I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK — but what about journalists?

The White Report

Catherine White connects and creates worth through powerful story telling

I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK — but what about journalists?

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It’s official: CareerCast.com has named the newspaper reporter the worst job in America, behind lumberjacks.

When CareerCast first started ranking the best and worst jobs in the U.S. in 1988, newspaper reporter was in the middle  ranking at number 126. It slipped in 2012 to 196, before coming in last, behind lumberjacks, at number 200 this year.
This doesn’t come as any surprise, given newspapers continue to cut jobs as they compete with free news online. In some cities in the U.S. newspapers have almost bypassed journalists  by moving  to an online-only model.
Many question if newspapers will survive, slating papers must start charging for their web content in order to support print issues. Others say printed papers will soon go the way of the Studebaker and that newspapers are destined to become online-only entities. But what the future holds, no one really knows.
Chip Scanlan of the journalism think-tank, The Poynter Institute,  argues the predicament the internet poses for newspapers today, is reminiscent of the Pony Express riders who in 1860 started what was meant to be a speedy mail delivery service, only to be rendered obsolete a year later by the telegraph.

They represented a great leap in communication delivery but it only lasted a year,” … “As they were whipping their horses into a lather to deliver the mail, beside them were these guys ramming in long wooden poles and connecting wires for the telegraph. It’s a reflection of what changes in technology mean.

Nonetheless, many still feel that newspapers continue to represent an unrivaled source of in-depth news, analysis and opinion, and that if papers disappear entirely, many feel there will be nothing to take their place.
Either way, journalists are not lumberjacks, and that’s OK.