RIP Old Media
Why are newspapers dying? I just called someone at the health and science desk at the Boston Globe to inquire about freelancing. I was given the unfortunate news that like so many other publications, the Globe is consolidating the health and science section into other areas of the paper, including lifestyles and business, depending on the story. I asked if I should contact the business editor, but was told I’d be wasting my time.
“There’s just not a market for it,” this person said.
No market for stories about health IT and/or the business of healthcare? This is a $2.5 trillion industry, and health IT is about to get a $20 billion infusion of federal cash.
I hope Old Media has enough space left to write its own obituary.
Sounds like you better become a full time blogger. I don’t know how your website has been doing, but mine has seen a real uptake both in readership and in the revenue from ads on the site.Considering you’re much more qualified than I, I’d think you could become an excellent full time blogger. Plus, by writing cool stuff on your blog you often get other writing gigs. I know I have and I haven’t even solicited for any of them.On a side note, I was the person who never wanted to take an English class, but now I’m writing like crazy.
Neil,That is pretty sad. I read the print Globe every day and find it becoming smaller — and less informative — each month. And, Health IT is huge. I can’t believe there’s “no market” for information about it.
Thanks for the support. Revenue from this blog remains minimal. It never was intended as a money-making venture, though I, too, have gotten other gigs from it. I think a lot of editors are being penny wise and pound foolish right now because the shareholders are demanding deep budget cuts. Someone please inform them that the proposed stimulus legislation contains at least $20 billion for health IT. Add in appropriations to AHRQ, the VA and the Military Health System, and you’ve got billions more.
I’ve been a daily reader of the Boston Globe for decades. It has gone downhill so fast, it’s bare bones. So much has gone away the last couple years. I really want them to survive, but when it’s not worth reading, how can they? And since Boston.com is my homepage – it’s discouraging to see front page articles in print that I read on Boston.com the day before.