Why be a journalist? The recent Forbes report that listed journalism as an endangered profession has got an answer from the ever readable John Robinson:

What a crock … the report ignores the two reasons that everyone I’ve ever met in print journalism got into the business: they love the work and they want to change the world. I’ve been in newspapers for 30 years, and the pay has always been lousy to mediocre, the hours long and the pressures intense. No one gets into it to get rich.

It’s tough on the home life. You’re on call 24/7. Does it have to be that way? No, and when I win the Powerball and start a news company, I will change it, but meanwhile, it is what it is. Still…. You get into it to do something different and exciting every day, to meet fascinating people and to write about intriguing things, and to make a difference by telling people things that are important. It’s a damned exciting way to make a living.