On June 1, The Bulletin newspaper, where I spent over two years as Arts & Culture Editor, printed its last newspaper. Although no one could pretend to be surprised — late checks, unpaid freelancers, minimal advertising and visits from the PNC finance manager portended the eventual closing — the news still came as a shock. The publisher called an unexpected meeting at around 4:15 p.m., read a few sentences of a prepared statement, then proceeded to tell the staff that June 1 was their last paper. No “goodbye and good luck” issue, nothing. They were to pack up their desks and go home.
    For most, going home meant going to the local bar around the corner, where I met my former co-workers — having taken a job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art just one month ago — for drinks one last time. Everyone was several rounds in by the time I arrived, and feeling little pain as they downed drinks, talked to reporters from rival newspapers around town — the Philadelphia Inquirer broke the news — and commiserated.
    Yet while the news was met with the typical black humor of journalists — one of the sports editors tape-recorded the publisher's speech — I couldn't help but feel the shock of becoming one of the victims of a dying industry. From my standpoint as a freelancer, I was left with fewer pieces to pick up, but maybe more of a realization of what had just happened: The swift kick of unemployment didn't exactly apply, and I never really expected my freelance invoices would be paid, but having been a part of daily newspapers for several years, it was finally obvious that the news as we know it may be near its end.
    I've had this conversation many times in the past year: How, when and will journalism reinvent itself? I think it will — I believe that one day, consumers will realize that by paying for their news — whether online or in print — they enter into a contract of credibility, where a paycheck ensures honesty and a quest for the truth. Until that point, consumers are at the mercy of anonymous, unpaid bloggers in their pajamas, pumping out information without any incentive for accuracy.
    How long will it take? I don't know, but I would predict that 90 percent of my former colleagues, like me, will end up in other careers, freelancing as a hobby and hopefully to make a few extra dollars. Although I was one of the few lucky ones who “got out” before the crash, the closing still came as a shock, and recorded by rival newspapers and the bloggers who contributed to its demise — yes, including me — just makes it all the more ironic.