Well said. As for wages, if one goes into journalism expecting high wages, they've deluded themselves. When I worked in a town of 3500 people I made $27000. Considering living expenses are lower in small towns than cities, this was a decent wage. In one year I saved the $7000 I needed to start Cutbanks magazine in PG. I now work at a daily paper in Prince Albert and make $31000 - less than the small town paper when factoring in city living expenses. 12 hour work days are common, but I'm driven by the importance of the stories- people need to know these things, and someone has to tell them. With cities' multiple news sources, small town papers are even more important than city papers. The larger papers read the smaller papers, snagging the important stories. Brain spewing rambles, here... I think the Main reason reporters treat small town papers as starter jobs is because of the stories. 90 per cent of small town paper stories wouldn't make it into a city paper. If you're a good reporter you'll find plenty of stories anywhere, but in cities it's easier. If you want to advance in your career you have to move to a city. There may not always be newspapers - advertising revenue and such- but there will always be reporters. Newspapers would be best, though, as they provide a filter of quality. Judging from the local online news source, the quality in the newspaper with regard to accuracy is far superior.