Finding a way to do more with less

by Will Harmon

This summer, prior to starting my third year of this BA Journalism course, I had been watching season five of The Wire, being one of my favourite television shows.

Some would summarise it as a Police drama about the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, but I believe it encapsulates much more.

In season five, a good portion of the series focuses on the inner workings of The Baltimore Sun’s newsroom. I was fascinated by how David Simon (the creator of the show) recreated the essence of a major daily newspaper’s contemporary issues. 

I watched how the editors and reporters on the show dealt with the daily events and stories of a major American city. I thought to myself: "Will it be similar to this in the Arts London newsroom when I’m there soon?"

Well after a few weeks in LCC’s newsroom I can start to answer that question: although in some ways it is different, overall the Arts London newsroom is quite similar.

We deal with daily issues and breaking stories and try our hardest to produce the news as fast and as accurately as we can. But having answered that question and continuing to think about certain issues raised on The Wire, a much larger question appeared….

"With all the budget cuts, loss of advertising revenue, and job losses at countless newspapers around the world, had I made the right decision to try and pursue journalism?" 

New era

It is indeed an ever-changing world right now for journalists and journalism in general. With rapidly updated online news sites, embedded videos, and podcasts, a new type of media has been pushed down our throats.

Journalists are continually “finding ways to do more with less.” Although newspapers and print media may be a dying breed in the eyes of some, I feel like people will always seek out new information regardlProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 oxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 s of what form it’s in.

Whether news providers can turn a profit in their efforts to produce news or lure advertisers back in order to create jobs and set off production remains to be seen. 

Rupert Murdoch’s plan for charging users for online content seems to have been postponed, but could he be on to something?

As outrageous as it might sound to some, could it be possible to charge for premium online content? Would it mark a return to investigative journalism instead of the all-too-common regurgitated news story? 

I don’t have the answers to those last questions, but I do feel I have made the right choice in pursuing journalism. Because at the end of the day, I might not be making any money for the role of News Editor for Arts London News, but I do feel quite content.

Although it’s truly exhausting spending the entire day editing, stressing, and randomly shouting out bits of profanity in the newsroom; when I finally get home, I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. And that’s what really matters right?  

Maybe next year when I’m eating Pot Noodle for dinner and living on the dole I'll think differently, but for now, I'll remain optimistic...