JULY 9 — I do not remember my house ever not having a newspaper the entire time I was growing up. Every morning, the day’s edition would be at the doorstep. My brothers and I would read the comics; my parents, the news; and my grandmother the stock report (ruthless old granny could give George Soros a run for his money!).

I have since moved out to live on my own, and my father’s newspaper subscription continued. Right up till a few months ago.

What happened was that my father made a statement that kind of made an impact on me as a working journalist. He said, “I’m going to cancel our newspaper subscription.”

Now, if you keep abreast of the happenings in the news industry, you would notice that newspapers all around the world are losing money and shutting down. Newspapers are losing readership, hence, losing their advertising. And the reason for this is that people aren’t interested anymore.

They aren’t interested in the typical news presentation that a newspaper provides. In fact, they are also turning away from television news.

In my father’s case, he has in the past few years discovered the wonderful world of the Internet and free news. He has not looked back since.

What I have written is not a set-up for me to start discussing how the presentation of news should be. Instead, what I do want to discuss is the ability (or disability) of working journalists, like myself and many others, to continue making a living.

Now, I also teach journalism, and one of the main concerns of students is whether they will be able to get a job once they graduate in these dire times. I feel that journalists these days have to be more business-minded rather than just being the usual social justice hero.

Dead are the days when aspiring journalists would send out their CVs to the big newspapers and networks hoping to be employed. Journalists should not be satisfied with being employees anymore and should start seeing themselves as entrepreneurs.

Instead of working at newspapers and networks, journalists should start forming collectives. Just like accountants, lawyers and even PR practitioners. We should pool our journalistic skills and offer them as a service to whomever out there is willing to pay.

That would mean a journalism firm that services several clients at any one time. These clients can be newspapers, magazines, TV stations or even websites. And if any of these clients were to close shop, the firm would still be able to survive since all their eggs are not in one basket.

Now, they are not only entrepreneurial, they may even be able to diversify their journalism, and have the resources to do things that are closer to their hearts.

So I’m hoping that the journalism profession won’t die. But to survive, it just needs to evolve with the times. MBA, anyone?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.