Hard times

Day after day after day after day... the presses roll, the papers get printed, they hit the news stands and the world goes on.

It seems unthinkable that one day many of our local papers could disappear for ever. But that is a very real possibility as advertising revenues fall and circulations nosedive.

What surprises me is how the general public seem to be unaware of this crisis in the newspaper industry. Maybe we haven't reported it as extensively as we might - for obvious reasons.

The people hit hardest by this decline are staff losing their jobs in their droves. And, tomorrow, the axe will be wielded once again at the company where I work.

Who knows whether I will be one of the fortunate ones. But if I do manage to hang on to my job, I know I will still be saying farewell to some talented and decent people - and that will really hurt.

Meanwhile, the job will become even more difficult and pressurised as the same amount of work is carried out by fewer and fewer people.

Hard times indeed. And if I had to look into my crystal ball, I think it could soon be a very different landscape as people obtain all their news on the web and advertisers abandon print altogether.

The picture was taken at the office today - an intensely gruelling return to work after such a fun time. I guess I had better get used to it.