Pushin' Papers
It's Flag Day but I don't feel much like wrapping myself in the flag these days. Maybe it's the colder weather or lack of sunlight but I've been a bit down in the dumps over the state of things.
To begin with, I do believe in astrology and predicting the future though I admit that I don't follow my own horoscope too often. I take a glance at it every now and then, more out of curiosity about the astrologer's ability than as a means to plot the course of my life. Yesterday however, I read this:
CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Delays in matters related to publishing, the media, travel and dealing with foreign countries are likely now. However, you can also resolve old problems in the same areas.That pretty much hits 90% of the elements that govern my waking life. It was the day after deadline so I checked to make sure that our issue reached the press alright. Then my mind started wandering back to teaching overseas. As happy as I am with my job, it doesn't come close to giving me the disposeable income that I had in Korea. I'd put it out of my head lately though, since we're talking about buying a house and that implies we'll be settled here for good. Still, now I'm having second thoughts about long term income potential in my field, here in the Maritimes.
If only the powers that be would take note of a recent report. A University of Missouri-Columbia study has found that newspapers that invest in their newsrooms, sell more papers. (Link via Fark.)
This is a problem everywhere but I can think of a good local example. The Daily News, I've heard, reduced itself to just nine members in their editorial staff. I think they've hired on a couple more lately, but that's not confirmed. The problem is endemic in publishing. Editorial staff get cut to save money, and veterans are pushed out the door in favour of fresh journalism students who will work for half as much, or even free in the case of internships, just to build publishing credits that will never be enough to work them into the salaries they long for.
The result is the increasing transformation of newspapers into nothing more than ad rags with advertorials around them. It's only a short leap then, to losing the advertisers who want to be associated with a good product and not become the product themselves. Once the advertisers go, the paper folds or is sold to someone who only seeks to squeeze it tighter.
You'll never find a newspaper these days that is rolling in dough. As comfortable as I am with my job, I can't expect to be immune either. What I really need is to be assured of a good income that will last me at least two or three decades, especially if I'm looking at a 25-year mortgage, and any increases in my salary don't match increases in inflation. House assessments and taxes are up 10%. Power bills are going up 6%. Inflation in general is between 3% and 4%. The fact is, I have less take home pay now than when I started.
Across the country and across industries, the Gross Domestic Product rises, but only a handful of people see it. The Genuine Progress Index is a much more accurate tally of real income changes and it doesn't bode well, especially for Nova Scotians who are at the bottom of the list. Importantly, that list doesn't measure increases in purchasing power, so much as it measures decreases, because nobody is better off now than 20 years ago. In fact, we're much, much more worse off.
For more on the Gross Domestic Product Index, see GPIAtlantic or view their most recent newsletter, for February.
Labels: economic collapse, holidays, personal, publishing
2 Comments
Is there an industry here in Nova Scotia that isn't affected as you describe the newspaper industry seems to be? I think not.
9:04 AM
Agreed. There are a few exceptions, but across the board it's much of the same. I focus on publishing because it's the field I work in and also one which is on a slow deathwatch, IMHO, as its market/readership is taken over by internet news portals.
And newspapers are just canaries in the mine. They draw advertising from almost all sectors of commerce, so as people lose spending power, commerce goes down and all of its associated spinoffs do too.
It's true that you could staff a paper here with two-dozen Pullitzer Prize winners and still have trouble staying in the black.
I don't know the answer. I'm just having a long rethink before I opt for a mortgage here. Our honeymoon will take us to Toronto and I have a feeling that the trip will spawn a lot of conversation about our future. Career-wise for me, it would be good to get into a national publication and that's where they're mostly based out of... but we like it here. Just wish the area was more prosperous.
10:53 AM
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