Tuesday, October 13, 2009

(Still another) sign of the times


Even The New York Times is pinching pennies, according to an item from The New York Observer, which indicates the Times announced it no longer will pick up the cost of newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Reporters generally use the subs to keep tabs on the competition or as fodder for other stories.

2 comments:

Jake Stratton said...

Hi Marlene,

A paper cancelling subs? One of the best parts of working at Dow Jones in the old days was all free newspapers.

I'm doing okay as a freelancer, but for several years now I've been working mainly for companies. I do all sorts of stuff: internal comms, ghost writing, and advertorials - there is simply no money in real journalism in Singapore.

The advertorial work, however, has completely dried up in the last 12 months. I used to turn down jobs left and right, but this year I've had plenty of free time.

Oddly,one of my bigger projects this year has been with FlightGlobal, which is real journalism. I go in two days a week until 15 December. Here is one of my stories:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/10/02/333026/perth-airport-secures-a740-million-debt-financing.html

It is rough out there. I'd hate to be a write in the US right now.

I really like your blog. :)

greg.

MARLENE KENNEDY said...

Thanks, Greg!
Yes, the future of ink-on-paper journalism looks dire right now, but I've got to believe (hope) the model will survive.
Surely we won't turn into a one-size-fits-all, digital-only society. Somebody's still got to love print!
Marlene