Journalism Major - Unsafe?

gliwat
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:24:16 +0000

While it is true that media and journalism are evolving, it can also be said that media and journalism education isn’t matching the pace. I graduated with a bachelor’s in Journalism: news/editoral in 2008, and in the whole curriculum for my major they offered one, thats right, one class that had anything to do with online journalism. To be any kind of journalist nowadays, publications are looking for that person who can do the following: Track down their leads, write the story, take the pictures, post the story on a web publication, make an infographic relating to the story, familiar with flash, basic .html, and knowing how to use most everything in the adobe suite. With limited jobs comes more responsibilities for the ones that are lucky enough to have one. So even knowing a handful of the things that I’ve mentioned will be beneficial.

Internet and smut entertainment news have essentially ruined the print industry and now the only way to really get a foot in the door is to take an unpaid internship, or to build a portfolio by freelancing. Either way, you’re not going to make enough money to live on, and a second job will be necessary. Actually, journalism is the second job to my underpaying kitchen job.

The going rate for most freelance articles is around 40 bucks and that doesn’t go very far. Just tracking down your sources for the story could take four hours in itself. I guess the best advice for anyone wanting to be a journalist but isn’t sure about a journalism major is this: Screw the degree. If you can write you can write, and eventually the right people will recognize this. Get a degree in another field, it will be beneficial.

Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread.