It might not be the best time to be in newspapers, but there’s always a need for journalism, the regional reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald, Adam Thompson, told University of Georgia journalism students Monday morning.
“I don’t regret [becoming a journalist] at all,” Thompson said. “Even though I have no savings and have to worry about going out to eat on the weekends, but so what.”
Thompson, 26, became a reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald in October 2007 after graduating two years earlier from Clemson University with a degree in English.
Newspapers are struggling to find a sustainable business model for online media, but the Internet greatly increases the tools journalists can use to give information to the public, Thompson said.
“It’s kind of romantic to say I like getting ink on my fingers,” Thompson said. “What’s more important is the kind of reporting it produces.”
In a crime story, for example, the Internet allows journalists to link readers directly to the police report.
“The need for what newspapers do will still exist whether or not the New York Times can come to your door every day,” Thompson said.
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There will always be a need for the purpose journalism serves, yes, but how will journalists be paid in the world of online media? The most likely answer for an effective business model, of course, is advertising, and specifically local advertising. Still, it will certainly take some time for online media to fill that local niche and bring in local advertisers. I just don't know if most people are ready to make that transition yet, though it will inevitably come. It should be a difficult but groundbreaking decade for the journalism industry.
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