics, it was ideology, why do news people rush first to get their answers from politicians when they know the politicians will couch careful mitigating responses.
But your sacrifices helped build Smith Center!
We don’t even get discounted tickets.
Our country will be much the worse for the virtual loss of this profession.
Not so sure its time to declare RIP for papers. Rove Bros may become a savior of sorts and could give conservative voices, long absent in Main Stream Papers, a chance in the process.
I’m not familiar with Rove Bros. Can you inform me?
Sorry, Koch not rove.
Saviors? These guys are pushing for indentured servitude.
Indentured servitude? Been there. Done That.
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That’s what they have right now! At least the bros will provide some stability….
I believe the death of newspapers “has been greatly exaggerated.” Some media carrying the news may temporarily become more popular for a while, but there will never be anything like the convenience of the newspaper. Sure we all can get our headlines via computer, tablet or phone, but print media offers details and insight not usually carried by even the most legitimate news websites. I may be biased because I have been in love with newspapers since I was old enough to read. I won’t give up on them. Besides, do we really want to carry our Kindle or iPad into the bathroom to kill some time? I think not.
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Once I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the same comment. Is there any approach you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
I can’t find a tool that would allow me to do that.
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