I started off in journalism just out of college in 2000. Even then, future prospects were pretty bleak. People with 10 years more experience than me (plus PhDs in comp lit) were basically deciding on comma placement. After two years, I fled the field for a completely unrelated discipline. Probably the best decision I ever made. All my friends from that time have struggled through multiple rounds of layoffs and most have eventually moved on. It's very sad because an active and well informed media is essential to a well functioning democracy. Right now the most viable model increasingly looks to be charity. I don't think this bodes well for governance, especially at the local level where journalism really has imploded.
