There are a handful of sites that are actually making money. In most cases they are a value-add for the newspapers. I've long maintained, despite statements by my media colleagues, that newspapers are not dying. They are simply evolving. And for all of these folks to continue to act as if they this kind of promotion is wrong, they need to understand that websites are mainly used by papers as marketing tools.
Am I one of these web haters? No. I'm an editor of a website who is a cross-trained journalist that can write, edit, shoot the photo, shoot video, report it, edit it and produce it. I've done it for radio, television, newspaper and the Internet.
Lastly, there shouldn't be a single student going directly into web-only journalism. They need to go into a real newsroom where they have to deal with stories getting cut from 20 inches to 8 inches because of shrinking news holes. The web environment doesn't have the same safeguards and editing as newspapers because there are far fewer people. Again, go get some real newsroom experience and then step out to the web world. Because when that web-only world shuts down, you wil be stuck with a lot of web experience and can't find a job in a real newsroom.
Roland S. MartinEditor, BlackAmericaWeb.comNews Editor, Savoy Magazine, (www.savoymag.com)nationally syndicated columnist, Creators Syndicate (www.creators.com)Author, "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America"
