Avi Salzman ’00 returned to the University on Wednesday night to deliver the second talk in the Argus Speaker Series. He discussed the future of journalism in his speech entitled “Fire the Paperboy: Is there any way to save the newspaper industry?”

After graduating from the University as an English and history double major, Salzman began his reporting career at a local newspaper in Steamboat Springs, CO, writing ten stories a week.

“I got the chance to be a big fish in a small pond,” he explained.

He had his big break in journalism when The New York Times asked him to write an op-ed piece on chalking at Wesleyan. This led to the opportunity to report for different sections in the Times, including National and Business.

He remarked that newspaper circulation peaked in the mid-1980s, but is now declining as a result of more readers turning to online editions. More and more journalists are losing their jobs as the printed press loses money.

Salzman pointed to an up-and-coming movement of news websites like ctnewsjunkie.com and newhavenindependent.org, which are run by experienced reporters.

“There are now 50 to 100 of these sites,” he said. “They still allow you to bring a community together, but they’re not run by citizens. There needs to be some editing in there.”

Salzman also fielded questions about translating a University education to journalism.
The final lecture of the series will be next Wednesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in PAC 001. Hartford Courant Business Reporter Eric Gershon ’98 will talk about the allure of journalism in “8 Weeks, 12 Dwarves, 3 Camels and All 72 Rockettes: You Call This Work?”