SF Press Survey: Bay Area Working Journos Decline by 45%

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeA San Francisco Bay Area Journalist Census of 700 current or former ink-stained wretches commissioned by the S.F. Peninsula Press Club revealed nearly 45 percent fewer working journalists in the Bay Area than a decade ago, according to an article in The San Francisco Business Times.

Respondents cited layoffs, voluntary buy-outs and career-switches in explaining the grim survey results.  Over the past decade, the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury News, among other local news media outlets, experienced cutbacks as the industry re-trenched in the face of declining ad revenues and circulation.

Among other survey findings: 70 percent of those queried described themselves as working journalists or journalism entrepreneurs, 15 percent said they were students or working in another field, 2 percent opted for retirement, and 3 percent said they were unemployed.