Friday, September 15, 2006

We were reporters once ... and young

It's been a long time ... a long time ... since I was young journalist with a new job in a new town.
And I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is to take on something new, to be at that point in your career where everything is a challenge and the possibilities are endless.

So I suppose part of the reason I so enjoy the work of Angela Grant is that she helps me recall the joy of starting out in this business. Angela's blog, called In the Circle, tells the story of a "reporter breaking into the emerging world of multimedia journalism."

The blog actually launched about a year ago when Angela was still in journalism school. But today she's at the San Antonio Express News, where she's already winning awards for work such as this.

I've thought of Angela quite a bit lately. In recent weeks I've met with dozens of B2B journalists who are considerably less excited about their jobs and the changes in media. They are reporters and editors of a certain age who think that multimedia is an inferior form of journalism that somehow represents a threat to their jobs. I understand those fears. Layoffs are common in our industry these days.
But the best defense against a layoff isn't in resisting change. It is, rather, in recapturing that youthful belief that new skills can be mastered, that life is just starting, and that our profession, more than many others, rewards the open-minded and inquisitive.

For more on the "transformation" from print, see what the folks at IDG have to say.

tags: , , , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. Paul, I'm honored and delighted by your comment. I didn't even think anyone read my blog.

    I've noticed that folks at the Express-News have seemed to really blossom at the idea of multimedia. At first they didn't quite know what to think...On a few occasions I even sensed a little hostility. But now there's this growing excitement all around me. Reporters and editors often approach me with ideas for multimedia to complement their stories in the paper.

    It is such an exciting time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Angela,
    You're right. It is an exciting time. And people such as you will prosper during it.
    You're going to have a wonderful career. Good luck. Have fun.
    Paul

    ReplyDelete