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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Some journalists complained Thursday during a business conference in Washington, D.C., about what they see as the sunset of the traditional news media while others said the Internet was opening new opportunities.

The Online News Association conference in a downtown Washington hotel was intended to introduce journalists to new job opportunities as many of them try to recover from layoffs.

Newspaper subscription rates are plummeting as more news content gets transferred to Internet Web sites or cable television channels.

Reporters and editors are finding they also must change with the technology or leave the news business.

“Those days are gone,” said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which was organized by the Pew Research Center public policy foundation.

She was referring to a time less than 20 years ago when journalists would graduate from college, start as reporters for small newspapers and work their way up through the ranks of management or into jobs at large newspapers.

Now, journalists must combine reporting with other skills as photographers and Internet social media experts, she said. They also must have specialties as journalists, such as business, legal or technology reporters.

Social media refers to Internet sites that allow visitors to interact with one another, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The idea is how to create your own brand,” Mitchell said.

Other journalists are starting their own blogs, or Web logs, to report on issues important to them.

When the number of visitors to their blogs increases enough to attract advertisers, they sometimes expand the Web sites into Internet news services.

Recent newspaper subscription figures demonstrate that journalists have few other alternatives unless they want to change professions.

The latest U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show daily newspaper subscriptions fell 5 percent in the six months that ended Sept. 30, compared with one year earlier.

The 5 percent drop was good news compared with the 8.7 percent subscription decline from October to March 2009.

Some newspapers have been trying to recover their losses by raising subscription and newsstand prices, which has made them lose even more readers.

“Overall, there’s still a sense of crisis,” Mitchell said. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty, a lot of hesitation.”

The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show newspaper subscriptions are not increasing like other consumer markets as the nation recovers from recession.

Instead, readers are getting their news from Web sites, free publications that get their revenue only from ads or from television.

Some Web site operators at the Online News Association conference recommended that journalists develop specialties that appeal to non-traditional media, such as universities or foundations.

Rachel Kaufman, an editor for the journalism career Web site mediabistro.com, said one trade publication, called Amputation Daily, wanted journalists who specialized in writing about surgical amputations.

“They’re very, very specific,” Kaufman said.

Many experienced journalists who spent their careers in the traditional media as reporters or editors are losing their jobs because they lack Internet skills and specialties, said Julie Hartenstein, a Columbia University journalism professor.

“They’re probably not going to get rehired,” she said.

When one middle-aged journalist asked how she could find a job despite a lack of experience with social media, Eric Wee, founder of the career Web site Journalismnext.com, said, “I’d say fake it.”

He suggested that journalists start their own blogs to create the image they are well-versed in Internet journalism.

“Show them you have a blog,” he said.

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