Journalists or ex-journalists check in

[HEyHEY]

Just wondering how many there are on DU.

I'm an editor of a small weekly. Until the end of November that is, I'm going to radio.

[thinkingwoman]

1. editor, publisher, owner

of small weekly.

[HEyHEY]

2. Very cool

Did you start the paper yourself?

Do you have a webpage?

[thinkingwoman]

5. family paper

More than a century old, but only in my family for the last few decades.

[Unstuck In Time]

3. Journalist-in-recovery here.

Newspaper, radio, TV, online.

[NewHampshireDem]

4. Studied journalism in college ...

Charter member and former managing editor of high school newspaper ... news editor, managing editor of college news paper ... but lost my taste for it after a messy story my senior year in college ... never went back to it.

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. I write bios on actors, directors, writers, for a web publication...

that count?

[Robb]

7. Staff reporter, small weekly

...actually it's comical as I'm the only flunky. In a staff of three who produce copy, we have a publisher, a managing editor, and yours truly. :)

HEyHEY is a dingbat. :D

[asthmaticeog]

8. I'm both a writer and an ex-writer.

I used to crank out REAMS for a couple of regional music pubs and stopped writing when I got a design job at a paper whose music editor I disliked. I still do a feature now and again, but I'm "Art Director" in the masthead and I like it that way.

Writing's a fucking chore.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Yo

[BigMcLargehuge]

10. former columnist and staff reporter for

Hippopress in Manchester, NH. Had a dispute over column space and we parted ways.

[flamingyouth]

11. Freelance writer (occasional)

Also used to self-publish music zines with my late husband.

I also served in various editorial capacities at The Daily of the University of Washington.

[Journeyman]

12. I was a journalist for years, wanted to be one since I was a child. . .

but in the wake of Sarah Jane Moore's attempted assassination of President Ford, and the hatchet job the bastards in the press did on Oliver Sipple for saving Ford's life, I decided I wanted nothing to do with a profession capable of such a dishonorable act. Too many moral debates between "public's right to know" and the individual's right to privacy, and too few journalists willing to forego a good story in order to protect a good life.

[Dem Agog]

13. Journalism degree ...

I have a degree in Journalism, and wrote for a small paper many, many moons ago. I quickly discovered it was a sickening amount of work for very little financial reward and moved into networking/computer science for my career.

You'd be amazed at how many "Internet geeks" never studied a lick of computer science in college.

[lancdem]

14. I'm a staff writer for a decent-sized (100,000 circulation)

Sunday newspaper in southcentral PA. I also do some copy editing.

[chimpymustgo]

15. Played one on TV.

nt

[SteppingRazor]

16. Associate Editor/Music Columnist

For a fairly large altweekly in South Florida. Like The Village Voice or LA Weekly, or what-have-you. I occasionally write about politics too, but I'm generally on the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll beat.

[bigwillq]

17. I'm a sports writer

for a daily in Connecticut. It's the second largest paper in CT circulation wise and reputation wise. Not my opinion, many think it's a rag, but that's what the corporate folks tell us.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

18. Will be a journalism student as of next year

:hi:

[MrBenchley]

19. 25 years' experience

mostly business to business....

Tell us about the radio thing...

[HEyHEY]

23. Afternoon news anchor

However, I have to leave the office to cover breaking news as well if it gets hectic. Trying to land a freelance gig with a daily here too.

[CornField]

24. That would be me... kinda still is

I was a working journalist for over 10 years before starting my own business. I still do a little string work from time to time.

[Kat45]

20. I have an MS in journalism; used to write about music for

regional music publications. Never made a living from it (unfortunately).

[whalerider55]

21. me?

local columnist (weekly), occasional features (2x a month) for local, mostly pieces on music for papers and small magazines for the past 25 years.

have always had a day job, tho...

whalerider55

[Krupskaya]

22. Freelancer and looking!

I've worked on daily, weekly and semi-weekly newspapers as well as monthly magazines. Now, thanks to 9/11, I'm working from home as a writer and copy editor. Ends aren't meeting, though, and I'm kind of stumped as to what to do. Publishing isn't really hiring around here.

I'm also a proud member of the National Writers Union.

[Liberty Belle]

34. I'm in NWU, too. In fact...

I'm the rabble rouser who started the class action suit against all the big publishers and databases. If you're a freelancer and didn't sell your rights, one of these days when the dust settles, we'll both get some dough!

[geardaddy]

47. I'm at the NWU Delegates Assembly as we speak!

Go labor!

nwu.org

[Downtown Hound]

25. Have a degree in journalism

and worked for a year at an ABC station last year doing advertising sales and commercial production. Quit Because I got so fed up with corporate media. I found it very strange that there I was working in a TV station and I had to go to buzzflash to get the real news.

[RagingInMiami]

26. Currently a freelance writer trying to break into screenwriting

But I worked as a newspaper reporter for seven years, most recently with The Arizona Republic as a police reporter. I hated that paper because they killed my passion for journalism. Bastards.

[Gopens]

27. Managing editor of a small weekly

Really I'm a copy editor/page designer, but I got downsized out of a job a couple of years ago and can't find anything where I can just do what I specialize in. Now, I have to do a little bit of everything.
It's not a bad job, but if I had my choice, I'd rather not worry about reporting.

[ellie]

28. I'm an editor

for a trade magazine.

[Liberty Belle]

33. Which one? I'm a contributing editor for a trade mag,

and also write for some--but I'm always looking for new clients!

[PinkTiger]

29. Ex-journalist.

Used to write for a regional paper in the mid-south. Also did freelance for Reuters. Mostly covered business and crime.
Today I teach journalism and public relations (also worked in advertising in my career) and I sell real estate because I need to eat.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

30. It figures..

This many journalists, all on Democratic Underground?

The Liberal Media strikes again..

[eugeneliberal]

31. me too

Over the past 13 years I've been a magazine and book editor and freelance writer. After being laid off from my job in 2003, I decided to return to school (at age 45) and finish my journalism degree at the University of Oregon. I also freelance for the local weekly alternative newspaper.

[Liberty Belle]

32. Journalist, editor, and author here.

I'm an ex-newspaper columnist for a major metropolitan daily. I quit to file a class action lawsuit against the rats for infringing copyrights on hundreds of my works and thousands of other freelancers' articles. Another downside of big media: greed.

These days, I write mostly for home/garden magazines and am a contributing editor on a trade journal in the nutrition industry. I recently started a political newsletter, the Liberty Belle Log.

I've also published books (fiction and nonfiction) under my own name as well as for ghostwriting clients.

[AverageJoe]

35. Former staff writer at several small weeklies

Also a former Journalism teacher/newspaper adviser at a small university.

[Taxloss]

36. Freelance writer and editor.

I write social stuff (housing-related) and design stuff (product and industrial, not architecture that much.

My first "book" is a deisgn anthology under production write now, bt I am among many, many contributors. My first proper book is anticipated Winter 2006!

[Skeet]

37. Former radio anchor here.

I left because of money. The pay was aweful. I still casually look for opening and if the right offer were to come about, I might take it.

[aaronbees]

38. beat reporter

at a mid-sized daily in the South. Cover business with some feature writing on the side. Kind of looking to move on to better pastures, too.

[Shopaholic]

39. In one of my past lives

I worked in radio and television. Or maybe it was just all one long 10-year nightmare. . .

[jerseygirl]

40. I quit my newspaper job in August

I was working at small paper in PA but left at the end of August because a) the paper sucked and b) I really felt a pull to do something with the campaign. I still dream of writing for the NYTimes, but am having fun and learning a lot in the political world.

[Heidi]

41. Checking in . . .

Print journalist for more than 20 years. Now recovering from it.

[dutchdemocrat]

42. Canadian-Caribbean hack

I cut my teeth in at the SRJ in N.W.T. (Canadian Arctic) with a weekly for two years (one winter thank god)... then ended up in the Caribbean media where I published and edited a couple of boating mags and daily rags over a decade.

I ran out of steam with all the bullshit - thanks the insane politics of corrupt 'small island' Caribbean.

St. Maarten/ St. Maarten was governed by the Netherlands Antilles via Curacao and the French via Guadeloupe with two different 'motherlands', two different municipal governments, and two different regional governments... and no border of course. Not to mention the mélange of 'official' languages which ranged from Dutch, English, French to Papiamento as well as French and English Creole... in official capacities within the government functions.

Bear in mind, the governments don't run the island; the mafia takes care of the Dutch side in the form of Rosario Spadaro, one leg of the Santapaola crime family out of Catania, Sicily. Looks like he may have been http://news.caribseek.com/Sint_Maarten/The_Daily_Herald/article_14453.shtml">caught finally. The French side is run by the mayor, Albert Fleming, who antics included one incident of stealing land from a little old lady (and a nun to boot) by manipulating land records in Guadeloupe - a friend of mine started to break the story and file complaints and ended up incarcerated at Guadeloupe’s version of Devil's Island for two years due to a well planned cocaine planting at his house by the local hench-cops.

As you can imagine, I had to be careful with coverage - and I got threatened more than a few times.

The island had two different electrical systems (Dutch Side 110, French 220), more than 100 nationalities, with a work force that was 80 percent illegal, a lagoon full of grottie yotties from all over the world hanging off their hooks, 450 bars and restaurants, ciggies for 8 bucks a carton and rum for less than a buck a bottle and "Pour Your Own" Happy Hours at my local. There were some interesting times on the 37 sq mile rock.

While I was covering my second human smuggling boat trip fiasco, pulling scores of dead people who were trying to get to St. Thomas out of the water, I did a never-attempted body count of how many personal friends I had lost over the years. And that's when I decided to bail. Right then and there. The island was changing too much. And I was realising that my capacity to make positive change was becoming impossible - the idealism was fading. Who goes into journalism for the money?

The beaches were packed and duller, the sun was oppressive, the water was too hot, and the nature was gone.

I am now out of the media. And out of the Caribbean.

Now its self employment with various projects on the go that involve communications.

[Ksec]

43. I delivered papers when I was younger , does that count?

[Bravo411]

44. Went to school to study journalism. Wrote in H.S. and College.

I focused on investigative reporting. I then taught myself web design in '95 and went into that field. Moved from there to Network Administration in '99.

Now I'm unemployed and I blog. I've given up on trying to get back into the tech field. I would love to find a paying gig as a writer though. I'd even be willing to cover a war zone, so if any editors can't find a person to send to Iraq, drop me a line.

[Wetzelbill]

45. former opinions columnist

I contribute to mags every once in awhile, I'll bust out a guest op-ed from time to time too.

[nashville_brook]

46. former editor/publisher -- small weekly

[ChicagoSuz219]

48. I'm a writing slut...

:blush: I'll write anything... including articles, when approached.

www.SusanDanzig.biz if you're curious about me