Voices singin' let's be jolly.....

deck the halls with boughs of... reporter pads?



With the future of media currently hanging in the balance, some journalists are finding it hard to be positive about this whole situation. Fortunately, I'm not one of them. (Otherwise I'd be seriously thinking about changing my major...) But to reassure those who are apprehensive about declining circulation or diminishing credibility, I found the top ten reasons to be a "jolly journalist".

Check it out and embrace the positivity!!

"Is she talking about the future AGAIN?!"

I know I sound like a broken record, but as a newsie entering the market in the midst of a recession, I feel like it's important to anticipate where media is headed in the next five years or so.

The state of the economy right now is presenting this industry, as well as many others, to reexamine the way that we do things. It's an opportunity to weed out the inefficiencies within the industry and to find and hire only the best of the best, who will then create innovative ways to approach journalism that will enable the industry to prosper when the economy picks back up again.

As inspiring as that sounds, it scares me to death. I have to be the best of the best. Otherwise, I'll get thrown out with the rest of the garbage and tossed into a roiling economy.

So the more I'm able to foresee regarding the future of journalism, the more prepared I'll be when it's my turn to start coming up with answers to media's many problems.

Today's topic: the reality of an all-digital product.

I know what you're thinking.

"You can't take away my newspaper! I read it every morning. I carry it with me on the subway. If I can't hold the paper in my hands and leaf through it, I don't want anything to do with it."

The idea of going digital is definitely intimidating, even for the child of a generation that isn't used to a paper product. For years, I hung on to the perception that print would last forever because that's what was comfortable to me. But now, the odds have changed with the invention of one product: the iPhone.

I've talked about the importance of hyperlocal coverage and being the interactive hub for your community. Well, think about being able to access that interactivity at any time, in any place on a BlackBerry. All of a sudden, the possibilities of a digital product become endless.

Take the issue of convenience. Most people like print products because they're light and portable. You can whip out a newspaper on a subway or bus or even during gridlock traffic and absorb the news. Now with iPhones and BlackBerrys, we're talking about being able to have that same portability, only with even more convenience because you won't be elbowing your neighbor in the face trying to get to the business section.

But the convenience doesn't stop there.

Imagine the day when everyone has some sort of smart phone (and such a day isn't here yet, but it's just around the corner). Say you live in Small Town, Texas. Every day, you can use your phone (or personal computer or whatever) to listen to music, read the paper, email your coworkers, blog with your friends. Then, say you decide to vacation in Chicago for a change of scenery, but you've never been there before. Well, the minute your airplane touches down, you can use your phone to find restaurants, museums, theater listings, parks, attractions, anything within walking distance from your hotel. Lost? Your phone has a GPS system installed so that you can find your way back or stop in for a drink somewhere instead. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

There's the future of newspapers. We want to be the providers of all of that information. A one-stop shop. Instant gratification. A virtual guide to places and to people. We want to be your personal digital handbook to life.

Unfortunately, that future isn't here yet. Right now, only a small percentage of people find value in or can afford this kind of technology. But that percentage is growing every day. Until then, we're going to have to incur some costs without any immediate returns in order to be ready, which is probably the biggest challenge facing our industry today, especially in light of the recession.

Growing pains are necessary and inevitable, but who ever said they were easy? Newspapers aren't going anywhere. Not on my watch.

Future of newspapers in circulation?!

It's been a long day, but I want to touch briefly on something that I never thought I would develop a passion for: circulation.

During our monthly staff meeting, I had the pleasure of sitting with the VP of circulation for the company. He helped guide me through the day-long, in-depth meeting with ease. Now, I've never been interested in circulation, but some of his guidance must have rubbed off on me.

Following lunch break, he began to give his monthly report and was promptly attacked by a coworker for significant decreases in circulation. I understand where the coworker was coming from; he's worried that we're not doing enough to fight for our subscribers and to continue to support the value of our product. While advertising may keep newspapers afloat, it's circulation that forms the base of the entire industry. No readers, no newspaper.

However, in this case, I disagree.

Declining circulation is just one of the many changes that newspapers will go through as we move into a new age of journalism. Particularly, the future of journalism means lower circulation than we've been used to since...well, since forever.

All I've been hearing since I threw myself into this industry is hyperlocal, hyperlocal, hyperlocal. The future of newspapers is hyperlocal. And I'm a complete supporter of this. So it's common sense to assume that the more local we try to make newspapers, the more we're going to need to start tightening up circulation by pulling out of areas that are beyond each paper's optimum market.

First of all, the more local our coverage gets, the less it will appeal to people the farther from a market you get. One of the company's newspapers in Jacksonville, Fla., was still sending papers to a small rural town in Georgia more than three hours away. People in Vidalia don't care about what's happening in Jacksonville. They care about what's happening in their own area. I haven't researched Vidalia enough to determine how well its newspaper serves its readers, but I suspect that if it decides to go hyperlocal as well, Vidalia will be even less inclined to purchase a Jacksonville paper. We finally pulled circulation from Vidalia, but there are still people who want to hang on to that kind of dead-weight circulation. The fact of the matter is, if people aren't reading the paper, why provide it?

Secondly, with the economy taking a downturn, it's no longer efficient to send newspapers in trucks for hours out into the field. Gas prices are skyrocketing along with newsprint. It just makes sense. Pull in circulation. Print fewer papers. You'll use less gas and less newsprint, but still be able to maintain a tight-knit community through a credible journalism product.

And the final factor to consider in this circulation roundabout is the push for online journalism. The more we develop online, the more available news will become for people who don't live directly within the market without the cost of sending them a print product. Pretty soon, online coverage will be completely local and totally in-demand. People will be begging for more video coverage of their child's soccer games or audio clips of their high school's marching band. This will bring in not just local viewers, but grandparents and talent seekers and all kinds of viewers from around the world. "Circulation" may need to add a new component: page views.

To sum it all up, decline in circulation is healthy, natural and necessary. It is my firm belief that circulation in every paper will continue to decline until each paper reaches its optimal market size.

A novice's attempt to read journalism's palm

The interns are being featured in one of the company's publications, so we had to write a couple paragraphs about the "future of journalism." So, here's my forecast. I only call 'em as I see 'em:

This is an extremely exciting time to be a journalist. I know you’re thinking, “Is she crazy?!” Maybe. But fresh out of college and brimming with new ideas, I can’t think of another environment I would rather be thrown into. The challenges that this profession currently is confronted with allow journalists to come together, pool their knowledge and completely renovate the entire face of print journalism itself. It will take the combined wisdom and innovation of every reporter, copy editor, sales rep, accountant, publisher and CEO to find solutions to the problems faced by newspapers today. The key to saving newspapers is cooperation.

The newspaper is not headed for disaster, though many people are quick to condemn it. Newspapers have been around since ancient Rome when the news was chiseled into stone tablets. Since then, metal, silk and, finally, paper have served as mediums for the distribution of news. Now, it’s time for the news to choose a new medium: the Internet. While I once swore that the print newspaper would be around forever, I am beginning to embrace the fact that the newspaper is changing. No longer is it profitable or efficient to provide a print product. With the prices of gas and newsprint rising exponentially and advertising revenue decreasing due to an economic downturn, it is no coincidence that huge advances are being made in online journalism at the exact same time. An online news product is the future of journalism, and so many doors will be opened that journalists won’t know where to begin.

I currently don’t have the answers to lowering expenses or raising ad revenue, but I have confidence that the problems will be solved sooner rather than later. There are so many innovations in online journalism waiting just around the corner. In the near future, technology will permit newspapers to take demographic information from online subscribers and allow each subscriber to create his or her own individual, unique news product. And being able to target a specific market is an advertiser’s dream, so advertising will start picking up and so on. An online product has the ability to become the local information hub of any area. We have all of the building blocks to make it happen, but they’re scattered around the globe. Our job right now is to figure out how to put them all together to create the new face of journalism.

Excitement! In picture format, anyway.

Here's my latest adventure.



I went on a 10-day trip to England, Wales and Scotland in May. We spent three days in London, visited my best friend who's been studying abroad in Wales and stayed in Edinburgh for three days, throwing in a hiking trip in the Highlands somewhere in there.

It was such an eye-opener and if I thought my wanderlust was bad before, it's only gotten worse since I returned to the States! I can't wait to travel more. Actually, it made me want to travel to Asia. Random, I know. But I've never had a desire to go there at all. Suddenly, I want to visit China and Japan and Indonesia just because I know that it would be an entirely different culture and experience.

At least I've chosen a profession that might facilitate my desire to travel, even if it's just in the United States.

One thing I'll say, though - a seven-hour plane ride is much more enjoyable when you have people to talk to.

A breath of fresh air

Today was refreshing.

I never thought I'd have the opportunity to have lunch in a room with 100+ people who share the same passion as me. Now I can check that off my list.

I feel so honored and even unworthy to be treated like a queen by executives who have been in this business since before I was born. The moment we (the interns) walked in the door, everyone smiled and called us by name. The company held a luncheon in our honor and introduced us by asking us questions Tonight Show-style. Everyone went out of their way to say hello or pop their head into one of our meetings to catch another glimpse of us. It's unreal.

One of the executives took some time out of her day to speak to us briefly about the problems the company is grappling with in the face of a changing industry within a struggling economy. Sounds kinda boring when I put it like that.

But she said everything that I've been thinking in my head for the past two years or so. She talked about how the economy is bad right now, but that's normal. It's part of the cycle. It's nothing to get worked up over or obsessed with. Yeah, it means we have to work a little harder for a while, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.

And she also talked about how she is in the profession for the long haul because she believes in it. Just like me, she believes that the work we do as journalists benefits everyone. We are the voice of truth. No matter how bad the economy is or how difficult things may get, we are the ones who give the people what they need and what they want. And that makes us better people. Right now, journalism is no place for those who are in it for the money. The only people that this profession has room for are people who believe in it.

I've never felt such a sense of purpose before. And it's only Day One! This summer is going to be amazing.

The quest continues

Well, I'm off on another adventure!

Or at least that's what my mom calls it. I never really considered a summer management internship an adventure. But then I took into account the fact that, only a week after returning from a trip to Europe, I'm moving to a new city where I don't know anyone and won't see my friends and family for almost two months. Then, I started to agree with my mom.

But I like being out on my own. And I like being in a new place and not knowing what to expect. I'm a restless twenty-something - what's new?

I'm really beginning to like it here. After braving the intimidating I-20 construction and locating Wal-Mart without a GPS, I feel pretty confident in my ability to adapt to a new environment with ease. Even now, I'm deprived of Internet and cable and yet I can't find a single thing to complain about.

I have an amazing (free!) apartment, an awesome internship, some great fellow interns, the nicest bosses ever and a possible job offer at the end of all this. It's just all kind of surreal.

So tomorrow's my first day. I'm honestly not that nervous. Maybe I should be. Our HR contact told us little about what's going on tomorrow except to mention that at some point we're going to be sitting on a stage and answering questions...hmm....

So, it'll be interesting. But I definitely feel like I'll come away from this internship with a renewed interest in my profession and reassurance that journalism is my calling.

Management, here I come!