For 26 years,  I have witnessed the on again/off again expansion-contraction of the newspaper industry.  At each iteration, I’ve had extended conversations with my friends and colleagues about the demise of the industry.  In 1981… in 1985 … 1991 … you get the picture.

All I have to say to many of my friends – and others who have gotten caught in the crosshairs of consolidation: Be calm, take a deep breath and get a grip.  Yet another day has come when newspaper publishers and editors are realizing that the old business model no longer works.  [By the way, ask some radio station owners about how they feel about the future of traditional media as we know it!]  

The hard core reality is that about 60 percent of most newspaper’s cost is human resources – people – and the second largest expense is newsprint. Both of these core items costs are going up every year, and the cuts in expense are going so deep that unfortunately the quality of coverage is beginning to show.

So as newspapers look at their bottomline to satisfy investors and in some cases, to keep the lights on, we’re seeing what’s happening now: Widescale layoffs and buyouts. Of course, it’s not comforting to see senior management get tens, hundreds or millions of dollars either. [Just download the annual report for your media company, find the proxy statement, and you'll see what the executive compensation it. e.g. Belo, Gannett, New York Times, McClatchy]

Is it the end of the world? Is this the final nail in the newspaper coffin?  No, it’s not the end of the world.  And no we don’t have to start playing Taps – at least-  not yet!

It is the end of newspapers as we know them.  Staff-rich newsrooms and bureaus are dead.  As an editor, you will now have twice as much to do. As a reporter, you’ve got to reinvent yourself.  If you’re willing to accept these two facts, then you’ll be able to cope.

If you’re fed up with newspapers, then dust off your resume and start shopping yourself around to some public relations’ firms or company corporate communications departments or join the ranks of academia where you can share your expertise.  If you don’t want to change, what you’ll find is that it’s highly likely your newsroom job will be eliminated or restructured sometime over the next 18 to 24 months.

For those of you who still see yourselves in a newsroom two years from now, here’s my advice:

* Log onto Poynter Institute’s NewsU.com today.  Block out an hour or so everyday and start working your way through many of the free online classes. You’ll be amazed how good you’ll feel learning something new about a business you thought you had already mastered.

* If you’re an editor, learn how to edit pictures, video and how to ‘produce’ multimedia packages. Check out MediaStorm.org to see examples of what your own newspaper or competition are now doing.

* If you’re a reporter, learn how to use a digital voice recorder (DVR), a digital still camera (your basic point and shoot model is fine) and a video camera.  Learn how to download to your computer, edit the pictures or images and upload them to the web – Flickr.com or YouTube.com.  Do this for practice so you can jump into action in the newsroom when needed.

* If you’re a photographer, start dusting off your reporting and writing skills and learn how to shoot and edit video.  You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor if you can tell an editor that you’ll shoot and write a story to go along with those pictures. Learn how to use SoundSlides, a very user-friendly audiovisual slideshow tool.

Will any of these new skills guarantee that you’ll protect your job, not necessarily. But what the mere fact that you’re challenging yourself to LEARN, you’ll feel reinvigorated, recharged and if it doesn’t work out at that newspaper, you know have some marketable skills that Yahoo!, Google, AOL or some local website news portal may truly value and hire you. 

Get your head out of the doldrums. Remember, it’s time for innovation and time for you to revinent yourself.