When you ask young people what they want to be when they grow older, it’s usually not a newspaper reporter. When we think of the field of journalism, we see a major wave of unemployment and declining job prospects.
Recent economic news shows that the few jobs in reporting left are at serious risk. Even the Washington Post, run by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is laying off staff.
There are a lot of reasons for the major declines. Some are technological. There’s just less need and less convenience attached to a physical newspaper or magazine. People can get their news quicker from television, or increasingly, the internet.
The instant access of online news filtered through social media makes many of the old media dinosaurs seem that much older. Even large television news channels such as CNN and MSNBC are seeing declining ratings.
Beyond just the technological factors, many Americans simply don’t trust the mainstream press because of its bias. Consider that the vast majority of political donations from journalists go to Democrats. One study had it at more than 90%!
Americans want fair and balanced news. The constant left-wing drumbeat in most media outlets is sickening. It turns many people off of traditional news.
The decline of journalist jobs is sad in its own way. For some journalists, though, it’s certainly deserved. Years of bias have severely harmed the profession.
Even CNN sees the direction the wind is going. After trying to be the biggest anti-Trump media outlet in the country, it’s now trying to tack back toward the center. It will probably stay left in its politics, but any movement back from the fringe is a welcome change.
More details on @washingtonpost layoffs, per memo from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee:
— 20 newsroom positions eliminated
— 30 open positions will not be filled
— WaPo is sunsetting Launcher, its online gaming vertical, and KidsPost, per two sources familiarMemo below: https://t.co/YLr7WyZI8Z pic.twitter.com/vbQDdqeKZL
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) January 24, 2023
The outlook for the journalism field is likely not going to get any better. The difficult economic times under President Biden is adding pressure to the already difficult situation.
At the very least, perhaps some news agencies will try to move toward the center to avoid a total collapse. That would be a better outcome than to try and keep their existing biases.
