Efforts to professionalize journalism began early in the twentieth century as a response to the hyper commercialization of newspapers and the “anything goes” approach to news that emerged in the late nineteenth century as a means of increasing street sales through sensationalism, twisting the truth, and outright lies.
The impetus for journalistic professionalism originated among publishers who wish to counter the trend and it gained support of journalists who saw it as a means of improving their working conditions and social standing. Journalism training and higher education programs, professional societies for journalists and editors, and codes of ethics and conduct emerged as part of professionalism. These promoted the core values of accuracy, fairness, completeness, and the pursuit of truth.
These efforts improved industry practices, pushed out the worst journalists and publishers, and creating some trust in the content of news. They also created environments in which advertisers were willing to promote their wares in newspapers and made news organizations more financially sustainable.
This is where journalistic professionalism took a wrong turn, however.
It did so in two ways. First, professional journalists were taught and accepted the idea that they should worry about the journalism and leave the business to itself. Second, journalists, along with other employees, decided to seek improvement to their compensation and working conditions through unionization—thus becoming adversaries of management rather than partners in the management of news organizations.
Both developments clearly improved journalism and lives of journalists; however, they also separated journalists from business decisions and removed them from any responsibility for the organization’s actions and sustainability.
Although some protests over editorial interference, owner avarice, and the corporatization of the news industry were heard in the 20th century, few efforts to alter the situation developed because the enterprises were willing to share a sufficient portion of the riches generated with journalists and because companies employed more journalists, improved newsrooms, built networks of bureaus, and provided resources to undertake interesting reporting activities.
That has all changed. The reporting resources are gone, the networks of bureaus are being dismantled, many enterprises can’t afford their own facilities, and journalists are being widely laid off. All of this is being done with little input and influence from journalists and editors precisely because they spent nearly a century denying responsibility and involvement in business decisions.
Today, many journalists are arguing for the creation of new types of news organizations—primarily not-for-profit enterprises—and they are repeating the same mistake. Most are suggesting, or already setting up, organizations in which journalists still have little say on strategy and business matters. Many are content merely with the idea that the new enterprises won’t be profit driven. That, however, is not enough.
Journalists need to be equally responsible in ensuring they produce news and information that has value. They need to be responsible for ensuring their new organizations create the revenues and organizational strength needed to carry out high quality journalism. They need to ensure that organizational decisions make the organizations and the journalism offered viable.
If journalists continue to deny responsibility for the operation and survival of their news enterprises, it will be impossible to create sustainable news organizations for the future.
The International Business Times is the leading provider of international business news online.
Import Export Business - 2010 New Year Message
Happy New Year!
For those of you who follow this blog, you probably have noted quite a time lapse since my last post. My Father passed away during this lapse and I simply have not been in the right state of mind to make any new posts, nor have I had the time.
As we begin a new calendar year and with the passing of my father, I have become somewhat reflective on my life and business. As we move through this year, I hope that my efforts here on this blog will be seen by all who visit as my little way of helping those who wish to enter or expand their interests in international trade to do so.
The import export business is not a get rich quick scheme - there is NO such thing. Importing and/or exporting are real businesses that require REAL knowledge, REAL work (more mental than physical, but still WORK) and a REAL TIME commitment.
The unfortunate fact for many people who look at the import export business as a get rich scheme is that it ends up having the exact opposite effect. Instead of helping you 'get rich' it ends up costing you a lot wasted time and in many instances a LOT of money only to find out you really have not gained the knowledge you need to succeed and that it is a business that requires a real time commitment which you have now wasted.
Over the years (now almost 22) that I have worked in the international trade business and provided import export business resources and training materials, I have been contacted by hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had they not believed the "HYPE" and performed a little "DUE DILIGENCE" on the individuals or businesses with whom they entrusted their hard earned money, they would still have their money and not feel they had been scammed or ripped off.
The SAD fact is, most people tend to fall victim to the HYPE of believing that by simply throwing enough money into a hyped up so-called training program (sometimes thousands of dollars), that it has to be good, right, or how else could they get away with charging so much? Or, they get entrapped into believing that because someone has a few pictures posted on their web site shaking hands with high ranking government officials (easy to get if you give enough campaign contributions!) or using religion to promote themselves as being trustworthy, then they must really be going to help you succeed.
Worst yet, I feel especially sorry for those good people who spend $8000 or more on so-called training programs that promise to have "coaches" available to help hold your hand as you skip down the yellow brick road to the promised riches.
These "so-called coaches" are nothing more than minimum wage employees or people who sign on to work from their home who know "absolutely NOTHING" about international trade other than what they are reading to you from the same printed materials that you have been provided as part of their program.
Our business could be offering ANY of the types of training programs described above and quite frankly we would be earning a lot more than the self-study courses we currently provide, however, I like to sleep at night and simply cannot bring myself to allow anyone to purchase something I do not believe in.
In the past few years, I have spoken with at least 6 or more people who had spent their hard earned $8,000 or more on some of these so-called training programs and simply DID NOT GET WHAT THEY PAID THIER MONEY FOR.
As a means of countering some of the scams and hype that are out there and "HOPEFULLY" helping people make a more INFORMED DECISION about their prospects in international trade I have attempted, over the past 4 years, to post as much free information on this blog as time allows.
A vast majority of the posts on this blog are "ACTUAL" questions I have received over the past 22 years of working in this business and my answers to those questions.
I try not to sugar-coat anything because NO COURSE, NO TRAINING PROGAM, NOR ANY COACH can guarantee you success in this or any business. And, quite frankly, I hope this post and the other FREE information in this blog would help steer you away from this business altogether if you were considering wasting your time and hard-earned money on one of the training programs described above.
After talking with thousands of people over the past 22 years, one of the conclusions I have reached is that most people are not ready to be business owners. Most people are trained from the time they are children to follow some leader, whether a teacher, coach, professor or BOSS who will make the decisions for them and tell them what to do so they receive a paycheck at the allotted time.
Making decisions, once YOU have learned how the processes work, is the real KEY to your success. NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU will have as much vested (i.e., profit) interest in whatever it is you are trying to decide about YOUR BUSINESS other than YOU!
Even though our training course is the best one I have found in my 22 years, neither it, nor we, can guarantee your success. There are simply TOO MANY VARIABLES including but not limited to:
For those of you who follow this blog, you probably have noted quite a time lapse since my last post. My Father passed away during this lapse and I simply have not been in the right state of mind to make any new posts, nor have I had the time.
As we begin a new calendar year and with the passing of my father, I have become somewhat reflective on my life and business. As we move through this year, I hope that my efforts here on this blog will be seen by all who visit as my little way of helping those who wish to enter or expand their interests in international trade to do so.
The import export business is not a get rich quick scheme - there is NO such thing. Importing and/or exporting are real businesses that require REAL knowledge, REAL work (more mental than physical, but still WORK) and a REAL TIME commitment.
The unfortunate fact for many people who look at the import export business as a get rich scheme is that it ends up having the exact opposite effect. Instead of helping you 'get rich' it ends up costing you a lot wasted time and in many instances a LOT of money only to find out you really have not gained the knowledge you need to succeed and that it is a business that requires a real time commitment which you have now wasted.
Over the years (now almost 22) that I have worked in the international trade business and provided import export business resources and training materials, I have been contacted by hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had they not believed the "HYPE" and performed a little "DUE DILIGENCE" on the individuals or businesses with whom they entrusted their hard earned money, they would still have their money and not feel they had been scammed or ripped off.
The SAD fact is, most people tend to fall victim to the HYPE of believing that by simply throwing enough money into a hyped up so-called training program (sometimes thousands of dollars), that it has to be good, right, or how else could they get away with charging so much? Or, they get entrapped into believing that because someone has a few pictures posted on their web site shaking hands with high ranking government officials (easy to get if you give enough campaign contributions!) or using religion to promote themselves as being trustworthy, then they must really be going to help you succeed.
Worst yet, I feel especially sorry for those good people who spend $8000 or more on so-called training programs that promise to have "coaches" available to help hold your hand as you skip down the yellow brick road to the promised riches.
These "so-called coaches" are nothing more than minimum wage employees or people who sign on to work from their home who know "absolutely NOTHING" about international trade other than what they are reading to you from the same printed materials that you have been provided as part of their program.
Our business could be offering ANY of the types of training programs described above and quite frankly we would be earning a lot more than the self-study courses we currently provide, however, I like to sleep at night and simply cannot bring myself to allow anyone to purchase something I do not believe in.
In the past few years, I have spoken with at least 6 or more people who had spent their hard earned $8,000 or more on some of these so-called training programs and simply DID NOT GET WHAT THEY PAID THIER MONEY FOR.
I am semi-retired now and I had to tell her that I simply did not have time to offer this type of one-on-one support and informed her, quite frankly, that if she had read our blog and taken our course she would have either been successful by now or at least she would still have $8,000 of her $8,500 she spent learning this business was simply not her cup of tea.One lady I especially recall offered to pay me a consulting fee to help her. After learning that she had paid the $8K plus to the other company, I asked her why she did not push them to get the support they advertised or get her money back. She told me that she had tried, multiple times, but she was unable to get either the support or her money back.
As a means of countering some of the scams and hype that are out there and "HOPEFULLY" helping people make a more INFORMED DECISION about their prospects in international trade I have attempted, over the past 4 years, to post as much free information on this blog as time allows.
A vast majority of the posts on this blog are "ACTUAL" questions I have received over the past 22 years of working in this business and my answers to those questions.
I try not to sugar-coat anything because NO COURSE, NO TRAINING PROGAM, NOR ANY COACH can guarantee you success in this or any business. And, quite frankly, I hope this post and the other FREE information in this blog would help steer you away from this business altogether if you were considering wasting your time and hard-earned money on one of the training programs described above.
After talking with thousands of people over the past 22 years, one of the conclusions I have reached is that most people are not ready to be business owners. Most people are trained from the time they are children to follow some leader, whether a teacher, coach, professor or BOSS who will make the decisions for them and tell them what to do so they receive a paycheck at the allotted time.
Making decisions, once YOU have learned how the processes work, is the real KEY to your success. NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU will have as much vested (i.e., profit) interest in whatever it is you are trying to decide about YOUR BUSINESS other than YOU!
If you have been provided with the RIGHT training, YOU will know who the subject matter experts are that you may need to talk with from the government or private business organization. EACH DEAL is going to be different, NO COACH or ME for that matter is a subject matter expert in ALL types of products that YOU may decide to export or import.
PLEASE read the above paragraph two or three times so you fully understand what has been stated!
Personally, I wish EVERYONE who purchases one of our International Business courses would succeed in the business to whatever level you desire and to which your abilities will take you, however, the TRUTH of the matter is, the VAST majority of people will not succeed.Even though our training course is the best one I have found in my 22 years, neither it, nor we, can guarantee your success. There are simply TOO MANY VARIABLES including but not limited to:
- How well you can communicate by phone or written correspondence (can I understand you over the phone or can you compose a professional letter, fax or email)?
- How much time you have to devote to learning the business processes?
- How much time do you have available to working your business?
- How much patience you have in seeing your business through until you have your first success?
- How good are you at making REAL LIFE DECISIONS?
- What products will you choose to export or import (there are 10's of thousands and each may or may not have a viable market)?
With the above VARIABLES AND TRUTHS in mind, it HOPEFULLY is becoming quite evident to you that throwing thousands of dollars at a "coaching" program or following the lead of someone who carries their religion on their cuff as a means of separating you from your hard earned money, simply WILL NOT guarantee you success.
The SIMPLE TRUTH of the matter is, there are NO guarantees with this business or any business for your success, but by having a "SOLID" foundation of knowledge of how the business processes work and must be handled, you have a much better chance for success.
About 17 years ago I hitched our wagon (as we say here in central Pennsylvania) to ONE publisher of import export business courses because after reviewing just about everything else out there, and wasting a LOT OF VALUABLE TIME AND MONEY (sound familiar?) their courses were the BEST and MOST COMPLETE training.
In those subsequent years I have both purchased or received free review copies of competing training programs because they would like to get access to the 53,000+ visitors who visit our web site each month.
In 17+ years we have NOT found any other courses that provide as much VITAL international business information that you need to succeed in this business - period!
The VERY BEST method of getting this vital information into someone's hands has been a combination of printed books and CD roms up until about 2 years ago when our publisher took our advice and digitized everything and placed it onto CD Roms which both helped save paper and shipping costs and allowed you to carry your course with you, even when traveling.
The course materials we have chosen to offer for the past 17+ years provide you with the MOST COMPREHENSIVE and EASY to UNDERSTAND that I have found in 22 years in this business.
These course materials are not only TRAINING they are also a REFERENCE LIBRARY that you may access 24/7 on your computer. And, because the course instructions are updated about every two years, most of the questions that were asked via the ONE YEAR EMAIL CONSULTING SERVICE part of the program have been incorporated into those updates resulting and fewer after purchase questions after each update.
This is probably one of the longest posts in the Import Export business blog and I am taking the time to "TRY" to address MOST of the questions people have when they are considering entry into this business. By posting I hope to be able to refer you here and you will be able to FIND the ANSWERS to the MOST commonly asked questions.
Here are some more questions that most people ask when they call about getting started in International Trade are:
Question: How much money can I make?
Answer: Quite frankly, and quite HONESTLY, I do not know.
There are thousands of international trade businesses in this world and tens of thousands in the world - ALL are dealing with different products, many with multiple products and ALL with different levels of expertise, different levels of self-confidence, different levels of communication skills, so how can I, or anyone, give you and estimate as to how much money can be made?
A realistic and truthful answer is, you can make as little as NOTHING or as much as YOU are able to make by applying the knowledge you gain in combination with the abilities you bring to the table, the products YOU select to work with and ALL the variables that go into each and every business that operates on the face of the Earth.
Question: Can I call you to ask questions?
Answer: NO, there is an EMAIL CONSULTING SERVICE included with our courses that allows you to email a question that is not answered in the course materials to our publisher AND you can also CC (carbon copy) us a copy of your email question. Then, when our publisher replies, we will review their answer and if there is ANYTHING that I personally can ADD to their reply, I will be happy to do so.
But, let me elaborate because this is one of the BIGGEST downfalls of people who try to enter this business.
Many people believe, if they pay enough money or are promised a caring, fellow religious person is on the other end of the telephone, that their 'personal coach' possesses some VAST KNOWLEDGE of the International Trade business that spans every type of product and every type of situation that might occur and that faceless person cares enough about "YOUR" business decision to give you the right and definitive answer you need to proceed.
The fallacy of the "coaching staff person" with other training programs is your belief that the coach you are able to talk with on any given day (rotating work from home or minimum wage staffers) have the answer to your individual question.
A question, that if the training materials been updated constantly, should have been covered in the training materials in the first place or should have instructed you where you can get a "REAL" SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT answer and not waste your VALUABLE TIME giving you their 'UNEXPERIENCED" rendition of answer gathered from the same training guide they have provided you, more often than not.
Do I or our course publisher have all the answers? NO and quite frankly, no one does.
But, if this post has helped you UNDERSTAND the TRUTH about international trade business (not opportunity, BUSINESS) and you decide to NOT buy our course or any import export business course, then I say GOOD because that means you really may not have been ready for this business and it may have also saved you up to $8,000 or more and a lot of wasted time.
If, however, after reading this post, you are still interested in pursuing what you may be able to accomplish in international trade, then I sincerely HOPE this post will have convinced you of the NEED to take little more time to perform DUE DILIGENCE on all course providers, INCLUDING US using the FREE due diligence resources posted on our company page.
The courses described on our website are, in my humble opinion, the BEST resources to help you help yourself to learn this business, like I did.
Getting close to the end of this post, I like to relate how amusing I find it when people call me for answers to questions about getting started. They seek my advice and counsel to answer questions that are covered in our courses. They want the BEST advice from an experienced international business person but when I inform them the answers are covered in the course materials, they are either unsure of their own abilities to read and comprehend them or they really do not value the actual information they called or emailed me in the first place? Puzzling and both amusing at the same time.
This concludes my 2010 New Year's Day post, I hope you have found REAL VALUE in taking a few minutes to read it and in closing, I hope you and your families have a Happy New Year and may it be a prosperous and healthy one!
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