The Futility of the Field

“At least someone still wants to stay in journalism,” said the managing editor for news at a major metropolitan daily newspaper.
I was in his office last month, on what I thought might be a job interview. I was not sure. It was one of those days. I had managed to get into the newsroom, but nobody had explained exactly whether there was a job—and what the position might be. He wound up telling me, in a dejected style that left me confused about how to respond, about two jobs: one of which he thought I was overqualified for (the O-word again) and the other, he said, would be a bad fit. So mostly I was there because someone helpful to me had gotten me access. But I was not sure how to use my access.
I was sure, though, that this guy sounded depressed about journalism. Everyone does. And I had just told him that I wanted to stay in the business.
I still do, but I wonder whether I will. This morning I filed for unemployment benefits, something I never wanted to do but am grateful that I can do. (Thank you, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.) The online process established by New York State makes everything as harmless as possible. Still, I had been hoping to be one of the lucky ones, already in a job by the time that my inadequate severance package (that’s what I got for nine and a half years of my life?) was depleted.
It’s the question at the center of things for almost anyone who is, circa 2009, an unemployed journalist: is it time to get out of the field altogether? I suppose it’s something we have in common with unemployed auto welders…and a lot of other people who wonder about the flailing industry they chose earlier in life.
A teacher friend emailed me over the weekend and said that journalism is dying, except for the very big and very large concerns, and so when she gets back from her getaway I will ask her about education. Whether I might teach. It’s something I have had a taste of, visiting classrooms over the years, and I always wanted to mix teaching with journalism. I am the son of a teacher; I am the brother of a teacher. But I never really wanted to replace journalism with teaching—or anything else.
The managing editor did not sound like he thought I was crazy for wanting to stay in the business. But he did not sound hopeful either.