Surviving Journalism Fireproofing a Career in the Fourth Estate

by Watson, Warren

• ISBN13: 9781936863860
• ISBN10: 1936863863
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2019-09-23
• Publisher: Marion Street Press, LLC

Summary

Journalism is in upheaval. Journalists displaced by career-shattering business changes and the rise of the Internet have resulted in tens of thousands of jobs lost. Reporters and editors are routinely laid off and fired. Many have given up. But some have thrived. Surviving Journalism examines what has happened to embattled career journalists through profiles of those affected by business trauma in recent years. It also gives practical survival tips to those displaced—and to prospective journalists as they enter a career in the fourth estate. Warren Watson lays out critical survival skills through 43 years as an award-winning journalist, working at every level in the craft, from a weekly reporter to a sports editor, to an executive at larger papers. Contending that survivors in the field must be flexible, adaptable and willing to zigzag as the digital age evolves, Watson prepares journalists to “fireproof” their careers, with an emphasis on learning varied skill sets and how to be entrepreneurial and creative.

Author Biography

Warren Watson has worked for 43 years at publications small and large as a reporter, copy editor, designer, news editor, city editor, managing editor, news executive, and association executive and president. In a career that started in weekly newspapers, he went through the ranks of some of the nation’s best newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times. He taught journalism students at Ball State and Arizona State, led associations such as the Society for News Design and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He now runs the newsroom of the Alton Telegraph, adjacent to St. Louis on the shores of the Mississippi River.