I used to work in newspapers as a reporter, though not for very long (about three years). As one of the more junior staff members, I was among the first to be laid off when the recession hit in 2009...
Sometimes I miss it, but overall, not really. After I was laid off, I made a conscious decision not to apply for any other newspaper jobs since I feel it is a doomed industry that tends to treat its employees badly, especially in this sort of economy (I was told by editors constantly to "do more with less," aka crank out four stories a day for a rapidly declining and apathetic readership.)
I instead went into marketing and technical writing (and was recently downsized again from a position in this field, but that is a whole other story!)
How did you get your foot in the door as a reporter? Although I guess my feet are already inside... LOL I'm in the editing/copychecking areas though.
Luckily, our company treats us like gold... high standards, but as long as you live up to them, they are more than fair.
You are so lucky that your company treats you well.
I sell advertising- can you imagine? And work for a small town newspaper. I scrape for every cent I earn.
Our newspaper is locally owned. The owners are very good to me.
I feel blessed to have this job.
Oh, I also sell to our websites. That's so much easier than the print edition. But as someone with a life-long newspaper reading habit, I hate the thought of the printed paper's demise.....[/QUOTE]
You and me both.
I have friends in our outbound advertising department - we're a large paper in a major city and own other papers in other large cities, and they scrape for every sale they make. So I feel your pain.
It's good that the owners of it are good to you, otherwise I can see how this would be a hard industry to handle staying in.