Paying dues

I ask this in all sincerity: If you really, REALLY don't care about Big State Newspaper Journal or want to work there, then why the shot at the people who do work there? Why do you even care?

I have great friends at tiny newspapers who do great work. I have great friends at humongous newspapers who do great work.

There are two major benefits to working at a big paper: (1) Better pay. This is important. Very important. Sorry, but it is. (2) The opportunity to merely write and report, and not be a jack of all trades. Most of the writers I know at big papers never see the inside of the office. Face time doesn't really exist.

Of course, some people enjoy being a jack of all trades and feeling invested in the entire product. Which is cool, too, and understandable.

Dues paying seems to not exist any more. I absolutely agree. It seems most reporters at the NYT or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal started right out of college at the NYT, the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal. Or else they hop-skotched from one biggie to another. Newsweek to the L.A. Times to the WSJ. Or some path like that.

I think it's like that in a lot of businesses these days. You better try to get in the door right out of college, or else forget about it.

 

If my kid said he wanted to be a journalist, here is the list of schools I would recommend, in order:

(1) Harvard
(2) Princeton
(3) Yale
(4) Stanford
(5) Northwestern
(6) Missouri
(7) Syracuse

Followed, in no particular order, by:

Random Ivy, Berkeley, NYU, University of Chicago, UCLA, Michigan, UNC, Williams/Amherst/Random elite liberal arts school, Notre Dame, Vandy, UVa., Duke, USC, etc., etc.

And, of course, Columbia University for a graduate degree.

P.S. The actual list of schools I pray to the good lord my kid wants to target:

(1) MIT
(2) Cal Tech
(3) Purdue

 

Oh, I don't think I'm pathetic for being in retail. It's the three-digit salary that I need to get away from.
I know that there are going to be a lot of retirees at the local CC, where I worked through a work study program. I loved it up there and a 9-5 gig would be great if I could get back in, plus I'd have a lot more time to write.

 

Advancing your career and journalism are two entirely distinct skill sets. You can be good at one and poor at the other.