Spring 1995
If the excitement refuses to die down, it's because our jobs are on the line. The experts say there will continue to be a demand for news written by professionals, but any fool can see that with 500 interactive channels on the way, print media will continue their descent into irrelevance. As it is, for every college graduate with a degree in journalism or communications who gets a job at a major daily or CNN, there are countless others who discover their true calling as ring models on the Home Shopping Network, production assistants on talk shows and paper-pushers at ad agencies.
As international borders, libraries and offices slide off the map and into invisible electronic networks, are we being set free to get rich in a global market seething with new opportunities, or being doomed to languish as overworked and underpaid independent contractors without any benefits or security? It looks like we're all destined to become information "sales associates" of some sort, but there will probably be as many answers to these questions as there are people attempting to make it in this business. I hope the articles we've included will help you make the right choices.