recent additions
I've been playing around with the new web features on PhotoShelter.
In the meantime, I have been having several conversations with fellow newspaper people about the fate of our industry. You never realize how passionate you or your colleagues are until you have these conversations. I read something that predicted that by 2010, about a year from now, most towns won't have local newspapers. That frightens me. What frightens me even more is that it seems the only people that care about this are people that work in papers, when the people who should be most concerned are citizens! I revel in having a right to information. Information is free! Library cards are free! That (and the interstate system of defense highways) is what I LOVE about this country! Sadly, it's so often overlooked and taken for granted...
I know, there's the web. Everything will go to the web. And I must sound like a broken record to my friends, but NOT EVERYONE HAS THE INTERNET! People who have the internet are NOT the only people who are important! And yes, libraries have internet, and they're public and free. Well, libraries are not conveniently located at every corner. What about people living in rural areas? Newspapers give you the opportunity to page through news that you normally wouldn't come across. The Internet customizes what you see with every click, narrowing your breadth of information each time. It's like radio now-- you only hear what the big bucks want you to listen to.
.. And I dearly love my job. I can't think of any other job where you (and thousands of other people) can so quickly see the product of your work. I don't want my occupation to turn into the stuff of folklore, like cowboys and shoe repairmen... but, if it does, I'll at least have (paper) evidence of it.
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