Freelance journalist for national papers and magazines, editor, copywriter, media consultant and novice but fanatical field hockey player. www.lizhollis.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Roy Greenslade is giving me nightmares
I can't be the only self-employed person who is finding it needs huge willpower to keep upbeat and super motivated at the moment. All around is doom and gloom: jobs lost; Roy Greenslade banging on about the death of journalism as we know it; one of the coldest and longest winters for years; Jade Goody's depressing public demise and pundits predicting the election of smug over-blown school boy David Cameron. Trudging through all this one has to keep cheery and keep the ideas and income flowing. It all got to me this morning. Last night I made the mistake of taking Media Guardian to bed for some light reading before I switched off the light. Instead, I found dear Roy Greenslade, as ever, predicting the end of journalism as we know it. Mostly a debate about how sub-editors are no longer needed - journalists should just edit their copy straight to page. Coming on top of the recent anouncement of redundancy of a close friend who was an experienced sub on a London paper - and predicted redundancies at Archant (who knows what that will involve) - it all got to me. Also, I had just been contacted by an enthusiastic undergraduate asking me how he could get into journalism. And I didn't advise him against it because this profession can be like a bizarre kind of calling sometimes - if you were born with a personality that makes you want to find, tell and write - you just can't escape the job. I should probably do something different as journalism seems like it's going out of fashion and it's one of the toughest gigs going at the moment - but I know I'll never give up a job that I love. The upshot of mulling over the present state of journalism was that I couldn't sleep. I moved downstairs to the sofa and watched QVC until I finally drifted off at 4am. Thankfully, although I was tempted when fatigue clouded my judgment, I avoided buying the Yog Easi homemade yoghurt maker, the Gatineau skin care range and a bizarre £10.00 foot massager for the shower. Feel rather tired today, mind you...
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