The Coronavirus pandic has wreaked havoc across the globe and many industries have suffered huge losses, aviation and tourism for example are two of the biggest, but spare a thought to the many journalists who are losing their jobs across the country.
Everyone fancies themselves as a journalist these days. Social media is responsible for that and it's easy to set up websites, makes everyone a blogger. But care is needed, one 'slip of the pen' and more damage than good can be done.
The BBC are to cut 1120 jobs, with many newspapers, magazines and publishers making hundreds of redundancies. Reach the publisher of The Mirror, Express and Star as well as many regionals is cutting 550 jobs. The Guardian will see 180 cuts across all its operations, according to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
But what will happen if print publications disappear?
Digital and online is fine and reaches many, but could it reach too many? Is it possible to reach too many, I think it is. We publish in Yorkshire as most of our partners are Yorkshire based and want to do business in Yorkshire, but our online edition has the potential to reach millions all across the globe. How on earth do those millions find your article buried amongst billions of pages of other articles and information that are published online each day. How do you make yours stand out so people don't just simply stumble on it? To me, it's like throwing a bottle with a note into the ocean and hoping that someone picks it up. With print, it's physical, targeted and a constant reminder to pick up and look at it when you have more time.
I have news delivered to my inbox daily which is great. Some days however I don't have the time to look and promise myself I will later. I forget and never go back to it. With print, it's there, I am constantly reminded to read and I may do that later when I have switched off my computer and sitting comfortably with a hot drink or possibly even something stronger!
Printed newspapers and magazines are important - god forbid there would be a power cut on all eggs in one basket digital! Websites, social media, can you imagine, wiped out with a flick of a switch! Don't get me wrong, it's a great tool, instant and with a wide reach, but use all the options available to you and let's see some of these hardworking journalists keeping their jobs to bring you daily news and features.
Gill
