As a marketer with a master’s degree in mass communications, I remember the days taking courses on creating newspaper copy, figuring out how to lay-out a newspaper, etc. But my primary question now is… “Are newspapers dying?”

According to the American Journalism Review, they are. We saw a decrease in newspaper report by 15 percent in 2008. There is life after newspapers. However, journalists need to adjust their thoughts about what type of work they are willing to do.

Not surprisingly, many end up in the marketing communications field, where the jobs are, with little education in marketing or no experience in the field. Often previous journalists end up working for a company writing company stories and news/press releases, the very thing they received hundreds of each week at the newspaper and had determine if any of it was worth printing.

Many reporters can apply their writing skills in marketing departments, although additional training in the field of marketing will be key if they plan on advancing in the departments. The ability to understand all facets of marketing as it relates to increasing sales of a company may be a little harder to grasp for former reporters who did not need to get involved in this aspect of business previously.

To find out more about the fate of many reporters, see the American Journalism Review article by Robert Hodierne at http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4679.