A lot of writers started in journalism: you practice your craft, hone your skills, learn how to tell a story. That's what I'm doing.
But I wonder if I am in the last generation for whom starting out at a print newspaper will be a reasonable option.
Maybe there is no difference between cutting your teeth at the Daily Bugle or Buzzfeed, and pop culture listicles can teach you how to write as well as covering city council meetings. Who knows? Surely clear, effective writing isn't tied too deeply to newsprint. Surely it will survive in one form or another, as it always has. But it seems like before long, we will have to reexamine what we want from writers and how we want to pay them. Or maybe I'm just a little drunk on a Monday.
risingjihad:
So this entry caught my attention. I find it interesting the concerns with print media in the days of technology. And to be honest I understand the concern. Digital news outlets and blogs have been giving the slow death knell to print journalism. But I would not despair entirely. First and foremost the training of writing will live on through, if anything else, academics. New writers are constantly being trained, whether they go off to write is another matter entirely different. Secondly creating categorical listings on Buzzfeed or the like is not the same as covering city council meetings. What you do is of a greater value even if it reaches a smaller audience. Despite the grim tidings and the concept that print media may not last through many more generations I do not buy into the last of us scenario. Rag printing will always be needed and writers for it always important. Just keep fighting the good fight.