From Time‘s TV critic, James Poniewozik (I, for one, appreciate when he shifts gears from the late night talk show wars and last night’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! — his beat, all — to ponder Journalism):
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that nothing saves journalism. “Journalism,” that is, as a profession and as currently constructed: a full-time job paid for by newsgathering entities through a combination of subscriptions and advertising.
Let’s assume—with maybe a rare few exceptions—that just goes away…What replaces it? And by that, I mean, who pays for what replaces it?”
Poniewozik shares “a few thoughts” on all this– including that, like with fiction writing, but for “a lucky few” journalists, the rest of us will get other “day jobs” — and suggests that “anybody who cares about journalism should at least be taking a cold-eyed, honest look at [these possibilities], and thinking about what they would mean” and “what do we gain” and “what do we lose.”
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.