career advice! am i just too old?....

I'm from a small town where there always has been one paper and always will be one paper. But when you consider the difference between print and tv, it's huge. I AM including anything *written* as print, so that means Internet, as long as you aren't in front of a camera. I am not saying that papers aren't closing, but the stations who use people, they are cutting down on staff.

Print journalism isn't going to tell you you're too old looking to work for their paper.

And the topic under discussion was actually one poster who wanted a tv news job at an old age. Thriller was out in 1982, so this means they are at least 43, if they graduated in 1986. That's an old start in tv news. I was that age when I applied. I was offering up another way of being a reporter that didn't risk being aged out. The Diane Sawyers of the world are few and far between, and they get a ton of name recognition. To stay in the business past 35, you need that!

Hey, it's all good. Just my .02 cents from my experiences!

Oh, wait, here's a genius idea: go on Survivor! Get your application going today! Rudy on the first show was in his 70's. They still have older people. Get on the show, make a lot of waves so you get tons of air time, then stay on as long as possible. Be as popular with the producers as you can be. Have a great "Q*, and then::::: apply for tv jobs as a former Survivor candidate! Sean Kenniff, at WFOR till 2008, as the health reporter, had a good long 8 year run.

Quite honestly though, if you are realistic about it, so many people bail over the money issue after a few years. Too many people are giving it away....

[The Mockingbird]

I did freelance print reporting for the St. Louis Suburban Journals for about six months for fun in 2002, mostly because it was the perfect low-effort job to give me an external reason to have money. I could pull 8 stories in a day easily, but the reality is I could give two craps so I usually only did 2 and called it a day after lunch. The papers paid 50 bucks a pop for each one it wanted to buy.

Guys like me made it possible for the newspapers to fire a lot of full-time people. Newsrooms that were bustling at the start of my work were ghost towns at the end.

I didn't bother to source stuff, I did easy drive-by stories I could get done in 45 minutes. It looks the same at the bottom of a bird cage, and there's about the same amount of ink.

Eventually, the paper got too cheap to hire people like me.

So I wouldn't exactly portray the newspaper industry as "thriving".

[Another side]

I would have to agree with Angel ... for all the reasons Mock mentioned. Newspapers are and have been dying off for decades now and face the same hurdles as broadcast.

Circulation and advertising is way down compared to, say, 10 years ago and corporate owners have been combining and centralizing editorial and production to to one location, cutting into local control and emphasis that hurts a newspaper's standing and credibilty with whatever readership it is presently enjoying.

Newsroom staffs have been butchered and layoffs and buyouts are common-place. News holes continue to shrink, and most newspapers are now forced to give their content for free online. Some, including the one I read daily, are trying to charge for their online edition though I have no idea to what degree of sucess.

But the bright spot for the original poster is that the present state of things has opened up newspaper jobs for people who don't care about money. They will still hire the young, the old, the very old to help churn out copy ... they just won't pay much for it. Even the Tribune announcement that (I think) Mock linked to notes that the hiring of new employees could follow the buyouts. That's because they want cheaper, not better, and I'm confident they will get it.

Yes, if you're starting out in your 50s you're probably too old for on-camera reporting (and as Angel said, you'll undoubtedly have to retire within five years anyway).

But if you know how to string together sentences and know the local landscape ... AND ... be willing to work for the same peanuts as young TV reporters ... then talk with your local newspaper editor. He or she could have something for you.

[Roy Hobbs]

Originally Posted by Another side

then talk with your local newspaper editor. He or she could have something for you.

I'll say...rrrrrowl!

[The Mockingbird]

Originally Posted by Roy Hobbs

I'll say...rrrrrowl!

Apparently they have a bunch of old office equipment.

[Fake Post]

I've said it here before and I will say it again, one person can run a popular news and/or gossip web site with little or no financial backing.



Even though I think he is a right wing nutbag, I have got to give it to Matt Drudge for having one of the most popular sites on the internet.

[The Mockingbird]

Sure, just find some lobbyists to unofficially sponsor you, I believe that's the going thing these days.

[News Is Broken]

Be a stringer. You don't need a job to work in news. You just need a camera, a scanner, a fast car and huge cajones. If you're good, you can make a living at it. If you're really good, you might even get shot at.

Good times.... fond memories.