I just read an article which says over 1,000 journalists in the UK are on the dole. Got me nervous and it got me thinking? What else do you do when all you know is journalism and the thought of doing anything else scares you to death? You are nervous because you feel your first love slipping way or should I use the word dream, in order to make the point clear. For many and myself included, being a journalist is all we have dreamed of and known. To think that you will have to give it up for a day is scary. Even worse is doing what you are not passionate about...personaly, that kills you faster than being jobless.
How many emails are you going to send out with no response before you finally say, okay, what are my other career options? If this entry was for me alone, one could say, shut up and get on with it. But when it sinks in that there are hundreds of people in the same boat, it makes you think, what went wrong? Where are all the jobs? Yes, we were fully aware that it was a tough market but we were ready for that. That's why we did unpaid work for a number of years before we got a leg in the door.
Many say the birth of digital media has a part to play in it. Others claim it is the recession, job cuts and other woes that has every industry you can think of fighting for survival.
I don't know what to think right now to be honest. You wake up and you wonder the number of responses that you will get from the emails you send out. The ones that have networking as its subject to the ones that say, pls, can you help me? It is scary to wake up each day with uncertainty but what else is there to do but keep hoping. I was taught that hope never fails but for many, how long will they keep longing and hoping that things will change sooner than later?
I wish I had all the answers but I don't. In fact, I need some myself.
But hell, nothing will make me give up journalism. I love words way too much to stop writing.
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