Clark Kent...unemployed?

Reading Yahoo news yesterday I got a confirmation of what I suspected years ago...the career path chosen by superhero Clark Kent and myself is disappearing. Just in case people don't know what Mr. Kent did for a living (besides saving Lois Lane), he was a newspaper reporter...and a very good one. But being good at news reporting is moot. Good or bad those jobs are going the way of the do-do...extinct.

People will always need and want the news but consolidation/mergers of news agencies is killing competition and jobs are going with them. The days of cities with two or more major newspapers are pretty much gone. Most cities have one paper, if that, these days. There are the smaller alternative papers but even those have consolidated while continuing to give the public the impression that they are small, local and fighting "the man." "The Pitch" fits this description. When I visited The Pitch website I got KC news, events and everything local. When I clicked "work for The Pitch," I got the true deal that The Pitch exists nationwide via Village Voice Media.

While I love writing and always will, I was never naive enough to believe the downturn in newspapers would suddenly change. One problem with papers is the fact that many editors absolutely refuse and reject the notion of change...even though they write and read about it daily. Maybe it's a case of "that's them, not us..." syndrome but it is "us" and it has been "us" for decades. Editors also turned a blind eye to the impact of online media, a major factor reducing the need for full-time reporters on staff.

So what is a reporter to do? Freelance work still exists but as one freelancer once told me, "You really have to hustle your butt to make a living as a freelancer." Essentially, you are an independent contractor, self-employed and subject to all the annoyances that come with that state of being. The real terror is the fact that the number of people wanting to write doesn't seem to be decreasing but the jobs available are.

The advice is to get a writing degree but also a speciality ...politics, technical, etc. Meanwhile, they neglect to mention the efforts a new writer must make to convince established writers that he/she can write. This is no small task and doesn't even account for the natural prejudices anyone entering a career path faces.

I love writing and always have. I left this career path because of reasons listed above and because caring for my son is much more important than continuing to write for a news agency. I found myself working more than 50 hours per week, duties increasing (in addition to writing, I also had to lay out a section of the paper, take my own photos and provide customer service to readers), low pay (about $23k per year), and demands for more work steadily increasing. I can't believe I was the only reporter in the country experiencing these changes. I quit and found a position with set hours, set work, better pay and more room for advancement. I don't write in my new position but it does allow me time to blog.

Blogging can be a way for a young writer to get something out even though he/she isn't being paid. The situation could be worse. As a seasoned reporter, I would not advise a new writer to depend on landing a job and earning enough to pay personal expenses. Better to be realistic, acknowledge the changes in the industry and do what is needed to survive even if it means not taking the news reporter career path.