Newspaper reporter just beats dishwasher in best/worst jobs ranking

A couple of links that speak to Our Changing World today.

First, CareerCast.com ranked 200 jobs from best to worst, and coming in at No. 196, four from the bottom: newspaper reporter.

This once-glamorous job—the decades following Watergate saw a flood of applications to journalism schools as kids wanted to be the next Woodward or Bernstein—has been sinking steadily in this list in the last few years, Jim Romenesko points out through the use of links.

Now, only lumberjack, dairy farmer, enlisted military soldier and oil rig worker are worse job, based on CareerCast’s criteria, which take into account environment, income, hiring outlook, stress and physical demands.

And not much higher than newspaper reporter, just ahead of waiter/waitress, meter reader, dishwasher and butcher, is broadcaster.

This is the first time two different media jobs have made CareerCast’s bottom 10 jobs, writes Victoria Brienza on the site:

As the digital world continues to take over and provide on-demand information, the need for print newspapers and daily newscasts is diminishing. To be sure, both jobs once seemed glamorous, but on-the-job stress, declining job opportunities and income levels are what landed them on our Worst Jobs list.

I wish I could tell you that online sportswriter was in the top 10 best jobs, but alas. Software engineer tops the list, followed by actuary, human resources manager, dental hygienist, financial planner, audiologist, occupational therapist, online advertising manager—hey, at least someone we know is happy!—computer systems analyst and mathematician.

The good news for us online sportswriter and/or broadcaster types is that we probably wouldn’t be interested in most of those jobs, which tells us that CareerCast’s criteria don’t necessarily match up with our own. But still, it’s startling to see newspaper reporter—a job many Bleacher Report writers have aspired to, and many others, including me, have done in the past—come in so low on such a list.

Another times-are-changing link: Amanda Hesser’s Advice for future food writers at the site she co-founded, Food52.

Obviously the food writing racket is a little different from the sportswriting game, but there are parallels, and Hesser revealing how she’s changed the advice she gives to aspiring food writers in just the last couple years is another chronicle of how quickly the “content” business changes.

What has struck me recently, though, is how sharply and suddenly my spiel to aspiring food writers has changed. Five years ago, I would take people through what I thought were the best steps toward getting hired at the limited number of food publications, and/or putting themselves in the best position to write books. This usually involved suggesting they go to cooking school, or, better yet, work in restaurants. Then I offered a few tips for getting a foot in the door at a newspaper food section like the L.A. Times or national magazine like Saveur or Gourmet … I let them know it would be a difficult road but encouraged them to dive in.

About 2 years ago, I stopped giving this advice: I can no longer responsibly recommend that you drop everything to try to become a food writer.

Hesser then writes about how the bottom has dropped out of the food-writing market, for all the familiar reasons: print publications shuttering, the pool of writers expanding exponentially. But she also offers some cheer: “Don’t feel glum; this new era is actually better. Everyone who can write well is now welcome to.”

Her advice is to make writing part of a varied career that includes working in other ways with food. That option isn’t always available in the sports world, but also might not be necessary. Sports media is much bigger than food media.

But it’s changing all the time, and what looked like a dream job not so long ago now ends up at the bottom of rankings. Keep that in mind as you set your sites. Be flexible about what you might mean when you think about your “career.”