There was a time your local newspaper was owned by someone you had the chance of running into at the bank or grocery store. When the people making the decision about coverage and what you were going to be looking at when you ate your Cheerios lived in the same zip code. Journalists then knew who they worked for and who signed their checks. Those were simpler times.
Nowadays, newspapers are owned by large, multinational conglomerates that run local newspapers from high-rise offices in a one of those “media capitals.” Now instead of having an ear on the ground floor of a newsroom, today’s owners have their ears on the bottom line.
And this change has only been good news for journalists. Because if there is one thing journalists clamor to it’s synergy. Getting news assignments from an editor they’ve never met makes the job so much easier for journalists.
With corporate owners, journalists get perks like getting free AOL accounts, stock options and feeling the guilt over selling their soul after making promises in college they wouldn’t. And with working for a publicly traded company, journalists’ jobs are not only affected by their own performance but also the performance of Wall Street. Also, working under the helm of corporate giants relieves journalists of having to aspire to win journalism awards. That Pulitzer prize money isn’t going to pay the rent or for pay for the cost of the bright idea of trying to win back readers by charging them to let them print out their own newspaper.
But for journalists, the best part of working for a large, faceless corporation is having to “report” on their employer. When the company decides to layoff of 21 percent of its staff or require unpaid furloughs or outsource its reporters, journalists’ work is nearly done for them with a prepared statement. Oh, and don't forget being blacklisted from dozens of newspapers when being fired from a corporate-owned newspaper.
With owners overlords like Gannett and Knight Ridder McClatchy, News Corp. and MediaNews, instead of serving readers, journalists get the honor of serving shareholders and board of directors instead.
And unlike local newspaper owners, big bother corporations like to keep an eye on their little reporters after hours, tracking their Facebook, Twitter accounts, and make them sign to make sure they don't say/do/write anything to harm the company name. Journalists have been so busy trying to bring down the man, they didn't notice that they ended up working for the man.
Corporations also require their minions employees to sign legal documents forbidding them from writing/saying/thinking anything negative about the company? On that note . . .
The content of this post was solely written by a former Gannett (twice) and MediaNews employee.
