Fear and loathing in journalism

Bitterness, anger, hope: Passion marks fork in road

Few debate that print journalism is at a crossroads: One
path is along the traditional road of newspapers, the other
lies with new media technology, the Internet. And change,
particularly radical change, is painful.
(Image by Stock.xchng vi)

I started writing this in response to a thread on a LinkedIn discussion board in which Dan, a young journalist who has embraced his role in new media, was taking some heat over his views in defense of his employer and in defense of new media in general. When I realized I had written 1,400 words, I stopped, posted my response here, and left @Dan a link.

@Dan, these are probably the toughest times for journalists since the early 1980s, and you are on the “other side” of the aisle from many traditional journalists.

All I want for Christmas is ...

I'll start first with my apologies for not updating my blog for the past two weeks, as well as for straying from my planned subject matter -- I had planned to write about dealing with shock, anger and blame. But a rough two weeks it has been.
Christmas was largely one blessing after another, despite getting laid off on Dec. 2.

For example, on the Sunday before Christmas, the church I attend held a potluck after the morning service, during which the pastor and another dear friend took me aside and presented me with several boxes and bags of assorted groceries, household supplies and some gift cards -- this after I had told them several times in the weeks prior that we were not yet in a crunch from the layoff and should be all right for Christmas. Still, they had gathered up contributions to bless us in this way, knowing that, because Sun-Times Media has been undergoing financial stress typical of the news industry in recent years, there had been no severance package when I was let go, although I was paid for the vacation time I had accrued for 2011.

But there were some stress factors in the week leading up to Christmas as well.