The Koreans have a wonderful expression, borrowed and re-purposed from English, that they use to encourage you and cheer you on. It's usually romanized as "hwaiting." Substitute an F for the HW and you'll see its origin word, fighting, with which it rhymes. So I say to you, "Hwaiting!"
I'm so sorry! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Understanding the behind-the-scenes of different professions is interesting and important -especially as so many of us try to write in some capacity without any formal training. Journalism has always seemed like a really tough industry to succeed in. I'm glad you are going to keep going! Some people have thriving, lucrative substacks and personal publishings. So it is possible!
Thank you! The challenges facing journalism today are multifaceted. I will write a follow-up post about this. It's not merely a matter of print versus digital (and perhaps I should have made that clearer); it's also about the diminishing emphasis on quality in the profession, for example. Journalism seems to have lost some of its once-respected status, exacerbated by the proliferation of AI-driven mediums. As an editor, I've noticed a decline in the standard of work, which to me also reflects a broader societal apathy toward quality content. The shift in advertising expenditure toward influencers is a huge problem for quality journalism, too. These individuals often command exorbitant fees for fleeting product endorsements, dwarfing the compensation for journalists. I've personally experienced the disheartening comparison firsthand on press trips, where influencers effortlessly garner immense rewards for minimal effort. While it takes me a good two weeks (at least) to write a piece (excl. travel and interviews), they post a picture and get 10, maybe even 20 times as much. How can we ever compete?
The Koreans have a wonderful expression, borrowed and re-purposed from English, that they use to encourage you and cheer you on. It's usually romanized as "hwaiting." Substitute an F for the HW and you'll see its origin word, fighting, with which it rhymes. So I say to you, "Hwaiting!"
I love that! Thank you, and I most definitely will!
I'm so sorry! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Understanding the behind-the-scenes of different professions is interesting and important -especially as so many of us try to write in some capacity without any formal training. Journalism has always seemed like a really tough industry to succeed in. I'm glad you are going to keep going! Some people have thriving, lucrative substacks and personal publishings. So it is possible!
Thank you! The challenges facing journalism today are multifaceted. I will write a follow-up post about this. It's not merely a matter of print versus digital (and perhaps I should have made that clearer); it's also about the diminishing emphasis on quality in the profession, for example. Journalism seems to have lost some of its once-respected status, exacerbated by the proliferation of AI-driven mediums. As an editor, I've noticed a decline in the standard of work, which to me also reflects a broader societal apathy toward quality content. The shift in advertising expenditure toward influencers is a huge problem for quality journalism, too. These individuals often command exorbitant fees for fleeting product endorsements, dwarfing the compensation for journalists. I've personally experienced the disheartening comparison firsthand on press trips, where influencers effortlessly garner immense rewards for minimal effort. While it takes me a good two weeks (at least) to write a piece (excl. travel and interviews), they post a picture and get 10, maybe even 20 times as much. How can we ever compete?
Despite these challenges, I remain undeterred!