Journalism as a Hobby?

     Hawaii Island's Baron Sekiya lost his job in downsizing at the West Hawaii Today newspaper but continues to deliver news at the website www.hawaii247.org

     He wrote me after I wondered aloud, in this blog, about the absence of proven business models for news media today.

      Here's Baron's take: "Journalism has become like painting or music. Sure, people want to be a rock star but most are starving artists trying to do what they love. Maybe that's the way it is with journalism."

      He suggests that journalism is more of a craft than a profession, something many people can engage in. For example, he says, a lot of people play music--for their enjoyment as well as that of their listeners-- but they don't try to make a job out of it.

     It seems obvious how much Baron cares about journalism--just review the name he chose for his website. 24/7 doesn't sound like a hobby. It sounds like a calling.

     I'd love to see critical masses of people who've exited traditional journalism and people who've become respected citizen journalists form "aggregator sites" and enlist paying subscribers. 

      Will such a journalistic enterprise pay the bills, or will these journalists be hobbyists, as Baron suggests, using other means of personal support to finance their craft? 

       And how do we make sure that our particpatory democracy receives  the sound information it needs to thrive?

Comments

[Tiffany]

Aloha Leslie,
Looking forward to meeting you someday. Like Baron, I am a former West Hawaii Today staffer who has ventured into my own enterprise at www.bigislandchronicle.com. It truly is for the love of the profession alone that I am on this mission to present news and commentary. Work is life. Life is work. Do what you love and the money will come. It is important to be optimistic, in spite of the gloom and doom surrounding journalism, locally and nationwide.
All the best,
Tiffany Edwards Hunt
Newswoman@mac.com
Www.bigislandchronicle.com

[Baron]

As the NPR program 'On The Media' conjectured about citizen journalists. There are times when citizens rise up to do journalistic things and that IS journalism, but that doesn't make them journalists. They don't abide by a professional journalist's standards 24/7 like we do. Yes, it's a hassle to follow the rules but we do it, we're professionals and we don't turn that off. There is a huge difference between doing journalistic things and being a journalist.

I once fought a brushfire to help save a friend's home. Sure I fought the fire but I'm no firefighter. And yeah, I own an electric guitar but I'm absolutely no threat to musicians with the way I play, I'll stick to journalism as my gig for the time being.

[Damon]

Someone told me I must WORK HARD on my blog one time.

I told them if my blog ever became "WORK" I would quit doing it.

I've managed to get advertisers by doing something I enjoy.

I've never been a "Real Journalist" and I can't write worth beans.

But I've managed to pull in a bit of money by blogging and if I were to save up each months annual blog revenue... I'd be able to pay for my son's college education by just doing something I enjoy doing.

Baron is a hard worker... and I see the effort he puts into his site. I hope he is well paid in the long run... but until then I'm glad that he is posting information for all of us to view.

Some people think "Bloggers" have egos or something... I think totally differently about it. I think bloggers are giving something to their community.

Thus, I've set up the completely "AD Free" site http://fbiblogs to showcase blogs specifically (FBI) From Big Island.

If you read Dissapeared News today... it mentioned that Rupert Murdoch wants to start Charging to access newspapers online within the next 12 months.

Us bloggers, might be the only way people are able to get free information online in the future if Newspapers do move to this Method of Operation.

[Andrew Cooper]

For me the blog is definitely a hobby, but I do venture into real journalism from time to time. With the failure of the local press to properly cover many issues, I see the island's blogging community as filling the gap. It is the professionals like Baron and Tiffany that set the standard. I support their efforts to explore new ways of delivering local news to the community.