Do you copy?
The future of journalism as a career
by Diego Pelaez-Gaetz
“I don’t know if my job will exist in 10 years.”
Copy editor of The Gazette and writer of the popular Fagstein blog, Steve Faguy’s uncertainty about his future mirrors the uncertainty of an entire industry.
With media conglomerate Canwest—who owns his employer—in bankruptcy protection and several other newspaper giants reeling, the future of the journalism industry has become increasingly unclear.
“With more content on the internet, copy editing becomes devalued,” explained Faguy, one time editor-in-chief of The Link. “At some point, the newspapers have to decide whether they want two journalists writing two stories with typos or one journalist with a copy editor. My feeling is that they’ll opt for the two stories with typos.”
The explosion in popularity of online news sources has fundamentally changed the way people, particularly young people, obtain their news.
“Honestly, I haven’t picked up an actual newspaper outside of the [Gazette] office in quite some time,” said Faguy. “That’s not to say I don’t read any news; I just get my news from other sources online.”
While newspapers continue to turn a profit for the most part, the anxiety is still palpable in newsrooms across the country.
“Everyone’s anxious, everyone’s nervous,” said Faguy. “Everyone knows [Canwest] has large amounts of debt. The situation is tangibly about tightening budgets. The Gazette, for example, is reducing their number of sections from five to three. [...] They’re trying to soften the damage.”
The problem is figuring out how to make money on the Internet.
“Online media experts aren’t even sure what’s going on yet; they’re still not sure how to make money [from online advertising],” he explained.
Despite the potentially gloomy forecast, however, Faguy still sees opportunities for aspiring journalists—just not in the same capacity they might expect.
“If your ambition is the old dream of graduating journalism school and becoming a reporter on a major metropolitan paper, then you’re almost certainly going to be disappointed,” said Faguy. “On the other hand, if you have multimedia skills or online skills, then there are opportunities out there.”
There are also encouraging signs that online revenue could partially sustain the industry. The Los Angeles Times, for example, found that they would be able to pay their journalists’ salaries just from online revenue [not including support staff].
But “journalism will have to change,” according to Faguy. “A lot of journalists whose job it was to re-report other stories can just link to them now. What newspapers are going to have to do is focus on creating their own content rather than re-write other stories [...] if they’re smart about it.”
So for aspiring journalists, while the landscape isn’t quite as bleak as many would have you believe, jobs in the industry are undergoing real fundamental changes.
“Some people think [newspapers will] be dead in five years, but that’s an exaggeration; they’re still making money,” said Faguy. “Even if newspapers do disappear, someone will step in to take their place. Maybe they won’t make as much money [as traditional media], but someone will replace them.”
The Link Volume 31 Issue 01