Monday, March 2, 2009

Future?

The San Francisco Chronicle reported a little less than a week ago that Hearst may put the paper up for sale. What does that say for the 200 students sitting with me in Medill? What does that say for those who are seeking internships this summer?

It's a frightening thing to think about. What business model will replace the traditional business model to create a remotely successful industry?

Every week, I walk into lecture and at least one guest speaker or one professor will say something along the lines of "You may be thinking that you won't get a job after four years here at Medill, but I think this is the best time to enter the industry." These pseudo-encouraging comments hold some truth, but it's hard to keep that optimistic, gung-ho outlook when every which way I look a publication is laying off staffers, shutting down or filing for bankruptcy. Sure, the internet is the next frontier, but the trip sure is a rocky one.

As far as professors say, it's the increasingly entrepreneurial mentality that offers optimism. For me? I will continue holding onto that silver lining.

More posts in the future about muddy March, International Dinner and Joshua Radin.

2 comments:

woppinbob said...

I kind of know how you feel. Before my CA interview I picked up a copy of the Chicago Tribune, which had an article on how endowments on the arts were heavily falling. That scares me shit-less every day I walk into class.

I keep replaying my film professor's first day speech in my head, the one where he tells us that here, in one of the best film schools in the nation, the vast majority of rtvf people will not become the filmmakers they want to be. That's a scary thought, because I look around at all the raw talent that abounds from people in class, and it just seems so wasted that talent like that will go towards faceless assimilation into the Hollywood bureaucracy because nobody funds filmmakers.

Money is a shitty reason for suppressing true artwork.

dancamp said...

We should split a place three ways when we're all jobless in four years. Why did we choose to pursue the arts...