Life Outside the Box Is Still Grand.

SURE, THE JOURNALISM JOB MARKET isn't looking all that hot these days. Newspapers are cutting staffs, television stations are combining services, magazines are folding and basically, the world is coming to an end.

Or is is it? Personally, I don't think so. And neither does David Carr, media critic at the New York Times and the author of the memoir pictured on the left.

Carr points out that local and niche websites are popping up around the country, breaking news that mainstream media miss. People are spending more time on their smartphones, using them to surf for information (as well as create content and communicate differently). And David Eggers' one-off newspaper sold out a few weeks ago, despite the $16 sales tag.

Basically, he's saying that legacy media may be in trouble but the desire for information is probably growing. And that is good news for students of journalism.

Then he wrote about judging entrepreneurial journalism projects at a university in New York:

"There were some clunkers, as there always are, but there were also some scary good, real-world proposals from students who don’t have to think out of the box because they were never in one to begin with."

Journalism is changing. You can forge your own path.