http://jou.sagepub.comJournalism DOI: 10.1177/1464884909102595 2009; 10; 350 JournalismVincent Mosco The future of journalismhttp://jou.sagepub.com The online version of this article can be found at: Published by:http://www.sagepublications.com can be found at:Journalism Additional services and information for http://jou.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts: http://jou.sagepub.com/subscriptions Subscriptions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navPermissions: http://jou.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/10/3/350 Citations at UNIV OF MARYLAND on August 26, 2009 http://jou.sagepub.comDownloaded fromJournalismCopyright © 2009 SAGE Publications(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC)Vol. 10(3): 350–352 DOI: 10.1177/1464884909102595ARTICLEThe future of journalism Vincent MoscoQueen’s University, CanadaThere is no future for journalism without journalists and the trends are not good.According to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE, 2008), years of decline reached a new low in 2007 when newsrooms lost 2400 journalists, marking a 4.4 percent drop from the previous year, the largest loss since ASNE began its census three decades ago. The last time full-time employment in daily newspaper newsrooms was this low, Ronald Reagan faced Walter Mondale in the 1984 election. If anything, the 2008 news has been worse. The largest newspaper publisher in the country, Gannett, an-nounced layoffs of 3000 people, fully 10 percent of its workforce. Time Inc., the home of Time magazine, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune, cut 600 jobs. Throwing in the towel after a century of daily journalism, the Christian Science Monitor announced that it would cease publication of its weekday news-paper. Throughout the year, the Tribune Company announced one cut after another; the latest slashed 75 jobs from the Los Angeles Times newsroom, leaving the paper with half its 2001 staff. Even the New York Times laid off newsroom staff. The 2009 economic crisis has certainly intensifi ed the trend. But to paraphrase one columnist, the sky is falling and it is hard to know how many will be left to cover the story.It is hard to disagree with the view that some combination of techno-logical change, corporate consolidation and neo-liberal governments has contributed to job loss. Some have argued that the decline in the ranks of journalists as traditionally defi ned has been offset by the growth of new forms of mainly online journalism, including blogging, citizen journalism, ‘I-reporting’, and a variety of adaptations from social networking sites. These are admittedly important new developments in story-telling but, aside from a few exceptions, those telling the stories are not journalists. They are not trained in the craft. They are not trained in how to collect and assess infor-mation or in how to confi rm or corroborate what they collect. Moreover, new technology can also be used to outsource the work of professional jour-nalists offshore, as Reuters did when it moved one thousand or so jobs from at UNIV OF MARYLAND on August 26, 2009 http://jou.sagepub.comDownloaded fromMosco The future of journalism351the UK to India. Others hope that as a result of changing political alignments, led by the Obama victory and the damage done to neoliberal policies by the economic collapse, we are likely to see stronger regulation and consequently a reversal of the decline in the journalism profession. Some progress may be made here but it is unlikely unless journalists respond to the convergences in technology and in corporate structure that have led to job-destroying results with a convergence of their own.Specifi cally, the future health of journalism depends on the ability of journalists to come together nationally and internationally to defend their interests. They need to convince people, including policy makers, media owners and news consumers, that journalism matters to us all; that journalists work best when they are professionally secure; and that diversity is essential to democracy. Changes in government policy can help here, including limiting media mergers which often take place to lower labor costs and easing the process of establishing trade unions and engaging in collective bargaining. But it is up to journalists themselves to advance the process of what Catherine McKercher and I call labor convergence (Mosco and McKercher, 2008).Responding to technological and industry convergence, and to a con-verging labor process, workers in the communication and information industries have come together in two major forms: in large integrated trade unions and in new forms of worker organization that resemble social move-ments. For example, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) represents journalists in print, broadcasting and online, along with telecom-munications, service and high tech workers. Using the combined resources of its ‘one big union’ structure, the CWA has expanded across the border to represent some Canadian media workers, including those working for Canada’s national broadcaster who fought off an attempt to erode their ranks in a seven-week work stoppage that demonstrated the ability of dif-ferent types of media workers to join forces, mobilize support from their audiences and win a signifi cant victory. Canada’s counterpart to the CWA even includes those who cut the timber for newsprint. Internationally, the Swiss-based federation, Union Network International, brings together jour-nalists, telecommunications and other information workers from most of the world’s nations in an effort to overcome the labor cost divides that often pit communication workers, including journalists, against one another. The goal is not to simply oppose outsourcing but to raise professional standards for all workers. These and other unions have assisted the formation of new types of labor organizations which now represent tech writers and other computer specialists at Microsoft (WashTech) and freelance writers in the United States and Canada. These organizations carry out some at UNIV OF MARYLAND on August 26, 2009 http://jou.sagepub.comDownloaded fromJournalism 10(3)352traditional union functions but are more actively involved in education and political work.No one can be sure if these efforts will succeed in strengthening jour-nalists or journalism. But it is encouraging to observe the profession returning to its