The continuous decline of traditional media, newspaper journalism and other local community news media, subscribers and the reports that many who are involved in the newspaper business are having financial crises and are at risk of being defunded is still the uproar mainly because majority of us are now depending on the Web to get daily news information.
According to Neil Henry, a journalism professor at UC Berkeley:
I see a world where corporations such as Google and Yahoo continue to enrich themselves with little returning to journalistic enterprises, all this ultimately at the expense of legions of professional reporters across America, now out of work because their employers in “old” media could not afford to pay them.
Being a journalist by profession, this particular recurrent news saddens me. Apparently, utterly guilty that I didn’t pursue to be in the investigative journalism limelight. The thrilling chill of having to face the challenges and danger scares me. And there’s the disappointing fact that it would take me a long while to become successful and to be known in this industry where politicking is still the game. I’ve previously planned on taking up a specialization course in Journalism, yet, as if something was really meant to direct me some place else, I wind up into a writing career which requires you to focus online, all the time. I contribute in magazines and newspapers sometimes, but it’s nothing compared to what I should be doing right now - handling newsflash reports instead of visibility and statistical reports. If it isn’t obvious enough, and having to say this makes me detestable to myself, oftentimes the motivation is having the opportunity of earning a better pay. Anything on the Web attracts more, if not equal, attention which means more profit than the crowd who catch a glimpse of advertisements on billboards (Google has one too!), the $7 billion outdoor market, while on the road.
Many journalists get laid off for lack of finances to pay for their hard-work not because they have no potential at all and some of them simply leave their precious jobs (that I’d love to exchange them with mine) for a better-paying job(e.g. problogging,web copywriting jobs, etc) to provide their families with their necessities.
“If “old” media cannot successfully adjust to the digital age, too bad, these critics argue. The corporate media were never that good in the first place, they say, and have failed us miserably in the past” Prof. Henry said. “There are plenty of alternatives on the Web to take traditional journalism’s place, including the millions of bloggers opining about the news, not to mention powerful news aggregators such as Google and Yahoo whose computerized search robots harvest riches of news and other content provided by others — and generate billions of dollars in annual profits for their owners.” he continued.
In my own opinion and in agreement that it’s nobody’s fault, not the genius founders of Google, Yahoo or Live, they should not feel in any way responsible for subsidizing newspaper journalism. Providing funds to support and help individuals hone their skills in responsible and objective journalism, though, would be much appreciated. Whenever that happens, I’d be one of the first to turn themselves in.
