I know that this video is directed at college publications, but I think this is great to watch for college and professional news organizations. Creating an innovative environment and experimenting is key (I mentioned this point and used the Hack Day at the Guardian as an example in my post on newspapers’ survival for Mashable). I think that college media have a great opportunity to experiment and be bold in ways that professional media are often limited.

Credit to the CoPress folks for making this video. Make sure to check out their site, especially if you are in college media:

A Case for Innovation from CoPress on Vimeo.

Maybe I have just learned to ignore the depressing news of the thousands of layoffs at newspapers and other news organizations across the nation and begun to pay more attention to the bright spots in journalism. There are journalism jobs being created what seems like every day.

The advice I have given to myself constantly, and will offer it to anyone that loves storytelling: If you truly want to be a journalist, you will find a way. But if you are one of those reporters or editors dwelling on the “glory days” of newspapers and keep a constant eye on sites like the Newspaper Death Watch or the Journalism is Dead site from Mark Luckie and is a collection of funny quotes on why journalism is dead, then someone needs to scream in your ear and tell you that things have changed. They are going to keep changing. But I am simply more optimistic (and can afford to be – I know things change when you have a mortgage and kids to feed, etc.).  Here are a few reasons why I am optimistic: