Making money and doing journalism are not mutually exclusive.

I'm a journalist by training but I'm always cognizant of the fact that I'm in the publishing business. There's a big difference there.

My Philly (but soon to be New York) friend Sean Blanda has a great post on his personal blog about why there's not enough focus on the money-making aspect of publishing.

He writes:

Journalism students are hitting the job market without the skills that are most in demand. Many students I talk to still have ambitions of being a sports reporter or a fashion columnist and are just hoping that a publication picks them out of the hundreds of other grads just like them.

A laser focus on profits and nothing else is always a major hazard with any business, but he's got a point about balancing it out a bit better.

If we tossed all the classes dedicated to social media and blogging and useless tech that will be obsolete before graduation day, and focused on this instead, the industry would be better for it.

Sean agrees: "I’d rather keep the class focused on making money and not on the tools or technology." Amen.