Journalism

[Tux]

Does anyone know if the demand for journalists is high enough to warrent getting a 2nd degree in it?

I plan on taking an intro class in journalism and if it's my thing I'd continue it once I can get a dead end job. I already have a psych degree but either there are no jobs or when there are jobs, more people apply for it than when the Corvette plant takes applications.

It's a risk but I checked it and it seems to be something I can enjoy, get a decent job, and feel like I'm doing something worthwhile for a change.

[Joey Liberal]

1. I'm interested in Journalism as well.

[Tux]

2. Kick

And I hope we can get our careers going. After 7 years and messing with psych, trying to get a psych job and wound up being more qualified for tech-support (now overseas), it's time for a change. I had plans of getting a PhD in social psych and do research as a godless liberal professor but clinical psych is too dominate, controling, and pushing research aside just to over charge people for basic mental health.

[gater]

3. A word of caution.

The landscape is littered with people with Journalism degrees. Having worked 20 years in broadcasting, I saw bunches of bright eyed young Walter Cronkites come and go. The starting pay and hours suck!! If you do not have the passion for it, and I mean the passion to write/report rather than eat, you will likely not make it. The glory gigs are very few and far between. The biz weeds out those who do not want it enough!

[LiberalEsto]

4. As a 30-year veteran of newspaper journalism, I wouldn't do it

I see today's journalism job market as very limited, and continuing to shrink. Papers are losing money all over the country, and that means cutbacks. There are fewer and fewer papers due to mergers. And fewer and fewer people read newspapers.

Smaller papers want reporters with about two years' experience, and pay very little. The competition to get into a big paper is ferocious, and you would definitely need a masters degree in journalism, plus a good internship and references.

You also need to be willing to work crazy hours, and want to do it more than anything else in the world. It consumes your life. I got into journalism to change the world back in the 60s-70s, and loved it. Now papers have to toe the corporate line, and reporters have to adjust their stories accordingly. I think I would absolutely hate that if I went back. I work as a technical/marketing writer now.

If I were you, I would study technical writing, because there is a big demand for it. You wouldn't need a masters degree, just a few courses at a community college.

I've got two kids in college, both excellent writers, but neither plans to go into journalism. If they would listen to my advice, I'd tell them to get into a healthcare field that requires patient contact, such as doing ultrasound, or physical therapy. At least these things can't be outsourced.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

[Tux]

5. Technical writing?

What kind of company could technical writers work at? Just curious since I always liked to write papers for my classes. Really prefered to write essays than take tests.

[KaliTracy]

8. I used to teach, and am now a technical writer. I knew I was going

to quit (in 1998) and took a whole summer of software classes at a computer training center. Thought I would go into software training --but got hired at a software company that develops information display systems.

I write the proposals, do some marketing stuff (though we've recently got account executives that do this with their job), and now create the help files and manuals as well because we lost a person (she moved) and they didn't replace her -- so I do her job and mine now. I like doing manuals and help files best. Proposals get tedious. And, we are directly involved with Airports/Airlines, so even though I got hired in a little over what I was making as a 5yr teacher who had a masters, I didn't get a raise (though was put on a bit of a bonus structure) until this year....not quite up to market value yet. But, they are flexible, (if I get there 20-30 minutes late, I can just work later (I have a young child who I have to take to preschool, mornings kind of get away from me)), and pretty nice, now that my megalomaniac boss was asked to leave. The entire company is republican (or the new people aren't talking. The other technical writer who left was my only liberal connection....

[TroglodyteScholar]

10. Technical Writing

I'm in the Central Georgia area, and it seems the only realy tech writing opportunities are with defense contractors working on manuals from the nearby Air Force Base. I've done my stint in that field -- our contract finished up last week -- and so now I'm looking for a non-military job that would involve tech writing skills and/or database technology. There's NO writing work and all the database jobs have very specific requirements for experience, programs used, etc.

I would like to be a journalist, but I decided early on that it was simply an unrealistic desire. There's no room for truth in journalism.

[fudge stripe cookays]

12. Tech writing is getting more limited every year.

I'm in it now and trying to get out.

Telecommunications and Web stuff are still here, but fading. A lot of companies are switching from tech writing departments to contract writers, which means...no benefits and especially no insurance, unless you work for a contracting firm that will take care of that for you. The other poster was correct. Government defense stuff is the major opportunity in the field now, and I wouldn't sell my soul to write that crap.

Many companies are outsourcing, and with that goes the need for tech writers, or they get ESL speakers to write it, which is ludicrous.

Personally I'm getting out because I recently contracted MS, and the tiny details have become maddening for me. It's difficult to focus.

I'd avoid Tech writing if I were you. Good luck in whatever you decide.
FSC

[Tace]

6. Journalism Is A Very Tough Field

It depends on whether you intend to make a living off it. Good journalism jobs are very far and few between. And, most of those that pay well pretty much demand your soul in return.

However, if you want to do it, and can imagine doing whatever it takes to do it, you can succeed.

BTW, World News Trust is looking for editors and contributors for its web site -- worldnewstrust.org. If you're interested in particpating in the project, please register for the site and contact me at [e-mail].

Chrs, Francis Goodwin, WNT managing editor

[NVMojo]

7. I wouldn't do it.

The very sad part is that the meaning of journalist today is so plastique and washed down, a second degree in it if you want to make a difference in the world around you, won't make any difference. We need to decentralize the corporate media. They have a real aversion to investigative journalism.

[FloridaPat]

9. If you're members of this board, there is probably no way you can

get a job. You probably will never be able to write lies and write about what a great leader * is. About how invading other countries is good for world democracy.

However, there are lots of stores to be published, you just have to find a place to publish them.

[LaurenG]

11. Just write a book

or freelance. If you love something it usually means you should go for it.

[LuckyTheDog]

13. I am a journalist

I'd say... take some more courses. But some really great reporters have degrees in something else. The best thing to do is to get some experience under your belt -- as a freeelancer and then as a staff reporter for a small paper. What counts is experience and skill. Get a mentor,if you can. But be prepared to make some really small money for a long time.

[Ned_Devine]

14. It's not a bad idea to at least take a course...

That way you can get a feel. I did it last semester. In fact, I was allowed to take journalism two since I had taken intro ten years earlier. I built up my writing confidence and landed a freelancing job. My prof. said it wasn't really worth another degree, but to try the freelancing avenue. Unless you write at a third grade level, if you've already got a bachelor's in a related field, you should be able to do all right.

[RagingInMiami]

15. Why not take some writing classes

But first find out who is the best writing teacher. I have a degree in journalism and I worked for newspapers for several years before becoming a freelancer. A lot of journalists don't even have degrees in journalism.

With a degree or not, journalism is a very difficult field to break into. You usually have to freelance articles or do an internship at a small newspaper, but you can do that without a degree.

[uberblonde]

16. Try working as a stringer instead.

Most papers hire part-timers to do the boring stuff the staffers don't want to do, like night meetings. That would give you some clips when you apply for staff jobs. As long as you already have a degree, it shouldn't be a problem - lots of journalists don't have journalism degrees!