As budding journalists, we hear more and more about the importance of being able to produce and edit our own online content. But how do people our age learn all these skills by ourselves? In the early 1990s, graduate schools started offering new media components to their curriculum. Today new media has morphed into digital media. The curriculum has a hard time keeping up with the ever-changing platform of electronic media. So how do journalists do it?
Journalists must educate themselves quickly about new topics every day. Current journalists do not have the luxury to go back to school every time a new piece of equipment comes out. They must learn in the field.
How do you make the case for J-school when you are required as a journalist to learn quickly on the job every day?
— Anna, Five Wire Editor
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
1 comment:
I think the only thing J-school can exclusively offer to journalists is a mark of pedigree. Having Columbia or Medill on one's resume would seem to make a person marketable for a top-notch job in the media world. In that case, the necessity of a J-school degree is dependent entirely on the values of the hiring world. More and more, it seems the media is placing a premium on clippings and first-hand experience. Given the ballooning costs of attending a top J-school, especially in relation to one's prospective salary in the field, this seems rightly so.
Part of me suspects J-school may eventually die out, but in such a systematized society, can the journalism industry hire without any kind of pre-profession qualifications whatsoever? I personally hope so, but it's a difficult question to tackle.
- Regina
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