Bye, bye Tribune Co: why a journalism degree is still smart despite the collapse of my industry

Dear journalists, readers, editors, and anyone else who is interested in the news,

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=akiceI_0gQxM&refer=home

Here's a slightly dated list of Tribune Co. assets:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Tribune_Company

The Wall Street Journal just blew the whistle on a collapsing Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Baltimore Sun and various assets around the country. It recently went private underneath billionaire Sam Zell, but the Tribune company is still shedding profits faster than Indian terrorists are killing hostages. Long story short, there's not enough advertising to support the newsroom staff of the 90s, and there's not enough income to support a news industry's largesse of stories.(witness Google News'  4901 articles on the Pakistan connection to the Mumbai attacks. Who's going to read all of that? Google is eliminating the need for multiple news sources)

So what do you do when you graduate from college a year over schedule with a degree in an industry that is flopping like a Spice Girls' reunion? You teach english abroad for a year and stall. Well, almost. The better answer is that you exploit, exploit, exploit.

Journalists, this is the greatest opportunity of our lives. The world is in turmoil, economies are failing, stocks crashing, jobs disappearing and opportunities are supposedly drying up. And if you're an aspiring photojournalist/journalist like myself, who is encouraged because of his talent but finds that recent newspaper layoffs have left the photography business flooded with out-of-work talent, you feel even more out in the cold. Yet, this is still the greatest opportunity we have ever been handed.

Yes, there is no work right now.

Yes, we are all going to suffer.

Yes, there are no jobs and *gasp* we may have to work for free for a bit just to make our names.

But yes, things are going to get better. If 4 years of journalism school has taught me anything, the vast majority of old hands in the industry have no idea what is going on and are just as confused as we are. Worse, they may be more in the dark. That's why now is the time to pounce! Now is the time when the new leaders of the industry will make their names, develop new directions and theories, new ways of selling and creating content for news. If history has taught us anything, this fall of the Old Ways is making room for the New Order.

Newspapers are still trying to make sense of the internet and how to use it effectively. Too many of them seek the same content control they are used to in a print form, but fail to use the internet's tools like google, youtube, facebook, and twitter to their advantage. Many of them are trying to win subscribers on a macro level, when they should be focused on the micro level made so easily available by the web. The old methods aren't working anymore, and the industry is still struggling to confront the problem. Perhaps it's just the economy dropping another egg, but the results of the news industry's tactics are showing: we're losing, big time. 

If you are a writer, a journalist, a photographer, or anyone who is out of the job because of the economy, now is the time to work harder than you have ever done in your entire lives. Now is the time to exploit the weaknesses, the holes left by companies like Tribune Co. There is tremendous opportunity for the next generation, and the old is going to make way for the new. 

Take advantage of the gaping holes that are being left by traditional news and attack them head-on, forging citizen journalism networks and alternative ways of telling stories. The internet is affording people the opportunity to report stories themselves, and although that isn't very profitable right now, it will be. Now is the time, folks. Pounce.