Journalism - A New Era?

**NOTE: BEFORE YOU START ON THIS, PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE SUBMITTED YOUR ARTICLE FOR THE WEEK OF SPRING BREAK**

Hey guys!

Over the past few months, there have been several shockwaves felt throughout the world of journalism...but none bigger than yesterday, when it was announced that The Boston Globe, one of America's preeminent journalistic organizations, may be closing if they cannot restructure some of their finances. It has been common knowledge for a long time that the field of traditional newspaper journalism has been shrinking rapidly due to a shift to technology for information delivery and declining subscriptions, but when even the largest newspapers start to fall, it is a new age, indeed.

Read all about it here:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWHu27m1D_o9frbs_RX7acR35Pzw

http://features.csmonitor.com/connectingthedots/2009/04/04/crisis-in-journalism-boston-globe-on-the-brink/

Other major newspaper to shut down or convert to an only online format in the past year: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Christian Science Monitor, The Ann Arbor News, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and the Rocky Mountain News.

Feel free to read their obituaries and others online.

While many are crying their eyes out over the dying newspaper industry, it is important to step back and consider the famous quote by the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (fitting, when you consider how many people now access the news through their phones)- “Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.”

People will always need information. The need for the news has not subsided. In fact, as we become accustomed to technology, we expect MORE information - the only difference is the way in which we ACCESS the technology. No more newspapers, no more gigantic, impractical printing presses or time-consuming delivery methods - just information, and quickly.

Make no mistake about it: there will continue to be money in journalism, but it has to come from entrepreneurship and innovation. People are going to get very rich, very soon from journalism - how?

Consider the following ten changes that have taken place in journalism:

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=6&storycode=40263

Your assignment for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is to write a three page, MLA-formatted paper in which you discuss the possible changes that will occur in the world of journalism. Make sure you are not just guessing - I would like you to research new and alternate methods of accessing news, and how it can be turned into revenue.

Your essay will be due Monday, April 13, and will be worth approximately 150 points. They are not to be submitted electronically - I want them in paper form (unlike the industry, I still enjoy a paper copy). They will be scored using the Kentucky General Scoring Rubric.

Good luck!
Brenton Parsons
Musketeer Journalism