Weblog

So, I commented last time about how journalism is dead and how technology killed it. Well, I thought that since technology was the future, I was secure in my job. Well, then I remembered that I didn't work in the technology sector; I worked in the broadcasting sector.

In summary, I lost my job.

I somehow justified it to myself to take a vacation to Arkansas and see my dear and dearest friends graduate from my alma mater and simply hang out with Jeremiah. But now, I'm back in Colorado with no job and a bad œcomony. Pretty much, I need a job that will get me through to only May when I'll hopefully go back to graduate school.

Anyway, if you happen to be interested, check out my résumé.

Well, it's the end of an era for me. The oldest newspaper in the state of Colorado is going out of business. Well, I shouldn't bury it yet, but unless a buyer decides to purchase The Rocky Mountain News soon (which seems unlikely), it will be the end of the newspaper.

I majored in computer science. I hate computer science. I would have much rather majored in journalism. Fortunately, while I was in college, I had the opportunity to get a small taste of journalism while the campus newspaper had me write a few columns for it.¹ It was perhaps one of the most amazing classes that I took.² Honestly, I really wonder where I would be now if I actually went through with switching my major like I planned.

Well, it's ironic: journalism is a dead industry… and the computer killed it. The news that you get in the paper is already outdated as soon as it's printed. With the presence of image manipulation programs like Photoshop and The GIMP, photographs can be used to distort the truth to the degree that photojournalism is loosing its credibility. Online classified advertising sites like craigslist target a much broader audience at a much cheaper price.³ It's the truth of the times: computers are au courant; journalism is the past.

Ironically, my university decided to end its computer-science program, but it kept its journalism major. It seems like the wrong decision in the grand scheme, but I know that they had good reasons for it.⁴ The other irony is that I'm working in that same computer industry that's killing journalism. It worked out for me that I stuck with the computers. I have a great job while those over at the News are going to be looking for jobs.

Still, it's sad: I killed journalism. I'm shouldn't be too sad about that. After all, the telegraph killed the Pony Express,⁵ but life is better today because of it. Now, the Internet⁶ is putting the newspaper out of business. Indeed, I shouldn't be too sad about it…

…except for the fact that I kind of like having my news on paper.

I guess that there's still Time Magazine.

1. Even though columns aren't really journalism.
2. Despite taking it at the worst time of my life, but that's a story for another time.
3. That would be… free.
4. Imagine that: JBU having good reasons.
5. And the telephone killed the telegraph.
6. Which is possibly the greatest invention yet.

Okay, life has gotten to the point where it just doesn't seem worth living anymore.

When I was a younger child, my dear grandfather would occasionally come to visit us. When he did come, he wouldn't come emptyhanded. No, he would always come with a package of cookies. Specifically, they were the taffy-flavoured, crème-filled Mother's brand cookies. However, we only had one name for the cookies: they were and are and forever will be known as Grandpa cookies.¹

The sad news: Mother's Cookies is no more. They went out of business. There are no more to be sold. My brother even tried to find them online. He couldn't. This means that I can no longer enjoy the taste of soft taffy with crème after it's been baptised in milk. In short, life is no longer worth living.

1. The fact that they were Mother's brand cookies and we called them Grandpa cookies confused me.