Should we lie to journalism students?

Most kids are in the dark. Tell them everything.
I was in a bar and the bartender was a girl who was a graphic design major. She was adament that her internship with western NY, working on one big story for 10 weeks, was enough for her to get a job at the Chicago Tribune.
I tried to explain it doesn't work that way and she should apply to my paper (circ. 8,000). She said she would wait for the "perfect job". I ordered another tall one and laughed in her face.
That was 8 months ago. Went to the bar Saturday. She's still popping tops and pouring Jack.

 

i loathe all these snide, cynical remarks urging youngin's to run from journalism. crap, i was told the same thing in the late '70s. the biz has changed constantly in my 32 years aboard and will continue to do so.

my middle son is a h.s. senior applying to schools featuring journalism programs. if i told him to run and try biology, his reaction would be the same as mine was, "right now, this is what i'm best at and most interested in. biology? are you nuts? if/when i change my path it won't be for freakin' biology. gimme a break. gimme some time to find my way. this is a marathon, not a sprint..."

bless him.

 

I agree with this. I advise for a high school paper, and a daily college paper. Both of them know the industry is in horrible shape, but plenty of them still want to write and major in journalism. Newspaperman, you beating them over the head with, "Well this industry is fucking horrible!" is probably just more of what they've already heard. They're probably far more interested in your day-to-day job, some of your high and low moments covering things in the field, etc.

 

With every classroom visit and lecture hall appearance, I offer these thoughts:

This is a fun job, but there are tradeoffs for having fun. What you love right now probably will not have the same thrill for you five years from now, and most definitely will not 10 years from now. So before you get into this racket, you need to know what you're going to have to give up. And if it still sounds good to you after that, send me your resume.

 

Shockey and sgreenwell, I'm not screaming at them to run from journalism, but what I do want them to understand is that this industry is changing quickly. And as of right now, the industry has no idea how it will survive in the future.

I'm in my 20's and I can honestly say that I don't have one friend or associate who goes to a newsstand to buy a newspaper. It just isn't part of our routine anymore; I'm just being honest. People want their news quick, fast and in a jiffy. And newspapers don't follow that model.

And everyone keeps saying "let them do what they love." At what point do you stop doing what you love because you can't afford rent?

 

I don't see any comments to that effect.

My advice, as always: Major in something other than journalism. It separates you from the pack. The best journalists are excellent writers and reporters, but also knowledgeable about politics, science, criminal justice, economics, or whatever else. Especially science, and maybe economics, because I think the journalist who can break down that kind of technical gobbledy-gook for public consumption is a valued commodity, particularly since such a high percentage of people going into journalism are unfortunately more literary types than wonks.

 

The dumbest ass advice ever conjured is: "Do what you love, and the money will follow."

 

You hit the nail on the head, Dick. It's okay to do what you love in your free time, but at the end of the day we all have rent, utilities, gas, etc. to pay for and journalism nowadays can barely cover those expenses. Sometimes doing what you love will leave you broke.

To be honest, I've been applying to positions outside of the industry and hope to freelance in my free time. I'm sorry, I didn't go deep into student loan debt to eat ramen noodles and tap water. There has to be something better than this.

 

I think that if someone is really devoted to trying journalism, they should make a go of it in their 20s, but with the understanding that at about age 27 or 28 they are going to take realistic stock of where they are at in their career development and have some sort of back-up plan ready.

 

1) My professors burned the low-pay, long-hours thing into my head all through J-school, but they also made it out like there was light at the end of the tunnel by explaining that most journalists made $50K-$100K a year after about 10 or 15 years in the business and at any medium or large paper. I don't know if that was true when these professors were working for the New York Times and St. Petersburg Times and Time and the Saturday Evening Post or if was just a symptom of them working at such large publications. Like someone said above, the idea of making $25K a year to start out of college was glorious, but those pay scales aren't as attractive when you're in your late 20s and beyond. Had I known the more realistic (or maybe just modern) long-term pay prospects of this field, I might have reconsidered.

2) You have to break it to them that they're not going to start at the New York Times. I went to J-school at a university fairly well known for that program, and so many of my classmates were set on working for Esquire or National Geographic. As far as I know, none of the people I went to college with are at either of those places, and probably four out of five are not in journalism at all. Many of the ones I kept in contact with after high school even had some form of pity for me when I told them I got my first job at a 10K paper.

3) People love to romanticize journalism, but there are some pretty godawful things to have to cover. I know there's a story everywhere, it is what you make of it, yada yada yada. But it gets boring and grating, and I never imagined the day I would have to write a bowling season preview.

 

You should go after your passion, as we only get one life to live. However, if your goals don't work out in the end, you should have a back-up plan. Journalism is okay to pursue, but don't jump into it without a safety net in case things don't work out.

 

I don't think this is necessarily the case. In fact, if I were dispensing advice, I would say that if you are serious about doing high-level journalism, this is the ONLY way you should consider doing this. This has become a business where the future stars are mostly plucked from the bunch when they are about 20 or 21 years old. Look at a young wunderkind like Charlie Savage at the NYT. I think his first job was the Boston Globe. His second job was the NYT. They should devote every bit of energy they have to working somewhere like the New York Times right out of the gate, or else they probably are never going to get there.

Truer words never spoken. Hell, I talked to someone recently who covered a major, major, major beat at a major, major, major newspaper (and I'm not talking a sports beat, but one of the giant, humongo news beats at one of the giant, humongo newspapers), and he called it, I quote, "soul-crushing," I believe. Said that enterprise is the only thing that saves him.