VII seminar
Over the weekend I went down to L.A. for the VII seminar. I spent most of my time sitting in the audience, scribbling my thoughts into a little black notebook. It was an inspiring weekend for many reasons, and a depressing one in other ways. Inspiring in the fact it was about the work. I spend most of my days tethered to a computer talking about problems - technical or political. This was a nice break to actually think about journalism for awhile. But, it was also depressing to hear about the lack of interest given to the work. As the media companies struggle, they become less and less interested in this kind of work and more and more subservient to their advertisers.
I wouldn’t be too concerned. There are so many new opportunities that journalists in the past never had before. This blog of yours is a nice example.
Sean Cayton
6 Nov 07 at 7:20 am
yeah, just don’t expect to be paid anything. other than that it’s cool.
trent
6 Nov 07 at 7:24 am
that is the issue. i agree with both of you. yeah, it is easy to get work out there, but really hard to get people to pay for it. I think in the end it is a real threat to traditional journalism because it forces people to look for other outlets. It forces people to look to advocacy groups for publishing. It forces people to aim their work at targeted audiences that might not be the your average citizen. It is one thing to publish directly towards art buyers or journalism junkies - it is another thing to publish to the general public. In the end, I think it hurts public discourse.
Rob Finch
6 Nov 07 at 8:22 am
glass half-empty:-( you can control your own destiny luke! i wonder if magnum and vii didn’t come out of these thoughts and survive today. NG with Chris Johns is marching on. fear is that of the unknown. opportunity can be calculated or a fleeting moment of insight … besides, does worrying and depressing now about 10 yrs from now help us on the stories we need to do now for the next four years?
rob kerr
6 Nov 07 at 9:22 am
If this keeps us talking, then I agree. We’re on to something
One thing that inspires me here on your blog is the idea that everyone has a voice. Use it. Use it. Use it. Compensation will always follow.
Journalists are chameleons. They can be anyone, and anywhere.
Sean Cayton
11 Nov 07 at 9:32 pm