The future can be bright even if it doesn’t look the way you pictured it

Two blog posts have been getting heavy rotation in my social media feeds lately, both of them talking about the future in journalism. Before you run away, make sure you read that right: The future in journalism. Not the Future of Journalism, with capital letters. Nobody needs two more blog posts on that subject.

Alison Gow, a digital innovations editor with Trinity Mirror Regionals in the U.K., offered Six thoughts on emerging opportunities for journalism, which grew out of her appearance on a panel about “Emerging Opportunities for Journalists” at a Society of Editors conference.

David Cohn is an executive producer at Al Jazeera’s AJ+ and a veteran of several innovative startups, including Circa. His Letter to a young journalist is an answer to a note he says he received from someone looking for career advice after being horrified by a visit to a newspaper newsroom.

Gow talks about trends she believes are peaking or emerging, including data journalism, wearables, immersive storytelling and so on. She’s simply laying out the landscape for people—she works in legacy media—who may not be up on what’s going on.

Cohn sounds an explicitly hopeful note. He’s responding to that young journalist who found that legacy newsroom “a bleak environment full of cubicles staffed by burnt-out folks … It felt like walking through a mausoleum.”

Referencing a post that I also pointed to on the B/R Blog last week, Cohn writes:

Keep in mind: Just because you got a degree in journalism doesn’t mean you need to be a big J “Journalist” to do the kind of storytelling you want to do. Journalism is a gateway degree into almost anything.

Cohn concludes: “Just think about all the possibilities. Don’t be tied to any one thing.”

It’s easy to get intimidated by the rapid changes going on in media, or to despair of getting that great gig at that outlet you admire, because it’s struggling. I think Cohn’s advice is excellent: Keep an open mind. Change often means opportunity. Don’t miss it just because it doesn’t look like something you were picturing.