There is always a constant injection of youth into the profession, and it's desperately needed. That kind of enthusiasm and idealism is absolutely vital - a newsroom that is full of nothing but cynical old hacks is a newsroom that is dying on its arse.
Of course, the young ones are also the only ones willing to put up with some terrible working conditions, as they strive to make a name for themselves. They'll put up with the shitty hours, and usually don't have kids that prevent them from devoting themselves fully to the job, and - crucially - they don't mind getting paid absolute peanuts for the first few years of their career. (Then they graduate to almonds.)
The majority of young reporters don't stay in the trade long enough for the jadedness to seep in, and they're off to comms or PR or teaching or any other bloody thing, happy to be out of the grind. You're lucky if half a dozen graduates from any j-school class are still in the business after a decade.
The ones that stay, though, they are in it for life, and for the long haul, and they're ready to age disgracefully within their profession. They're in it for the news, or for the platform, or just because they're not much use at anything else.
Unfortunately, after a lifetime of tiny pay rises, they're also expensive, and can sometimes come with a worklife that is full of baggage, and there are plenty of journos that have a stellar career right up until their forties or fifties, and then find nobody is returning their calls anymore.
This is a definite problem in the digital age, where even the people running some of the biggest news companies in the country actively seek only young people for online roles, because they're convinced the younger generation is the only one which understand this new-fangled internet.
This isn't dumb just because it overlooks the fact the internet has actually been around for decades now, and multiple generations have grown up in a digital environment. It's dumb because the online department is the one most likely to fuck up in the most egregious ways, and it can take an experienced eye to point out that maybe you should be more careful what thumbnail pic you put on that story, because a bit of carelessness in that regard can swiftly lead to legal action.
A focus on cheap youth can leave those with a bit of history out in the cold, and you can find some staggeringly experienced journos doing any job they can, and that can involve frankly demeaning work with terrible hours, and they're just happy to be working.
But the important thing to remember is that the older journos are just as vital as all that youthful enthusiasm in a well-rounded newsroom, because they have the kind of institutional knowledge that is absolutely necessary in this fast-paced age.
They're not necessarily any smarter than the young pups, but they have made all those fuck ups in the past, and have learned from them, and can spot something that will quickly get everybody into trouble, before it hits the printer or studio.
They can also have astonishingly great contacts lists, and any of them that have done regular news gathering for years will always know exactly who to call to get the right scoop.
Most importantly, they can teach the younger generation a whole slew of journo tricks and methods, built up from decades of experience, and passed down from previous generations. It's knowledge that is eternal, even as the technology behind the news continues to evolve.
Still, while it might seem like there are younger and younger faces in front of the camera, there is still centuries of experience in all the best newsrooms, and editors that still go after experience, rather than a flashy smile. There are reporters who have been doing this for years and still produce fucking amazing stuff, and subs and news editors and other people behind the scenes who have the kind of knowledge that would fill a hundred textbooks. They might seem like a dying breed, but the elder ones still in the mire every day are tough as fucking nails.
After all, none of us are getting any bloody younger.
- Steve Lombard
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