Despite what these publications tell you, the oversupply of people wanting to write things on the internet means you actually do not need to pay for "quality" journalism.
For every grizzled vet that throws in the towel, frustrated with adblocking freeloaders...two young idealists take their place.
Anyone can publish a blog. Mastheads don't have a reason to exist anymore. My advice to a young writer is to build your own brand and forget about print operations trying vainly to stay relevant but have no reason to exist anymore.
On any given day, on any given topic, I can usually look around for a few minutes in any Reddit thread and find something genuine, well written, and useful that is equal to or superior to "quality" journalism that apparently won't survive without my money
When was the last time you saw real investigative journalism? These days it's a race to get what ever click-bait headlines you can get from 'unamed sources' (or my favorite 'sources close to X') up and out the door. Gotta get those sweet sweet ad views. Journalistic integrity is long dead and what's left are those Freelance bloggers; except they no longer write for blogs, but major entertainment outlets.
BuzzFeed have a superb investigative team. This year, they broke the story of the alleged assassination of 14 Russian citizens on British soil and a subsequent cover-up. Six journalists were credited for the piece and it's clear that they spent months on it.
Inside Housing revealed that tower blocks were being fitted with unsafe cladding months before the Grenfell Tower disaster. They uncovered the issue through lengthy reporting of previous fires in high-rise buildings over the course of several years. This obscure little trade magazine has won a shower of national awards for their doggedly determined investigative work.
There are hundreds of superb investigative journalists working for local and regional newspapers, doing crucial work under severe constraints. They're underpaid, underresourced and underappreciated, but without their work, all manner of injustices would go unreported. Numerous national scandals have been identified because of the work of one local reporter, doing the dog-work of sitting in courtrooms and knocking on doors.
The NYT contacted the agency spokesman and several present and former federal officials. They contacted the agency spokeswoman of the FDA. They quote a former Surgeon General and an outsider expert.
> Sheila Kaplan reported from Washington, and Donald G. McNeil Jr. from New York. Pam Belluck contributed reporting from New York.
Three people wrote the article and pooled their contacts or input. It was likely edited to make it short and concise. How many blog posts care to do that instead of rehashing or just spinning opinion?
I don't think calling people up and asking them to make a statement is beyond the reach of a blogger. Investigative journalism does take a lot of effort and it needs to be encouraged, however vast majority of journalism produced is not investigative and could be made more efficient and democratic
For every grizzled vet that throws in the towel, frustrated with adblocking freeloaders...two young idealists take their place.
Anyone can publish a blog. Mastheads don't have a reason to exist anymore. My advice to a young writer is to build your own brand and forget about print operations trying vainly to stay relevant but have no reason to exist anymore.
On any given day, on any given topic, I can usually look around for a few minutes in any Reddit thread and find something genuine, well written, and useful that is equal to or superior to "quality" journalism that apparently won't survive without my money