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When I started out as a journalist more than 20 years ago, I was just like you: terrified.
Now, I can pretty much ask anyone any question, because my skin thickened and because I started this career relatively late in life I'm older than most of my interview subjects, which allows a certain bemused distance. Besides, the government newsmakers I deal with generally deserve all the discomfort I can deliver.
But, as a colleague said the other day, it's just not fun any more.
Newspapers are dumbing themselves down as fast as they can to capture the elusive youth market. Because young people want electronic delivery, they never will subscribe to a paper. Ratings (hits) drive newspapers' Web content. Everything has to be written in 500 words or less -- enough space for a single idea, no context or background and a couple of voices that must include at least one "real person" even if he or she doesn't add any information to the story. The story must be easily converted to comic-book-style graphics. Pop culture trumps national and international news.
The sad truth is, you're trying to apply conventional ideals to a dying industry, where people seriously argue that resistance to knocking down the wall between advertising and news is just old-school snobbery.
Give yourself five years. If you still have the same complaints, you always will, so find work more meaningful and helpful than breaking your back for corporate media. And remember: You look like an ant to them.
