Some would argue that studying journalism can be useful for editorial work or, say, reporting. But the best journalists often didn’t study journalism at all, and there is no evidence that a journalism degree gives you a chance to get a better job. So do we need a journalism school?

If it has not been able to achieve the goal formulated by Joseph Pulitzer for more than a century of its existence, which is to raise journalism to the level of a learned profession, then the world will lose nothing if it disappears.

At the same time, the system under which journalism schools operate is based on inequality.

An inefficient journalism school is a waste of time and money for students. But there are also benefits: if students pay, then teachers and other university staff get paid. The only people who really lose out are the students.

Journalism education can be effective, but it is expensive. For example, a one-year program at the Columbia School of Journalism costs about $150,000, and a two-year program costs more than $200,000. There are alternative options. You can graduate from a four-year college and go to work. Obviously, with such a background, you will come to work more experienced than those who start working in journalism right after high school.

But what about those people who decided not to get a journalism degree? They have to compete with those who, say, have a degree in journalism from Columbia University. Obviously, those with degrees will attract employers more.

It turns out that a person has already done a lot of damage to himself or herself by spending a lot of money on education. And now he is also preventing another person from joining the journalistic environment. Simply because that person was smart enough not to get a journalism degree.

In practice, this means that if you are poor, from the countryside, have a different skin color or disability, or are a single mother with two children, you cannot go to journalism school. Meanwhile, the profession needs more people with different backgrounds.

The best thing to do is to abolish journalism degrees altogether or narrow it down to a purely research-based education. This would save students billions of dollars and level the playing field for people who want to enter the profession. It would also inevitably return the profession to an on-the-job training model. Beginners will learn the basics of journalism faster, taking their first steps in the profession, and will feel more responsible. After all, no one will kick you out of journalism school for spelling the mayor’s name wrong in a headline.

The post Why do we need journalism schools? appeared first on Xnews-YzA.

You shouldn’t have too many ambitious hopes in your heart: a journalist and a writer are completely different professions. The fruits of their labor are fundamentally different. A journalist is tasked with bringing to light not a novel, not a play, not an essay, not even a long and boring opus from the series “reflections at the front door” – by the way, this is the most popular genre among novice authors.

Journalistic articles are, first and foremost, competently, interestingly and easily accessible information. The article should be interesting to the reader, not just to the author – novice journalists are often discouraged when they are asked to write in a way that is “understandable to everyone.” They need to produce articles in a conveyor belt mode, squeezing more and more “non-banal” events and endings out of their brains. The obsessive need to write can eventually become a reason for hatred of the blank page and the printed word, or it can develop into a chronic illness, when everything that happens around you is perceived as an informational reason for another article.

If you are fascinated by the examples of great publicists of the past and present, make allowances for the fact that you will most likely have to do something completely different. The demand for Belinskys is not high today. Mostly specialists of other profiles are needed. The most popular are young investigators who are able to regularly get sensations for their publication or unearth deeply buried secrets. If there is no sensation, they need to invent one. Such professionals are called “muckrakers,” and they will always find a use for their talent.

Don’t be in a hurry to smile dismissively: if you want to make a living in journalism, you will have to do the same thing every day. The main concern of a correspondent is to “sell” information by showing the product in person, and for this you need to find the “bomb” in any event. Every day you will discover Americas in places where these Americas are not provided for by nature at all.

Journalism is a lifelong business trip. From now on, you will be woken up by your boss’s nightly calls, urgent matters and emergency trips, and you will have nightmares about giving up your room. You will be in the very center of the bustling press industry, which every time, because of any minor flaw, tries to fall and bury you under the rubble.

However, you should not expect public recognition for such a phenomenal sacrifice. The vast majority of people, from the accounting department in your own newsroom to those comrades you will tell the world about in your own articles, will treat you ironically, or even meet you with hostility. Journalists are not liked in our society. Lies, lack of education, illicit earnings, belonging to the “rotten bohemia” are the things they are accused of. And very few people are willing to accept on faith that you are not such a person, but, on the contrary, an educated and principled professional.

In short, journalism is a hell of a job. Looking at the crowds of young men and women scurrying through the corridors of, for example, a journalism faculty, it is difficult to understand where in the world there are so many workaholics who are ready to exchange their peace of mind for a gambling race with obstacles at any moment. However, those of them who eventually start working in their specialty would never trade their restless profession for anything else. It is like a special disease: communication with people and an active lifestyle can replace sleep and rest for a journalist.

The post Journalist: the prose of the profession appeared first on Xnews-YzA.

All the information we see on the Internet, in newspapers, on TV and on the radio comes from journalists. The importance of their work is clear, but why is it that not everyone can master this profession? Journalism is a rather complicated field of activity that requires a lot of mental stress. To become a real qualified specialist, you will have to think, communicate, read, and write. To learn how to present information competently and easily, to listen and understand the interlocutor, you need to work hard on yourself. Sociability and improvisation are traits that will come in handy when communicating, because the work of journalists is always filled with unpredictable situations.

In any field of activity, you will face difficulties, but people who want to become a master in their field are not afraid of such things. If you have patience and persevere towards your goal, ignoring others and overcoming yourself and your own fears, you will succeed in getting what you want. Believe in it, and everything will work out!

Journalism will be fun only if you are eager to find new interesting things in the midst of everyday life. It is very difficult to see the sensation in the ‘gray lethargy’.

You have to be born a journalist. Watching children, you can spot a future employee of this profession. From an early age, they can easily hold a conversation, even with an adult, and are not afraid to speak in public. These children are active and inquisitive, so they are very curious about the world. It is from childhood that this special lifestyle – the ‘seeker of novelties’ – is born.

What attracts me to this profession? The fact that as a journalist, you cannot get bogged down in everyday life. New acquaintances, locations, and travels will not let you get bored. Not sitting in one place, moving, exploring and trying something new are the main criteria I look for in my future profession. So I want to try to work in this field and see if I can connect my life with journalism. I think this profession will remain relevant for many years to come.

The post Journalism is not a profession, it is a lifestyle appeared first on Xnews-YzA.