It’s been a rough week for layoffs in the journalism world.

- The Los Angeles Times laid off nearly a quarter of its newsroom in a single day
- Business Insider cut its workforce by 8%
- Sports Illustrated was gutted overnight
- Prestigious publications like TIME and National Geographic also had layoffs
- Workers from Condé Nast, Forbes, The New York Daily News and others are also staging historic walkouts to protest planned cuts

And that’s just from the past few days. It’s hard to know where and how to help, let alone feel optimistic about the future of the industry.

I spoke to a former editor earlier this week and it’s unsettling how pretty much *everyone* feels working in journalism right now.

I lost my full time job in 2022 and had previously left my legacy media job at The Wall Street Journal in 2021. I had spent the entirety of my young journalist career with one dominating anxiety: what if I lose my job?

I never realized how that anxiety was normalized and accepted as a state of being for any journalist in the 21st century. The media is doomed, and you’re lucky to have a job if you had one.

Pretty much everyone I knew and everyone I looked up to had suffered the fate of a layoff at some point in their career — and they’d wear it like a medal of honor. This is the price we pay to become a journalist.

I remember hearing stories about “so and so going off to freelance after being unable to keep a steady media job” as if we’d lost a combat soldier to war.

But for me at least, the ever present anxiety and feeling of doom was too much. I couldn’t live my life always looking around the corner, studying executive leadership for possible signs things were heading south, examining quarterly profit reports. This lifestyle was in no way sustainable.

What does life beyond journalism look like?

While there is much to say about the corporate leadership of media and problems in the journalist industry, I want to focus on one group of people. Anyone else who may be thinking this instability may not be for me.

The first thing I’ll say is that you should not feel guilty for wanting a stable career and source of income. That does not diminish your skills, value, or passions as a journalist.

You should not feel guilty for wanting a stable career and source of income. That does not diminish your skills, value, or passions as a journalist.

I remember thinking through the start of my career that I simply had to suffer to do what I love (which was actually to learn from people, to tell stories, to study ideas, to write.) The instability and the uncertainty were the Terms and Conditions written in ink when you sign your job contract as a professional journalist.

But it turns out that wanting a consistent income, having a work-life balance mean just as much as doing work that I love. (The irony that I’ve found that through freelancing is deserving of a whole post in itself — but more on that later.)

From my own experience, I’ve learned there are so many more opportunities out there than traditional journalism roles. It’s been a rocky road navigating the transition to life beyond journalism, but I’ve learned so much along the way.

Pivoting from journalist to freelance

I’ve previously written about my experience navigating to full-time freelancing and entrepreneurship. Now, I want to help others figure out that career step.

I’ll be starting a new interview series focusing on people who have made the transition from journalism to freelance writing/ghostwriting/content strategy (inspired by Jenni Gritters’ Writer Pivot) — and would love to hear from others who have made a similar jump.

If you’re open to chatting with me for an article + newsletter feature, feel free to comment, message or email me! I’m looking to hear more about your experience, how you’re focusing on transferable skills, the biggest hurdles you face, and any tips you may have for someone just starting out.

It’s a bleak time but we can work together to help each other out.