Newsroom Jobs Down 49.4% in Bay Area, 36.4% in U.S.
Categories: Media
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| The good ol' days |
Not that we needed a federal report commissioned to tell us that the market has long been grim.
"It has certainly seemed like it was worse here" than elsewhere," said Luther Jackson, economic stimulus manager at the North Valley Job Training Consortium, a nonprofit in Sunnyvale that has released preliminary results of a pending journalism job-loss survey. "Now we have something more to base that on."
The report, which teased local trends out of federal data, says that the number of people working in newspapers declined drastically, while the number of people describing themselves as "reporters" declined less precipitously. According to the report:
This apparent contradiction raises questions: 1. Whether the occupation data are in fact accurate, 2. Whether reporters have been successful in finding work in other industries (while still retaining their occupational title), or 3. Whether employment losses in the industry have affected primarily other occupations besides reporters -- which seems unlikely. This issue will, of course, be addressed in subsequent phases of this study.
One inference is that some laid-off journalists have found jobs in other media, including blogs. Jackson said we will now more when his organization's complete report, which will include individual input from hundreds of local journalists, is released in the next few weeks.
No doubt, the takeaway from that report will, too, confirm that aspiring reporters will probably fare better getting a degree in philosophy.
No doubt, the takeaway from that report will, too, confirm that aspiring reporters will probably fare better getting a degree in philosophy.
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