A shrinking media

Were AAP to close, there will be critical job losses, a further reduction in first hand reporting, and greater concentration of media ownership. I already feel part of a public with dwindling hopes that we can claim to be suitably informed and suitably assured that the checks and balances of a functioning democracy are adequate in Australia. When I left school I enrolled in Journalism at UTS. Half way through 1997, in my second year, I dropped out as it already felt too depressing. We were constantly told that there would be no jobs when we graduated and that journalism was dying. Thankfully others stayed the course and here in Australia and around the world there are still examples of incredibly brave, committed, questioning and intelligent individuals who report on, investigate and break open essential (and maybe even non-essential, but structurally significant) stories. But there's no doubt the opportunities and incentive to do so are diminishing. The opportunities for training, the opportunities for getting paid, the opportunities that offer any kind of security (and might make journalism a prospect for anyone other than the privileged) are all disappearing. We are degrading our own future. At 41, I could shrug my shoulders and be resigned to it but I want younger people with any kind of aspiration for an engaged citizenry to have the possibility of participating in a rich media landscape. Surely the ACCC and/or ACMA should investigate the real cost of AAPs closure? And to investigate why alternatives were overlooked. Surely there are some smart people out there who could be engaged (from the government's healthy consulting budget) to determine a future operating model on the basis of a restructure of their operations and ownership, such that each subscriber/member cannot hold the other to ransom. A cooperative? I don't know. I’d be happy if given the time, money and authority to examine it myself in more detail.