Why do you stay in journalism?

Last week, Poynter posed a question on Twitter: “Journalism survivors: You outwit, outplay, outlast. You still believe in your profession. Tweet your reasons to #whyistay”

The early #whyistay tweets were bubble gum — sugary sweet and full of hot air. There wasn’t much substance, or reality. So I posed the question to a few journalists, promising anonymity to see if it would make a diffference, and curious to see what they’d say.

Why do you stay in journalism?
• Because I haven’t given up yet.
• Because I haven’t been forced to leave yet.
• Because I haven’t been laid off.
• Because I don’t want to do anything else.
• Because I’m not qualified for the new career I want, and can’t afford to take time off for training.
• Because I don’t want a master’s to go to waste.
• Because they won’t fill my position if I leave, and I won’t do that to my co-workers.
• Because no one else has hired me.
• Because I’m not sure my unique, job/employer-specific, experience and skillset will translate into another job.
• Because I don’t want to relocate at this time.
• Because I haven’t found a new job.
• Because who else will push the buttons?
• Because I don’t want to be bored.
• Because it’s bad … but not bad enough.

What’s the moral of this story? All of these people are devoted journalists. They believe in this industry, in the work they do and the work of their peers. But I think we’ve been faced with our industry’s mortality, so to speak. I’m not trying to add to the “journalism is dead” clatter, merely pointing out that we’ve been forced to see journalism as a business and our roles as jobs, not just an idealistic calling.