What's the outlook for sports journalists?

This is a classic example. You want news about a particular team, a particular school. You're a fan, so you don't mind at all if it's slanted one direction.

So you have bypassed the newspapers (and local TV, presumably) to get it from TechSideline.com. Are you actually paying for that? Or is it free?

Regardless, you have simply substituted one source for another, one that you happen to prefer. As a consumer, that is your right. But it is an example of the dilemmas that traditional media, particularly newspapers, face.

Perhaps in the future, instead of applying for jobs at newspapers and TV stations, we will apply for jobs working directly for teams and schools or specialty websites.

 

Mark2010:

I agree with you that there are simply too many people and too many outlets vying for the same audience right now. And probably less than half of those people are what we consider traditional sports journalists, those operating under certain ethical and journalistic guidelines as they do their jobs each day.

Basically, everything is so out of whack that I'm not sure where we're headed as I'm sure you can see from my previous posts. ... When I was still in newspapers and first started getting truly concerned about the direction of the industry, I always had this false hope that the "people in charge'' were much smarter than myself and would figure something out.

So far, I've been proven very delusional on that belief. If I've learned nothing else the past few years about the industry, it's that newspapers' worst enemy has been newspaper management and owners. At this point, I think most owners would just as soon see the papers fail to at least save some of that cash they still have from all those years of 25-30 percent profit margins.

I spoke to a friend yesterday for a project I'm working on who has newspaper management experience but is now in private business. He spoke of former GE guru Jack Welch's "core values'' philosophy and how newspapers are so far out of their element right now trying to compete with the web, they have little hope unless they restore their "core values'' and do what they do best.

That certainly goes against my post of ideas from a couple of days ago, but I can't really argue his point and agree in many ways. A restoration of core values may provide newspapers' only real hope of survival and proper place in the landscape of the Internet Age.

He did mention something I had never thought of; with the industry's struggles, why isn't a national organization such as the NAA or the ASNE doing massive TV, radio and Internet ads to promote their product? To make newspapers seem cool and relevant? Excellent point. Can it really hurt at this point?

After he said that, my initial thought was an ad with that line from Shawshank Redemption about the choice to either "get busy living or get busy dying.'' -- I don't recall the quote verbatim, but you probably know the line I'm talking about.

It's safe to safe newspapers have been focused on dying for a while, so maybe trying to live again could spark some life into them.

 

Doug Doughty and Whitey Reid?

 

Off the topic, but how many FSU beat writers have been let go in the past year?

Carter, Jeff Shain, Bob Thomas and I'm guessing I'm forgetting a couple...

Three brilliant veteran writers cut from what should be a pretty important beat in football-crazy Florida.