“Good thing you like to write, because you aren’t going to make any money in this profession” is what we’ve been told time and time again as aspiring journalists in the digital age. Parents, peers, and even professors have cast doubt on the potential for success in a career in journalism, and to be honest, we at the Journal have had enough.
What ever happened to the romanticism of evoking change through sweet, sweet information in print? Oh yeah, the internet took over the world, everyone lost their attention spans, and being middle class eventually turned into being the working poor. And the life of a journalist has appeared to be just that — a poor writer working insane hours for no money and little respect. Add to that the potential loss of a social life, the commonality of sporadic work, and the seemingly alive and well promise of a low salary, and it’s easy to see why certain people find the life of a journalist to be unappealing. However, there is a chance that everything has changed! Young journalists around the world, join us in celebrating the wonder that has become AOL Inc.!
AOL as many people know it was the main player in dial-up internet services back in the day. However, now that Wifi is the way to go, AOL has decided to change the game and step it up about building its profile as a media company. What better way to become a major competitor in the media market than to buy the Huffington Post? Yes, it’s true! Under the direction of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, HuffPo was bought for $315 million, and we could not be happier. This move is not only a good opportunity for AOL’s comeback ; it will monetize the Huffington Post – which currently has a 70-person paid staff and 6,000 bloggers who write for free.
Once the deal is done later this year, Huffington Post will gain control of sites like Mapquest, Engadget, TechCrunch, and our favorite acquisition yet – local news sites Patch.com. It’s a big deal for a renown site like Huffington Post to take control over the lesser known Patch.com sites, and it gives us journalists who will likely have to work our way up the latter a colossal amount of hope. Time will tell, but we’re remaining optimistic.
