All week I’ve enjoyed reading a great series of reports produced from the fine folks at the Online Journalism Review. The series is titled “The State of Independent Local Online News.” If nothing else, these reports prove there is life after a lifetime of working in traditional media. OJR is a product of the Knight Digital Media Center. 

The New Haven Independent is one of the examples mentioned in the the OJR series as a serious journalistic based online publishing site. A common thread that runs through many of these online news sites is they were started by displaced print journalists. Also, many of these online sites are funded by grants from non-profits. The non-profit funding source doesn’t sit well with many fans and foes of online only news sites. My feeling is that whatever funding source it takes — as long as it is ethical and transparent — should be considered to get an independent online news project off the ground. We shouldn’t wait until the perfect business model emerges. 

Bottom line, the world doesn’t have to come to an end for us if the corporate media moguls many of us currently work for decide to take their bat and ball away and send us to the bench without a job. As this series deftly lays out, WE HAVE OPTIONS. 

I actually use to feel bad when I would blog about the shitty state the newspaper industry finds itself in these days. I felt bad for the reporters losing their jobs and I certainly didn’t want it to appear that I found joy in people getting pink slips.

But now since the media financial meltdown is also taking a bite out of broadcast and even online journalism I really don’t care anymore if I hurt feelings. This is no time for sorrow, it’s time for action!

Look, it sucks when you get laid off from a job. I know what that feels like to be told “see-ya”. In 1997 while working as an anchor at WHP-TV in lovely Harrisburg, PA I was part of a Clear Channel sweeping that literally wiped out an newsroom. It was at that moment that I knew if I wanted to stay in the journalism game I needed to diversify my skills.

Fifteen years ago I was already an early adopter to the Internet and I kind of figured that this World Wide Web thing was going to be an important cog in the future of news both in content creation and consumption. Little did I know the Internet would essentially be the primary reason for the demise of newspapers. I mistakenly assumed that by now everyone who made a living in journalism would have figured out that “The Internet Killed The Paperboy.”

For years I tolerated all of the B.S. spit out, mostly from print people but also a fair number of broadcast people that the Internet would have little to no impact on our business. Ok, if you didn’t believe me then, do you believe me now? I’m not alone in saying that newspapers have become basically irrelevant. Economic realities have forced corporate media companies to move news content to the web. But I’ve long believed we should have been heading that way all along. Despite the nostalgia some have for getting ink on their fingers when they read a newspaper, news presented digitally is and will always be of greater value for readers and offer better storytelling opportunities for journalists. I challenge anyone to disagree with me.

Everyday, more and more papers are lying off people; while others say they are moving the newspaper exclusively online. And that’s the good news. It’s predicted some newspaper companies might not survive past this year.

So, what are your options? Many who get the newsroom boot, say “f#*k-it” I’m going into P.R. Others will search high and low for that one newspaper still committed to printing a paper everyday.  I’m suggesting another option: LET’S DO IT OURSELVES