Wordblog

Andy Dickinson who teaches journalism at the University of Central Lancashire has decided to end the regular blogging I have followed and enjoyed.

He explains his decision in this post. I don’t want to summarise because I would surely misrepresent him. But I understand his feelings. In recent months I too have felt I was falling out of love with journalism.

In part my attitude was coloured by being retired by the University of Westminster (a year after the normal retirement age) but also by the sad state of journalism. Only in the past few days have I resolved to restart regular blogging.

As more and more journalists loose their jobs, the traditional models seem to be broken except perhaps for the BBC and its licence fee. And some others seem intent on diluting that by clamouring for a slice of the cake.

While the economy was strong we could see a gradual decline in print and some broadcasters in the face of new technology. That gave us time to  think about the future and find new ways to finance journalism.

But recession has ended all hope of gradual change. There is a feeling of Apocalypse in the air.

I believe there is still hope and that there will be a way to sustain journalism. We just have to find it. That is why I still want to blog.

After the shake out of recession it may be that the remaining traditional media will be able to think more clearly about transition. In the meantime we have to continue the debate about the future of journalism.