NPR asks, "What's The Point Of Journalism School, Anyway?"

What's the point of NPR?

 

I went to a dinner of Indiana J-school grads about 12 years ago. Only four of us in the room -- of about 40 -- were still working in or retired from journalism. A lot of lawyers, teachers (of which I am now one), businesspeople ... very few full-time journalists.

The one thing I tell my high school journalism students is, there are *so many* things you can do with a journalism education. Companies need someone to handle their corporate communications, do their PR/image work, et al. It's not just working in newspapers or blogging for peanuts.

 

The fact that go-getters can do something else with a journalism degree isn't really an endorsement of the degree. That can happen with any nothing liberal arts degree.

 

Or the opposite. The editor at my paper took delight in hiring someone with a Master's in journalism. Why the editor thought that made a difference, I'll never know.