Journalism you can trust
Today I will report to work, just as I have lo these past 11 weeks, and continue to do what I have done throughout my more than two decades as a journalist.
Friends and former colleagues of mine will not be doing that. The closing of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver was hardly a news blip here deep in the heart of Texas, but it sure hit me hard.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Rocky. I thought it was the better of Denver’s dailies and I used to be a subscriber. I had a number of friends and former colleagues from the Longmont Daily Times-Call where I worked who were lured away to work for the tabloid. I had often considered applying for a job there myself.
I know some of the people I used to work with would have looked down on me for leaving Colorado and leaving daily newspapers to go work for a rural weekly paper. Today they would look on me with envy, as I still have a stable job.
Working in newspapers in the 21st century is nerve-wracking. I have several friends from the Amarillo Globe-News – many of them long-time employees – who were laid off last year. It’s a very tough time for newspapers.
The Waller County News Citizen has been around for 119 years. I can’t say that I know what the future holds for the paper, but I can tell you I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it had a future. Sure, we’re struggling just like everyone else, but we’re also seeing some improvement over recent years.
I’ve known for about 20 years now that my generation would see the end of printed newspapers. I always thought it would have more to do with changing technology rather than a changing economy. Both have hit the industry hard.
The Internet has changed the way we do business. In many ways it has become the great equalizer in mass media, as print, radio and television can reach their audiences instantly and continuously.
Here at the Waller County News Citizen and throughout the Houston Community Newspapers chain, we are striving to produce a good, daily product online. The goal is to have something new for you to read each day, sometimes several times a day.
I can’t swear to have special insight into the future of journalism but it is safe to say that the industry will follow technology. Print and photo journalism are blending with video and audio online and will continue to do so.
If I can caution you as a reader, I would strongly suggest you get your news from trusted, reliable and professional news sources. The Internet is full of nonprofessional, untrustworthy sources of “news” that comes packaged as the real thing.
“Citizen journalists” are something to be wary of. It’s like trusting crime prevention to the local neighborhood watch committee. They just don’t have the skills, training and education to do the job.
It’s one thing to go to a city council meeting and report on what happens. It’s quite another to delve into the issues and find out how the decisions made will impact the everyday lives of readers.
Just like you wouldn’t want the neighborhood watch captain trying to break up drug cartels and bust meth labs, you wouldn’t want to trust an interpretation of news events to anyone with a blog and a digital camera.
You want to know your news comes from someone with a degree in journalism who is trained to ask the right questions, seek different sources of information and who can write compelling and informative stories that will tell you what’s going on beyond the surface.
How much longer this industry will continue to plop a pile of printed pulp on people’s porches (OK, we send it in the mail), is hard to predict. More and more of our efforts are aimed at the Internet. That’s where the readers are headed and that is where we appear to be going. That’s why I’m trying to warn you now to make sure that you are being informed by trusted and reliable news sources – like the Waller County News Citizen.
You can trust us, whether you’re reading this in print or online. We will continue to cover Waller County to the best of our ability. I will bring to bear my degree in journalism and 22 years of professional experience to bring you the best and most reliable news of our community that you will find anywhere, here or in cyberspace.
Friends and former colleagues of mine will not be doing that. The closing of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver was hardly a news blip here deep in the heart of Texas, but it sure hit me hard.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Rocky. I thought it was the better of Denver’s dailies and I used to be a subscriber. I had a number of friends and former colleagues from the Longmont Daily Times-Call where I worked who were lured away to work for the tabloid. I had often considered applying for a job there myself.
I know some of the people I used to work with would have looked down on me for leaving Colorado and leaving daily newspapers to go work for a rural weekly paper. Today they would look on me with envy, as I still have a stable job.
Working in newspapers in the 21st century is nerve-wracking. I have several friends from the Amarillo Globe-News – many of them long-time employees – who were laid off last year. It’s a very tough time for newspapers.
The Waller County News Citizen has been around for 119 years. I can’t say that I know what the future holds for the paper, but I can tell you I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it had a future. Sure, we’re struggling just like everyone else, but we’re also seeing some improvement over recent years.
I’ve known for about 20 years now that my generation would see the end of printed newspapers. I always thought it would have more to do with changing technology rather than a changing economy. Both have hit the industry hard.
The Internet has changed the way we do business. In many ways it has become the great equalizer in mass media, as print, radio and television can reach their audiences instantly and continuously.
Here at the Waller County News Citizen and throughout the Houston Community Newspapers chain, we are striving to produce a good, daily product online. The goal is to have something new for you to read each day, sometimes several times a day.
I can’t swear to have special insight into the future of journalism but it is safe to say that the industry will follow technology. Print and photo journalism are blending with video and audio online and will continue to do so.
If I can caution you as a reader, I would strongly suggest you get your news from trusted, reliable and professional news sources. The Internet is full of nonprofessional, untrustworthy sources of “news” that comes packaged as the real thing.
“Citizen journalists” are something to be wary of. It’s like trusting crime prevention to the local neighborhood watch committee. They just don’t have the skills, training and education to do the job.
It’s one thing to go to a city council meeting and report on what happens. It’s quite another to delve into the issues and find out how the decisions made will impact the everyday lives of readers.
Just like you wouldn’t want the neighborhood watch captain trying to break up drug cartels and bust meth labs, you wouldn’t want to trust an interpretation of news events to anyone with a blog and a digital camera.
You want to know your news comes from someone with a degree in journalism who is trained to ask the right questions, seek different sources of information and who can write compelling and informative stories that will tell you what’s going on beyond the surface.
How much longer this industry will continue to plop a pile of printed pulp on people’s porches (OK, we send it in the mail), is hard to predict. More and more of our efforts are aimed at the Internet. That’s where the readers are headed and that is where we appear to be going. That’s why I’m trying to warn you now to make sure that you are being informed by trusted and reliable news sources – like the Waller County News Citizen.
You can trust us, whether you’re reading this in print or online. We will continue to cover Waller County to the best of our ability. I will bring to bear my degree in journalism and 22 years of professional experience to bring you the best and most reliable news of our community that you will find anywhere, here or in cyberspace.
posted by Joe Southern | 11:03 AM
4 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
I pay the monthly rate for news that is several days old (most cases)that takes about 5 minutes to read.
I support it b/c we need a balance in the community.
The WCNC is not an investigative news source....never has been.
I admire your courage in the editorial.
Dumbing down will get you more support in Hootersville.
Good Luck
Ta-i Kemo Sabe,
Say podner, dem crooks in waller county wear real guns!
Dis aint hollywood!
i only got a GED n a new kodak instermatic
fergiv me podner
Joe,
Help me out here. You said that you knew for 20 years that your generation would “see the end of printed newspapers.” I would have to believe that as a journalist for “more than two decades”, that you would have the news resources and enough intelligence to act on your prediction that you would be out of a job soon, yet you continue to work against your own conclusions and proven demise of the newspaper industry.
Are you a coward and afraid to move on to a new career, or do you need to be fired and forced out? Maybe you have no other skills, and your ego of being a journalist won’t permit you to work a real man’s job. Let’s face it, typing on a keyboard, copying and pasting stories from Reuters and Associated Press and reprinting those stories in a small hillbilly newspaper isn’t exactly a prestigious job, so get over yourself.
And let’s talk about your trusted, reliable and professional news sources. Have your ever heard of a major newspaper retracting a news story? Yes, it happens all the time, but the newspapers always buries the retraction in the smallest space possible.
Your employer, as well as all major newspapers, are driven by advertising dollars. Your “news” stories are skewed towards stories that sell advertising. In fact, your definition of what is newsworthy is your editor’s or owner’s opinion of what will sell the most newspapers. And you expect us to believe you are to be trusted, reliable and professional? Get over yourself, you are no more reliable or trustworthy than any blogger on the Internet, except I know that the Internet blogger has nothing to gain financially by posting their news story.
You really are pathetic begging readers from blogs to come back to your newspaper. Think about it, if your product was as wonderful as your ego believed it to be, then why are newspapers going out of business? Insulting Internet blogs doesn’t make your newspaper look any more appealing.
Democracy is not only about casting your vote for Democrats or Republicans, it’s also about casting your voting dollars for a better product or service. The American people have voted, newspapers lost, accept the outcome, and support the Internet blogs like every good American!
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