My first newspaper job was selling classified ads over the phone for The Valley Times in Beaverton, Oregon, the summer after my freshman year in college. I’d started writing for my college paper and was thrilled to have a job – any job – in the newspaper business, even if it meant inputting ads for […]
You can still be a reporter, just not in a newsroom
Attention journalists. The newspaper reporting and editing jobs you’ve been laid off from aren’t coming back anytime soon, at least not in the form you left them. You probably already know that. So what’s next? You could go to law school, switch to PR or dig up dirt on public companies for a corporate investigator. But if […]
Top 10 digital media trends of 2008
This is the last new post I’ll write in 2008, so it seems fitting to look back at the biggest stories of the year in the digital media business and how they’ll affect on freelancers now and in the future. I’ll weigh in with my top 10 first. Feel free to send your own suggestions […]
WordCount Q&A – NewspaperDeathWatch's Paul Gillin on online community news
Paul Gillin writes the NewspaperDeathWatch blog and it’s safe to say, he’s never been busier. As print advertising continues to plummet and online ads have yet to pick up the slack, papers are cutting frequency, shrinking geographic distribution, laying off workers – really doing anything and everything they can to cut costs – and anticipating […]
WordCount weekly news recap
Bad news continues for news companies. Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection, freezing deferred compensation payments to former employees and making it uncertain whether freelancers with unpaid invoices will get their money from the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Listener-supported radio news hasn’t escaped the current downturn. This week National Public […]
WordCount recap – Weekly news from the digital media biz
A scenario for news – Prognosticating about the future of the news business on his BuzzMachine blog, industry guru Jeff Jarvis says there’s definitely a place for freelancers. The future of news is all about community – covering it and working with it. Examples of this already abound, such as the Seal Beach Daily community […]