My long, self-pitying rant

I really hope my life this year isn't a preview of what life as a journalist will be like after college. I've been so busy I barely have time to do anything that's not work. I'm desperately trying not to fall behind in my classes. While I feel like I'm succeeding with that, it means I have no time to exercise, eat anything that requires more than 30 seconds preparation time, do my own laundry, read anything that's not for school or news, partake in any hobbies or see friends with any frequency at all. I know it's kind of a special circumstance, I am pretty much doing the entire news section by myself (for those that don't listen to me complain every day, the news editor usually has two assistants, I have none) and that the job of a "section editor" for the Sagebrush actually means being a section editor, lead reporter, design assistant and Web technician, plus going to school full-time.
Ok, so as I'm writing this I'm realizing that there's no way being a reporter in the real world will be this much work, because it's not four jobs thrown on top of school. I'm still getting close to burning out though, and I'm trying to work through it because I know I want to be a journalist. I would quit the Sagebrush, but I signed up for a year and have a sense of obligation. That and I genuinely like the people I work with, and don't want to completely screw them over by leaving. I guess I am just kind of going through the motions to get through the year though.
I'm sorry to anyone who is reading this, I know nobody wants to read my ranting complaints, but writing it down helps me. I would keep it to myself but being a journalist, part of writing is publishing.
Moving on though. So being an editor has made me realize that I HATE managing people who don't know what they're doing. I am an absolutely dreadful teacher. That aside, how do you get to college without basic writing skills? And worse yet, how do you expect to specialize in journalism (or English, I have a few of those) without the same basic writing skills? I literally had a writer who didn't use apostrophes until his third draft! And he got mad at me when I edited his copy because he was editor of his high school paper and thought that made him hot shit. Sorry bud, but that just makes you sound pathetic, not cool.
The worst part about this is all the behind the scenes crap. I spend at least 20 hours a week doing stuff people aren't even supposed to notice. If you think making a newspaper is just writing and reporting, you're only about .0000001 percent of the way there.
To top all this off, I'm way behind in trying to find an internship for this summer. Sidenote: I'm killing myself to be more appealing for an internship where I will make no money and live in a (most likely) very expensive city. So long cushy firefighting job that makes me rich compared to my peers, I'll miss you. End sidenote.
I'm trying to look forward to things though. Danyelle comes back from Mexico in December, and next fall I'm going to be studying abroad (if all goes well). I honestly love journalism and the Sagebrush, but hate being a section editor.
So there's that.

iNews is not the answer

Well, I've been invited to post to a blog moderated by a professor at the Reynold's School of Journalism called Fix Journalism. The blog, as its name indicates, looks at possible ways to avoid what seems to be the news industry's coming Armageddon. Lately, the blog has been dominated by Mike Higdon defending the idea of charging micropayments for online news content (like iTunes for news). Time ran a cover story recently on the same subject, as did the Reno News & Review.

While I like that an idea to save the industry I hope to enter is finally gaining speed, I fundamentally disagree with it. Don't get me wrong, journalism needs to be fixed, it's very broken and I am a firm believer that the status quo is NEVER the best option. That being said, I feel that journalism is a public service, and forcing people to pay for the news they consume does a grave disservice to the public sphere.

"What are you talking about, stupid kid?" some of you may be asking. "We've always paid for news. 75 cents a paper. $1.50 on Sundays!"

Now now, don't fall off your wheelchair, gramps. You were never paying for the news, you were paying for a pile of cheap paper and bad ink. The coupons advertising your buy-one-get-one-free laxatives paid for the news. Since the advent of the Internet, people have been given the option of skipping the paper fee, making news not only more accessible, but arguably more convenient.

I know nobody's arguing the advantages of the Internet here, I just have to preface things a little. Ok, so picture a scenario with me. We have Joe. Joe is a poor college kid in Topeka, Kansas. Now, despite Topeka's status as a bustling international port city, it's a little hard for Joe to get international and national news. The national news he does get is often from either the local paper, which only takes Kansas-related stories off the AP wire or from The New York Times, the only other paper in town. I'm discounting TV news because it sucks. Anyway, Joe hardly has comprehensive information due to the lack of sources. Even then, we established he is poor, so he probably can't afford to buy The New York Times with his Venti latte at Starbucks every morning.

But then the Internet comes to town.

Suddenly, Joe has access to a thousand different newspapers absolutely free. Joe can make informed decisions about life. Joe can be a responsible citizen, not only of Topeka (as I'm sure he was before the Internet man rolled into town), but of all of Kansas, the United States and most importantly the world.

This world citizenship is, in my opinion, the most important thing the rise of the Internet has brought humanity. The free flow of information has expedited the understanding, free-trade and border less interactions that are requirements of a true global economy. Like it or not, globalization is being fueled by cheap infrastructure (fiber optic cables everywhere) and the free flow of information. If you doubt me here, read Thomas Friedman's The The World is Flat.

The effects of the free flow of information are much more valuable than the information itself. Basic economics teaches us that price raises, even the most minute, cause a drop in consumption. Making free information cost even a few cents has the potential to reduce its consumption by millions on a global scale. The resulting drop in education on current events and world issues sets the formation of the peaceful, productive global community back years. The poorest lose all access to the news that technology may gain for them in the future. The Joes of the world are robbed of the opportunity to become world citizens. Politics and issues that affect the entire global populaiton remain localized.

We as journalists have a public duty to educate the public on what is happening around them. A free press is essential to survival of democracy, but just as important is access to that free press. A solution needs to be found to save the journalism industry, but I cannot morally support any solution that denies access to even the smallest of minorites. Our goal as public servants should be to educate as many people as possible, not just those who can afford to pay.

I believe in what I'm doing, but am not naive enough to think I or anyone else can deserve to do it for free. The idea of micropayments for news content fundamentally compromises what I view as the very core idea of our profession. The business model of the news industy is broken, but this is not the way to fix it.

Time for school...(A random rant about what I'm thinking right now)...

Alright, so my nice, lazy break is all but over. I kind of want to cry. Not really, but I really enjoyed sleeping all day and not having to worry about people calling me back for the Sagebrush or remembering to go to class. Not that I don't like my life in Reno, I do. I love my job and I really like school, it was just nice to have six weeks of nothing.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to this semester going a bit more smoothly than the last one. I'm pretty sure I've gotten most of the time-management kinks hammered out. Even though my classes are a little harder, I know I can handle them. Things with the girlfriend are going smoothly. Yep, I can't really complain about too much.

Things at work might be a tad bit stressful coming back though. We're missing an A&E Editor and a Managing Editor. On the upside though, We finally have a second News Assistant, so now three people will be doing the job of four, instead of just two. So section=good, overall paper=shorthanded. We'll see how that all works out on the print-fest Monday.

Let's see, what else? Snowboarding with a little on-the-mountain reporting thrown in tomorrow. That should be interesting. My two favorite things all in one day with my favorite person, sounds like heaven, huh? Haha, I'm such a nerd. Snowboarding with a notebook in my hand and a phone to my ear, and somehow that's my idea of a perfect day.

Well, that's all I have now. Maybe I'll be better about writing this next semester. Probably not as good as Dodi has become (you write like, three a day, how do you have time?), but hopefully a few a week. So there's that...