Evolving Because We Don’t Have A Choice

journalists-in-a-newsroom

The news continues to be bad for many journalists so I keep trying to find the good ones. As a person that is still on the cusp of whether or not she will have a job by the end of the year, it’s disheartening to always see bad news.

I had trouble finding any good news, quite frankly, about the print news industry. I guess the “bleed it leads” standard will always apply even when we are talking about the unknown future of print journalism.

Despite it all, I found a couple of things:

From the Weatherford Democrat:

The images will live forever.

The heartbreaking moment caught in time when firefighter Chris Fields carried the body of baby Baylee Almon from the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.

The fiery Twin Towers just seconds after two airplanes crashed into them and minutes before the buildings collapsed into an enormous cloud of dust on Sept. 11, 2001.

The smiling face of then President-elect Barack Obama holding hands with wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha as thousands cheered on election night 2008.

These three historic photographs, displayed on front pages everywhere, exemplify the staying power of newspapers.

It’s true. Look at sales of historic days of papers. I even have a copy of Dewey beats Truman somewhere.

And there is a different way to look at things. The industry is no different than other industries right now.

Newspapers will begin to heal when the nation’s economy rises from its knees and people spend money again. Business conditions are bleak now, but eventually Americans will buy more cars, houses, vacation packages and restaurant meals.

It is disheartening to read all the bad news. It’s frightening waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We can’t count ourselves out yet though. If we do that, then we have already lost the battle. It’s just a matter of evolving.

As is life, we are just going to have to adjust in the same way that autoworkers or business owners are.

We don’t have a choice.

Image credit

One Comment

Backroadsnews said May 15, 2009 | Permalink

Hard times seem to get rid of businesses that were on the cusp of failure anyway. So I hope a new vitality for print returns with the economy.
I have a copy of the space shuttle Challenger explosion, the last few presidential elections, when Saddam was captured and a few others. Fun to collect those things… what would we put in our box of memorabilia if print didn’t exist?

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