OK, I'm not extinct, but my profession is the second most endangered career, according to a Vantage Media, LLC article that is based on partly on the U.S. Department of Labor's projections about future jobs.
Actually, I knew my profession was in danger long ago. It would be impossible not to. However, I disagree with the article's analysis about why reporters or correspondents are "nearing extinction."
Nick Gidwani, the founder of SkilledUp, a website that teaches people how to improve their job skills, told Vantage Media writer Andrea Duchon that the Internet is the primary cause of the profession's decline. The argument makes sense because amateur reporters can post their articles on the Internet and, thus, could make articles written by professional reporters less valuable.
However, the Internet should have been a boon to the newspaper business because it saves companies millions of dollars in printing and distribution costs and, thus, should have made hiring more reporters more affordable. In my opinion, the primary causes of the industry's decline were large newspaper companies buying smaller companies and the total greed and stupidity of newspaper executives.
Mergers destroyed the product as well as the labor market. By the 1990s, newspapers no longer had any incentive to produce a quality product and their executives were often people with no background in news who didn't particularly care about publishing a quality product.
I can vividly recall hearing newspaper consultants for a national newspaper chain that published five daily Chicago-area newspapers tell media professionals that they could save a lot of money by printing the same "community" news in all five newspapers rather than have each newspaper print different local news articles. They acted as if they were geniuses who had just discovered electricity. EVERYONE knew you could do that, but newspapers didn't do that because they didn't want to eliminate community news from community newspapers.
The consultants were absolute morons. They eliminated 80 percent of each community newspaper's news. Circulation plunged. Who suffered? The bosses tried to recoup their losses by firing editors, reporters and photographers. This brilliant move caused the newspapers to publish fewer community news stories and spurred more circulation losses. The cycle was endless. I don't think the executives ever suffered because of their reckless decisions.
OK, my rant is over. The Vantage Media article says the four other most endangered careers are desktop publisher, computer repairer, floral designer and file clerk. Fortunately, people with those skills can pursue jobs in "alternative careers" that the U.S. Department of Labor projects will have strong job growth this decade -- graphic designer, computer programmer, event planner, and health information technician.
And reporters who are endangered should consider the alternative career of public relations specialist, the article says. There will be 58,200 more PR jobs by 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
I have done a significant amount of public relations work in recent years as I've tried to make the adjustment from full-time reporter. Sometimes, companies pay well. Sometimes, they don't. Sometimes, companies respect writers. Sometimes, they don't.
Ironically, I now write more jobs advice articles than ever although I feel less qualified than ever as I've struggled to make the transition from reporting work. In the next few days, I will post advice articles on how to write better resumes and cover letters.
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