I know I’ve been slow to get with the cutting-edge thinkers who are running America’s media companies right now, but I think I’m finally getting it:
This column will be short. Sorry, I mean it will be right-sized.
And I promise not to stop there. If I can find the right “high-quality editorial and design services” vendor in India, I’ll consider doing my part to support the outsourcing of American journalism.
For the moment, though, I’ll use this space to send a heartfelt message to the hundreds of journalists (soon to be thousands, I’m guessing) who are losing their jobs in this ongoing — and accelerating — purge of American newsrooms. My message is simple:
Take heart. You have skills that will serve you well, no matter what you choose to do.
Yes, I hope you find a way to stay in journalism. But, frankly, no one should hold it against you if you decide that you and your families have had enough of this madness.
Recently I got a call from a journalist who knew from a past column that I had worked in public relations for a few years after leaving The Philadelphia Inquirer. The journalist was weighing a job in public relations and was concerned about three things: First, was it a betrayal of some sort to leave journalism? Second, would she miss the “electrifying rush of a good breaking story and the sense of purpose it instilled?” And third, can a former journalist come back to the business after working in public relations?
I asked the journalist why she was considering a public relations job. Because, she said, she and her husband — a teacher — simply could not afford to buy a house with their salaries.
I answered her questions like this: First, working in public relations does not preclude a return to journalism. I’d argue you might even be a better journalist for having had the experience of being covered by journalists. Second, there may well be days when you miss the rush; hopefully, there will be more days when you find great satisfaction in the work you choose to do. And finally, if anyone should feel betrayed, it should be the journalist who worked 11 hours a day for more than a decade and wasn’t paid well enough to buy a house.
She took the public relations job.
Perhaps she’ll return to journalism someday. I hope so. But I hope even more that she and her husband can look back in 20 years and say they did the right thing for their family.
I hope the same for the journalists who are facing similar career decisions — many because they were dumped by their employers. Remember how talented you are: You can write. You can think critically. You can ask good questions. You are creative. You have passion. You can handle tight deadlines.
The business world, I assure you, values these skills and — this might be too obvious a point — needs more people who possess them.
Take heart. You will survive this.
As for your communities, I’d say the jury is out. What has happened recently in Baltimore, Boston, Hartford, Conn., Daytona Beach, Fla., Palm Beach, Fla., San Jose, Calif., and other cities will undoubtedly happen elsewhere in the weeks ahead as the economy, the media revolution and years of missed opportunities drive down revenues. In some newsrooms, the cuts are being accompanied by pledges to reorganize and fulfill a responsibility to public service. In others, the cuts are being justified by the equivalent of efficiency studies. We may as well be discussing the production of pickles.
No matter how carefully or reluctantly the downsizing is being executed, let’s be clear: The disbanding of America’s news-gathering force is gaining speed. And for a republic that relies on a free flow of credible information to thrive, we should all be frightened by this dismantling.
Sorry, I meant right-sizing.
