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Study asks: 'Is there life after newspapers?'

Is there life after newspapers? is a question which many journalists are asking themselves in the light of the current round of job cutbacks taking place across the industry.

Yesterday we highlighted the story of ex Yorkshire Post deputy editor Duncan Hamilton who has begun a new career in book publishing after being made redundant from his paper at the end of November.

Earlier this month we also featured former editor David Jackman’s bid to launch a new community news website after he was made redundant by the Epping Forest Guardian.

Now a survey of editorial workers on American newspapers who left their jobs between 1999 and 2007 found that just 6pc of them found work at another paper.

The study by the American Journalism Review makes interesting reading for UK regional journalists as cutbacks and redundancies continue across the country.

The survey report includes a series of case studies of former journalists who went on to work in a host of different fields including a yoga instruction, substitute teaching and media relations.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the payroll for all newspaper workers has fallen from 336,000 at the start of 2008 to 313,600 in October – a drop of over 22,000 positions.

A graphic designer for the St Louis Post-Dispatch has also been tracking the cull and estimates that around 7,500 journalists job were cut.

A full report on the AJR survey can be read on www.ajr.org.

  • Have you moved onto an exciting new career after being made redundant, or are you still just making plans? Contact us on 01332 253064 or by emailing [email protected].

    Comments

    splash gordon (30/01/2009 11:25:29)
    What a load of hogwash. We don’t want to know how many journalists have had to become yoga instructors. What we really need to know is how good journalists are being retained and how plans for news-gathering operations are being strengthened. Being the voice and guardians of our democratic freedoms doesn’t come cheap – but the public will thank us for it in the end. Think of the increased £s millions being spent on PR and ‘media management’ by the current govt for example; think whether we are “best-placed to weather the storm” (Gordon Brown) or “worst-placed of all developed economies” (IMF)… see what i mean?

    splash’s no.1 fan (30/01/2009 15:00:11)
    So splash you are “the voice and guardians of our democratic freedoms doesn’t come cheap – but the public will thank us for it in the end”
    on behalf of mankind, let me be the first to say… Thank you, keep up the good work.