Not that I’m the first–or the only one for that matter– but I feel like the economy is kicking my ass especially hard.
I’m pretty much done with my master’s in journalism and my husband graduated from law school about 2 years ago. And as much as I hate to say it, we both feel like idiots. Both of these professions are always on the list of the worst career paths in this economy.
When it comes to law, people are thinking twice when hiring lawyers. They are opting to take care of a lot of little things themselves (i.e. speeding tickets) or just simply not venturing into things for which they might need counsel from somebody in the legal field. Everybody is playing it safe. The firms, on the other hand, are not looking to expand or just plain hire because of budget cuts, etc.
Journalists are in just as much of a grim situation. Just last week, the Tribune company was all over the news. I don’t think people have stopped reading. They just don’t care for a hard copy of anything nowadays. I’m probably one of the very few people who still supports the newspaper and magazine industry by going out and buying a copy every now and then (that is,whenever my wallet permits me to). I know I can’t save them by myself. But, I get nervous. I get worried. I love reading news off the paper then a screen. Magazines, thank God, are still doing better then newspapers. I find comfort in this since I’m a magazine journalism major. But it’s not long before I start worrying about them too.
But, you know what worries me the most? People don’t even seem to care that newspapers (and maybe magazines) are going obsolete! They’re completely okay with reading headlines on their blackberrys! It’s only the people in the profession and a few students who are hoping to make a living in these industries some day, who give a damn. Some of them aren’t even considering working in a newsroom. Many of them simply want to publish their stories only online. Just today I was at dinner with some friends, and they want to start their own online magazine. One because it pretty much costs close to nothing. And second, except for one of us, none of them have a job.
I’m not really sure what the solution is here. But, I hope we can figure something out soon or we’re going to be in a lot more trouble.
Quite Journalistic 