You'll Always Need Them

Long before the Big Three auto companies got into trouble, the bloodletting was well underway at media companies, especially newspapers. Journalists are losing their jobs by the boatload, and some of the most respected daily papers in the country aren’t even printing a daily edition anymore. Critics blame the failure of media giants to adapt to the online world, but even those that have adapted can’t figure out a way to make it pay – at least the way it used to pay.

So the quality of news coverage is going down as staffs dwindle and those who remain are expected to gather audio and video as well as prepare written pieces on almost constant deadlines. Editors are losing their jobs, too, and it shows clearly in the product. My local paper, for example, did a cover story involving the Marriott hotel chain, with a huge front-page graphic that had the name Marriott misspelled.

I used to be a newspaper editor myself, and I was constantly telling reporters worried about their jobs that their talents would always be needed -- it was just a question of the market figuring out a successful business model. There’s always going to be a need for local reporters to tell you what’s really going on at city hall,the trends that will affect your bank account or the fascinating story you didn’t know about your neighbor. Editors are also needed, not just to make sure the second “t” is on the end of Marriott, but to steer the product in the right direction.

Journalism is one of those professions that many consider superfluous. You know you need police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, plumbers, auto mechanics and teachers, just to name a few. You don’t know you need journalists until they’re missing. It’s also one of those pursuits in which every amateur considers him or herself an expert. For those who complain that the New York Times and CBS News aren’t telling you the real story -- how do you know the average political Web site is telling you the truth? It’s great that consumers have choices now, but most consumers don’t have time to make them or are able to evaluate what they’ve chosen. For that, you need editors.

For those of you who are considering journalism as a profession, don’t be discouraged about what you’re seeing. Someone is going to figure out not only that there’s a demand for you and that what you do is vital to the functioning of a democracy, but a way to market it. Maybe you’ll be working for a nonprofit, or maybe some high-minded person in your community with money will pick up the ball that the big media chains have dropped. But I submit that it’s just a matter of time.

There, now I’ve said it.