The future

I read THIS story yesterday and it really made me start to think. This particular paragraph really got my attention:

That has forced newspapers to cut staff and shrink their publications. The report says staffing levels at daily newspapers have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2001.



“A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed, government waste not discovered, health dangers not identified in time, local elections involving candidates about whom we know little,” the report says.

Not only is it a little depression to see that "15,000 reporters have left newsrooms in the past decade" but also that less does not seem to be more in this case. I completely agree with what they were saying when it comes to story ideas. Many of them are not in depth but come from press releases or stories from another news source. I am not criticising because I am not in the position to do that, but I still see that as a problem.

I really want to become the reporter and writer that makes some kind of a difference or exposes something that the public should know. I know that I am fresh at all of this, so the stories I have written so far in my career have been great for me to learn and grow as a writer, but I want to do more. I know that a lot of it is in my hands to take the initiative and I hope I will be able to be better at that.

I am not really a naturally curious person, and I see that as a problem more and more. I am also not pushy or nosey or competitive and I just wonder if these are the kind of traits I will need to get before I can become the successful writer I want to be.

This article/study really got me thinking, and hopefully it will be the driving force behind my stories and ideas from now on.