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Journalism or Entrepreneurialism?

Posted by archifCLICarchive from National - Published on 10/08/2010 at 23:02
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The economic crisis has hit us all pretty badly, especially those just starting out in the journalism industry with the closing of newspapers, mergers happening and journalists being made redundant (remember only bad news is good news).

Fear not for there is good news for you: you can now become an ‘entrepreneurist journalist’! Sceptics at the NUJ (National Union of Journalists) have said that surely isn’t this simply freelance journalism or even citizen journalism? We as professionals must halt our printing presses and gasp, thoughts of "Surely not!?" running through our minds as we pick up a book aptly titled ‘Entrepreneurs for dummies.’ (Doesn’t appear to be on Amazon :( )

Freelance journalist Adam Westbrook recently said as to whether journalists need to be entrepreneurs “Yes, if freelancers run themselves as mini businesses there is some similarity, but I think it’s also about embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, looking for new markets and opportunities to exploit seems a bit anti-journalism but that’s the game I think.” I’m surely embracing the entrepreneurial spirit as I would like to explore this topic further. A question seems to become apparent: an entrepreneur is somebody who creates something new granted, with that being said how can every journalist label themselves an entrepreneurial journalist, if they’re simply doing exactly the same thing?

The Rupert Murdoch of the blogosphere  none other than Jeff Jarvis  has his own personal opinion on this, stating that the future of journalism is entrepreneurial and not institutional. He goes on to say “Rather than supporting old models and risking ‘hurting new sprouts that grow," he suggested, characteristically, that now was a "time for opportunity.” This is extremely bad news if you hate sprouts like me, strangely I have thoughts of destroying all the sprouts in the world don’t ask. (Sub-Ed Dan: *glares evilly*)

I do agree that journalists should be capable of adapting in changing media, broadcasting and online especially, however I don’t feel we all suddenly have to create a website, pay for hosting and contact advertisers to advertise on our personal websites. After all I could quite easily send my articles to a newspaper that might post it on their website or even create a blog and build up readership over time for free.

So journalism or entrepreneurialism? That was the question and above was the answer. If I decide to become an ‘entrepreneurist journalist’ I’ll make sure to keep you all informed, however I doubt the term will be around that long; it seems to me little more than a novelty.

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