Paper Cuts: Changing News Industry Spurs Career Change

I will always root for newspapers to recover

I owe a lot to newspapers.

For a combined 22 years, newspapers gave me a creative outlet and money for food and shelter. They introduced me to kindred spirits who geek out on city politics, grammar, and local plays. A newspaper brought my husband into my life, and without him, I wouldn’t have my smart, silly, unicorn-loving girl.

Because of this chapter of my life, I am more aware of and enlightened by the people in my community, the heroes, the villains, the survivors, the leaders, the creatives, the athletes … and the people who are a little bit of all of the above.

These are the reasons I stayed in the industry for more than two decades … and why I finally left.

Watching a big part of your life being toppled and your friends getting caught in the debris is depressing.

In my interview for my current job, the hiring manager asked about why I left the newspaper after 20 years. “It was … sad to stay,” I said. What other words are there for it?

Even though I left more than a year ago, I still feel each blow to my former employers. The shrinking paper sizes, the staff reductions. Just when I think no more can be cut, I hear about…