The Newspaper Business: "It is never, ever going to love you back."

Today's required reading. (via Columbia Journalism Review)

Link to February 22 Ruby-Eyed Fox blogpost, "'Did it ever occur to you that even the most deathless love could wear out?'"

Excerpt: My husband is a passionate man, and he’s poured his heart into the newspaper business. I’ve held him when he returned from reporting on a drug-fueled bank robbery that left five victims dead in 40 seconds; after he returned from the rubble of Murrah building when it was bombed in Oklahoma City; after he laid off people who, like him, only wanted to keep working at the thing loved. Whatever the business asked of him, he did. But that long-ago editor’s words were true. His love has been unrequited.

A few months ago, I realized he’d had enough. He was finally ready to break off the relationship.

He’d spent the last few years trying to lead newspapers where they must go to survive in this new age. It wasn’t going well. Recent leadership changes where he worked put him in a role of a well paid blogger. But sitting on the sideline, commenting on a business slowly circling the drain was not his idea of meaningful work.

Image via Wikipedia

And then there's this vignette, a wonderfully evocative reminiscence.

As a four-year-old, I would stretch out with the paper, picking out the words I could identify, longing for the day when I knew enough of them to understand the whole story. When I did, I loved reading even more than I dreamed. Poring over printed words became my daily ritual. I didn’t even mind when the ink rubbed off on my hands.

Take the time to read and enjoy the entire essay.