Thoughts on modern journalism

Old Number 7 and I exchanged some comments on the present and future of the newspaper business. I wanted to expand on it, so I figured I would start a new topic rather than keep up the conversation in the comments section of another topic.

One thing that troubles me about journalism in markets the size of Huntington is the nature of the people doing the journalism. I'm not criticizing the journalists. I'm concerned about the demographics of the newsroom. The Herald-Dispatch has about a dozen reporters, not counting sportswriters. How many of them are over age 40? Two, and one of them is retiring in about six weeks. Because of various trends in this business, the older hands don't stay at street level into middle age, at least not in markets this size.

The reporter who is retiring spent four years in the National Guard. To my knowledge, when he leaves, we will have no writer with military service. It makes me wonder what other gaps we have in life experiences.

I don't know how it works on the metro level, but here in community journalism, many of our writers and desk editors come from working-class backgrounds, and we have family in blue-collar jobs. Many come from white-collar backgrounds, so we have a mix there.

In my opinion, newsrooms need diversity of all sorts, but especially diversity of life experiences.

Second point: When I started here almost 30 years ago, I didn't have a cell phone bill, a satellite TV bill or an Internet service bill. Throw your newspaper subscription in the mix, and consumers have more choices of what to spend their disposable income on. The way people communicate has changed. How many young people do you know who have a cell phone but not a land line? That's a reason for being heavily involved in the Internet. And it's a reason for going local local and providing content you can't get anywhere else.

Thoughts, anyone?