By Chris Carosa
NSNC President
In January, the Reuters Institute issued a report titled “More Important, But Less Robust? Five Things Everybody Needs to Know about the Future of Journalism.” It’s their fourth point I’d like to focus on. It states that the ongoing pressure faced by current media business models continues to weaken journalism. The Reuters Report concludes, as if we didn’t already know, “Most of [the] existing forms of funding for professional journalism will decline as we continue to move to a more digital media environment, leading to further job cuts in newsrooms.”
There’s nothing new in that statement. However, the underlying facts of the supporting research may startle you.
I’ve had the opportunity to read a draft chapter for the second edition of the ICA Handbook of Journalism Studies (edited by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Thomas Hanitzsch, forthcoming from Routledge). Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, and co-author of the January 2019 Reuters Institute Report) wrote this chapter titled “The Changing Economic Contexts of Journalism.” In it, he discusses the factual basis behind Reuters’ fourth point.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016, the print news media employed a majority of
reporters, with broadcasters accounting for another 25%. Digital properties account for only 10%. This may be misleading in a couple of ways. First, print and broadcast journalists supply online content, so that 10% represents reporters who generate digital content exclusively.
The second tricky thing is this: It might seem, with only 10%, there will be room to grow as readers continue to shift from print to digital.
Here’s the problem with that thought: a 2012 Mediatique study indicates online media generates only 2% of its revenues from news content (as opposed to 23% for newspapers). Simply put, the move to digital isn’t expected to drive the same revenues as traditional media has experienced. Less revenues mean less money to employ journalists. The Reuters Report says digital models “generally support far leaner newsrooms than those historically found in the legacy media.”
What can you do to protect your career in this environment? Nielsen cites three questions news providers (and that includes you) must answer to contend in the “attention economy” and survive:
What will people pay attention to?
What might they pay for?
What will advertisers pay for?
You may think, as a columnist, you can let the folks in accounting deal with these questions. That’s a fatal mistake. The folks in accounting aren’t on your side. You represent a cost center when their profit centers are losing altitude. That’s not a good place to be.
For your own safety, you need to consider these questions. The less you rely on third parties (that includes your employer), the more sustainable your writing career will be.
Columnists have an advantage regarding the first of these three questions. They don’t always write straight news. Writing about lifestyle, self-help, and entertainment will garner the coveted “evergreen” attention necessary for long-term economic success.
Interested in the answers to the other two questions? Register for our annual conference in Buffalo this June and join us as we explore the possibilities.
