Daisy Hernandez

Newspaper Jobs Aren’t Dead

Check out Cindy Von Quednow’s new story at ColorLines.com on journalists who are finding jobs in ethnic media instead of with mainstream outlets.

Sam Richard knew he wanted to be a reporter early in his college career. He worked for the daily student newspaper at California State University Northridge and got an internship at the Ventura County Star in Camarillo, Calif., which quickly turned into a full-time job.

But after leaving the industry for health reasons, he broke back into the journalism world as the managing editor of L.A. Watts Times, the leading Black print newspaper in Los Angeles in November 2008.

“I saw it as an opportunity to hone in on editing skills,” said Richard about getting hired at L.A. Watts Times. “With that I oversee and serve people with information that matters and interests them.”

A recent study conducted by the American Society of News Editors shows that 5,900 mainstream newsroom jobs were lost in 2008, 854 of which were held by people of color. Although there aren’t statistics, anecdotes suggest that many journalists of color are turning to jobs in ethnic media and being surprised by the results.

Posted at 5:17 PM, Jun 11, 2009 in Permalink | View Comments