Like many starry-eyed children oblivious to the futility of the American dream, I yearned as a little girl to one day have a column in The New York Times. Sadly to say, it didn’t take long before this dream of mine withered. Yet it was not so much a lack of confidence in the quality of my writing that propelled me away from dreaming big as it was my growing awareness that like everything else in American society, journalistic celebrity favors the well-connected. Within the staffs of the nation’s most renowned media sources, wealth and privilege are king.
And if only you knew how much so. Cristian Lupsa’s submission to My Take at Poynter.org is a somewhat startling inside-look at what goes on in the upper reaches of American journalism. Lupsa cites America’s newsrooms as “lazy organisms that prefer to cultivate [an] insider culture…a lot of hires are friends of friends of powerful friends, graduates of the same Ivy League colleges or the same boarding schools.” One would think that America’s top newsrooms would aim to hire America’s top writers. Writing is a talent one is born with and hones with time. It exists independently of one’s friendships and connections, one’s bank account, and to some extent, one’s college degree. Thank you, captain obvious. The Times, The Post, etc., etc., are all well aware of what they’re doing, but they’ve earned their right to turn a blind eye to this fact. So it goes in American culture. Meritocracy is to a tremendous extent a myth sold to the optimistic and the naïve, even in an industry whose very integrity should be dependent upon natural ability.
A very high-ranking editor at a very prestigious newspaper recounted to our workshop group how she got her start in journalism. To give you a rough summary of the buddings of her career: “Well, my first year at Harvard, I actually wasn’t too involved in journalism…then, summering on Nantucket with my parents, we heard about Bobby Kennedy’s car accident with his girlfriend...and one day, a friend of my mother’s started dishing out all of this inside information she knew, so I got in contact with someone and it ended up becoming huge news.”
That’s lovely, but some of us aspiring journalists don’t spend our summers on Nantucket with the Kennedy’s and company. What about us? Should we just give up now? The middle class is shrinking, sociologists claim, and the economy is tanking. Meritocracy’s future has never looked grimmer.
Or has it? More Americans than ever are receiving a college education, and no longer are the nation’s top colleges exclusive to the upper crust of society. Theoretically, anyone can get into Harvard. Employers, then have a somewhat valid point when they hire someone based on their educational background. As a student at a college often referred to a one of the “Little Ivies” it would be hypocritical of me to bash journalism’s preference for those with degrees from top colleges. I worked hard to get to where I am now and I see my future degree as a reward for my talents and effort and as a leg-up in my future career. But that degree has a hefty price tag with it, and that is another thing that society likes to overlook. Yes, anyone can gain admission to an elite college if they possess the qualifications. But not everyone can pay for it. Many Americans cannot afford a top-notch undergraduate education, and even fewer can afford a postgraduate one in a field where grants and funding are scarce. And let's not even start with journalism internships, most of which are unpaid and located in pricey cities...
The admissions dean at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism estimated a master’s at around $70,000, including living expenses in New York. Loans, he admitted, were by-and-large the only form on financial aid available. That’s an awful lot of dough to fork over (or loans to take out) for an education in a career that will likely earn you an annual salary half of that. I met some terrifically talented journalists at the Bloomberg conference, but upon hearing these numbers over lunch on our last day, our hearts dropped. We were some of the most ambitious college editors in the country, but none of us knew how we could finance such an investment. All of the veterans admitted it: tuition for journalism school, like college tuition in general, is rapidly increasing at a rate out-pacing inflation. Fifty years ago, college admissions may not have been as meritocratic, but college was certainly more affordable. It seems we’ve cured one ill only to face another.
Is this to say that a non-prep school scion of an investment banker with three uncles high up at The Times has no hope of ever making it in journalism? Of course not. Classes surely exist in American culture, but so does upward mobility. Ambition, relentless motivation, and, admittedly, luck can all aid a “nobody” to the top. But for those who do not know “the right people,” showcasing that talent and climbing that latter proves that much more difficult. It’s a gamble, but that’s life. As for myself, I think I might head down to Nantucket and keep an eye on the Kennedys to stay on the safe side.
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