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Colorado regents vote to close J-school

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Inky_Wretch, Apr 14, 2011.

  1. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    What Journalism School do you do PR for? That's straight out of the standard journo-speak of the last couple of years.

    The problem is, this doesn't account for the fact there are some very good people in very good journalism jobs who majored in something else.
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    And the people who win Powerball probably had people telling them they were wasting their money buying tickets every week.

    Fifteen years ago when I graduated, there was the reasonable expectation that if you worked hard and had a bit of talent that you could make a career in journalism. That's not the case anymore for the majority of journalists.

    Look at how many of the Fanhouse writers who have been hired... It's not many and those were people who were the top writers at their papers when they bolted.
     
  3. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    What you're saying is supply exceeds demand at the moment. Don't necessarily disagree but there are other fields where that is also the case.
     
  4. JackS

    JackS Member

    I think it's still a reasonable expectation. I'm 25 years in and still going (the teaching is just on the side). And from what I gather from your posts, it's your choice that you're not still in the biz.

    It's not an easy business; I know that. But if you're talented, persistent and FLEXIBLE, you can survive and even thrive.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I probably can't argue any of that.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I could.

    1) If you are all of those things, there is still a low percentage chance that you will thrive in this business; survival is up to each person to determine the threshold, but we are at a point where damn fine professionals are clawing for $40,000-a-year jobs.

    2) I could write a list of people I know who are talented, persistent and flexible and have been cast out of this business, but I don't think there's enough space on the Internet for that. The whole "if you want it bad enough you'll get it" is a tired old trope that is trotted out by J-schools who need to fill their halls and by industry captains who don't want to pay people living wages so instead make people feel guilty for wanting living wages. The numbers say what Mizzou was saying: This business used to be a nice place to find a middle-class living. It no longer is and probably never will be that.
     
  7. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    When people in the industry think $32,500 is a great salary, any hope for a middle-class lifestyle in the business is doomed.
     
  8. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

    Haven't you heard? New legislation in Congress prohibits anyone giving a shit about their salary and not just being, "thankful you have a job." Wonder what line of BS they'll be cooking up and serving five years from now when unemployment's dipped and wages still haven't improved? Ohh, I know, "Well, it could be worse. Remember five years ago when people were just lucky to have jobs?"
     
  9. JackS

    JackS Member

    Again, I want to make it clear that I don't advocate every Joe Blow with an interest enter this field. It's too tough for that. What pisses me off are the blanket statements that everyone--no matter how talented, persistent and flexible--should be discouraged from entering. That's the real trope.

    And I would also question, in general, how persistent and flexible some people who you suggest have been "permanently" cast out of the field are. I'm not going to get into individuals, and I don't want you to do that either, but I can tell you I know talented people who I personally don't think are persistent or flexible enough to make a long career in this business.
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    You are showing why people laugh when journalists try to do math. Just look at the numbers. You know, Brian Williams made a good living too, but that doesn't mean broadcast journalism was a great field to enter in the 1990s. This is the same thing.

    And yes, I think everyone, particularly in a J-school, should be discouraged from entering. That is, they should be told that what awaits them is an extremely flooded pool of candidates and a likelihood that they will never make enough money to support themselves and a family. If they hear that and still want to go for it, fine, but I seriously question whether a 22-year-old is hearing that or whether the J-schools are lining their own pockets with these kids' misguided dreams. And if you think my version is a trope, then you have been spending way more time in an ivory tower than in a newsroom the past 10 years.

    I also know people who lack one of your three necessary ingredients. But I know a lot who have them all and it doesn't matter.
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    About five years ago, someone told me that 97 percent of print journalists will never make $50K in a year.

    That seems impossible because almost everyone at a bigger paper makes $50K a year, but if you think of every other smaller and medium-sized paper, maybe it really is true.
     
  12. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    I am JackS' eternal sense of optimism.
     
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