Lamenting journalism has become a form of its own these days. The Columbia Journalism Review has invited all of us who’ve left journalism jobs against our own wishes to join this collection.
Parting Thoughts: Jim Spencer
‘I still want journalism. Journalism just doesn’t seem to want me.’
By Jim Spencer Tue 22 Jul 2008 12:38 PMWhen the assistant managing editor trundled over to summon me to my “involuntary separation” from the Denver Post, I was working on an exclusive column about the Crips and Bloods’ turf war at the city’s supposedly family-friendly “Jazz in the Park” series. The timing came to symbolize for me what has happened to the news business. My scoop didn’t matter. Neither did the ten writing awards I won in four years and three months as a metro columnist with the Post. The late nights and occasional weekends I put in, the blog I maintained in deference to the burgeoning online audience—none of it counted.[...]
“Journalism just doesn’t seem to want me—at least not enough to pay me a livable wage with benefits and job security. That pretty much sums up the state of the industry.”
Read the rest here.
I want journalism, too. And I’m not even a longtime reporter; I measure my career in years, not decades. Even still paying off the student loans from my journalism degree. I wonder if I could write that very different letter. Talent only matters so much when the none of the Powers claim to have any money. Ditto for awards, willingness to work hard, all of it.
