Rise of the journalist programmer

Valley Wag has a piece about how more journalists are turning to programming as a way of staying one step ahead of the curve.

Learning to program is yet another way journalists are becoming generalists, more like pamphleteer, typesetter, postmaster and newspaper publisher Ben Franklin and his fellow ink-stained polymaths than highly specialized publishing types like Bob Woodward, Annie Leibovitz or Mario Garcia.

I'd definitely say that's true after more than a year in this program.

Why journalists deserve low pay

This opinion piece by media economics professor Robert Picard has been making the rounds. He makes his case in the Christian Science Monitor on why he thinks journalists deserve their low pay.

Today all this value is being severely challenged by technology that is "de-skilling" journalists. It is providing individuals – without the support of a journalistic enterprise – the capabilities to access sources, to search through information and determine its significance, and to convey it effectively.

'Is there life after newspapers?'

The question was asked in an article in the American Journalism Review. A graphic designer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, using a variety of sources, counted 15,000-plus job cuts from newspapers in 2008. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics showed payroll at newspapers decreased by 22,400 from January to October 2008. Scary stuff.

An unscientific poll conducted by the piece's author found:

• Just under 36 percent said they found a new job in less than three months. Add those who say they freelance full time, and the total jumps to 53 percent.
• Less than 10 percent say it took them longer than a year.
• Only a handful – 6 percent – found other newspaper jobs. The rest are doing everything from public relations to teaching to driving a bus and clerking in a liquor store.

The article also includes some personal anecdotes from former journalists after they left newspapers, including some who saw losing their jobs as opportunities.

How to make money as a journalist: Be your own boss

For every minute you spend worrying about the future of journalism, don't you spend at least a few seconds feeling excited about all of the new stuff that's out there? Pillars of journalism are faltering all around us, but they are leaving room for visionary startups to find footing.

Poynter Online interviewed Muckety and ePodunk founder Laurie Bennett about entrepreneurship in journalism. Muckety is a website that tracks and charts the connections between powerful people in the news. Useful databases like Muckety have the potential to make money because they are offering tons of information that's not already out there. Start-ups have to be original. If they're not doing something new, they have to do something better than anyone out there. Take it from Bennet:

"Unless you come up with a way to offer additional content that users can't find elsewhere -- whether it's through a database such as (the ones) we compile, or photos, graphics, interactive features, opinion, sources, whatever -- you don't have a chance."

I think we should all be on the lookout for holes in the web's content, or at least places where there is a frustrating lack of quality content. That's where we can thrive. Even if you are happy working for someone else, keeping tabs on money-making ideas will make you invaluable to your boss.

I like the idea of combining some elements of journalism with another type of business. Yes, that raises all kinds of ethical red flags, but I think it's possible in some cases. Another article on Poynter talks about how some newspapers are teaming up with local high schools to teach journalism to students and produce online yearbooks. Print yearbooks are dying out, so there is a hole there. The guy Poynter interviewed, Bill Ostendorf, thought the yearbooks should be ad-driven. I think he could probably convince students and schools to chip in, too.

I wish the IJ program included a class on news enterpreneurship. It would be great to have a forum to talk about new ways for journalism to sustain itself. The class could cover everything from google ads to business licenses.

Lots of journalists get queasy when money comes up in the newsroom. It's true that in order to have credibility, you can't be biased or pro-business. But talking about the business side of journalism could actually help your newsroom's ethical quandaries. As money gets tighter, we're going to get more and more pressure to bend over backwards to hold onto advertisers. Now is a good time to start brainstorming other ways to stay afloat.