The bottom line
The Times Leader has cut the Service section from its newspaper as of today. TL bigwigs say this "will improve the newspaper," but with all of the brouhaha over parent company Knight Ridder's finances, one can't help but think if this "will improve the bottom line" instead.
It could be worse. In a more-drastic cost-cutting move, Sinclair Broadcast is closing news departments at television stations in Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and Milwaukee. Possibly more. They're not reducing their news content, they're eliminating it.
You may wonder why so many journalists decide to jump to public relations, a la Kathy Bozinski or Megan Dardanell. Yes, there's the fact that PR tends to have better salaries, but there's also job security. You don't need to worry about whether your parent company will conduct a search-and-destroy mission in your workplace. I had a colleague who accepted a job at a TV station, only to be laid off within two months, because the bean counters wanted to save money.
How I long for the days when journalism was more about the news and less about making money.
It could be worse. In a more-drastic cost-cutting move, Sinclair Broadcast is closing news departments at television stations in Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and Milwaukee. Possibly more. They're not reducing their news content, they're eliminating it.
You may wonder why so many journalists decide to jump to public relations, a la Kathy Bozinski or Megan Dardanell. Yes, there's the fact that PR tends to have better salaries, but there's also job security. You don't need to worry about whether your parent company will conduct a search-and-destroy mission in your workplace. I had a colleague who accepted a job at a TV station, only to be laid off within two months, because the bean counters wanted to save money.
How I long for the days when journalism was more about the news and less about making money.
posted by Howard Beale at 11:50 PM
1 Comments:
Making the jump from teevee to a PR job isn't easy. A logical move, but not an easy one to make. In NE PA, the PR "inner circle" is small, closed, and somewhat incestuous, inasmuch as newcomers are few and far between. Look at the faces and names, they largely stay the same, it's just that they move around from one institution/company/agency to another. If you can bull your way into that "inner circle," you're likely good for a long, long time.
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