<p>Obviously, I want to learn, but the ultimate purpose of college is for careers; will I be able to have a bright future career-wise with a journalism major? Or, would it be similar to a Scandinavian, Anthropology, of Theater and would not get me a good career?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1140538-journalism-good-major.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1140538-journalism-good-major.html</a></p>
<p>This is the thread you could have googled.</p>
<p>Yes, but the market constantly changes. I need an updated report. 
</p>
<p>Thanks anyways, though.</p>
<p>It’s just as bad.</p>
<p>Average salary is between 20 and 60k.</p>
<p>Newspaper industry is fastest shrinking in US.</p>
<p>If you don’t double major, you’re screwed.</p>
<p>Etcetera.</p>
<p>You don’t need a journalism degree to get a journalism job. You need connections and experience. A good journalism school has a strong regional alumni network. You can get experience on a college publication or in an internship; your work samples will be more important than any classes you’ve taken.</p>
<p>There are jobs, but they may not pay well and may be in rural or small-town areas. You get better jobs and more money with more experience; again, your work samples will be vital.</p>
<p>A double major will give you a specialty. Journalists who can understand and interpret science will find work more easily. A concepts-of-statistics class will teach you how to interpret statistics and judge statistical claims. Being bilingual will open some doors. Knowing programs like Quark XPress and InDesign will add value. Being able to work with video and other multimedia has become important.</p>
<p>If you love it, and you’re able to be flexible (you don’t have a mortgage and five kids), do it. Otherwise, look at other majors.</p>
<p>When you are visiting schools, ask them where their graduates from the journalism dept end up. Lots of people work in corporate communications, PR and marketing. But that may not be what you have in mind. Those ‘reporter’ jobs are pretty much gone. Reuters employs 2,000 people in Bangelore to write up their news these days - you don’t need to be physically present for most aspects of reporting apparently. Colleague of mine with 20+ years experience as a magazine editor and journalist is now doing freelance and teaching writing classes at a CC to support herself. It’s brutal. The other journalists I know are not self-supporting (spouses’ income makes it possible) and they have specialties that make them unique (bi-lingualism, expertise in maritime law, etc…)</p>
<p>Here’s the thing about journalism:</p>
<p>1) You don’t have to major in journalism. If you do want to, double-major, that way, you’re protecting yourself in the case you don’t get a journalism job.</p>
<p>2) Is the market bad? For newspapers, yes. But there’s always news, and where there is news, there’ll be reporters. It’s just moving to online news, where as soon as something happens, it can be written about. Some colleges have a concentration in online journalism, but those that don’t, they are beginning to incorporate online media into heir curriculum. </p>
<p>3) There are jobs out there, just not as many. You won’t be working at NY Times right off the bat, experience is needed, but there are jobs you can do until your name is out there. Journalists don’t get paid much. It’s a job that you do because you love it, not because you want to get paid a lot. </p>
<p>4) Find a school that usually places students at good internships, this can later help you land a good job upon graduation.</p>
<p>5) There is one news source that won’t be going anywhere anytime soon as long as there is still news (which will never be gone): The Associated Press. You wouldn’t be working for a newspaper specifically, but you would be reporting.</p>
<p>Bottom line: If you want to, do it. Double-major, for precautions. Don’t let anyone deter you if being a journalist is what you want to do.</p>
<p>
You expect there has been a seismic shift since May 2011?</p>
<p>^Agreed. That is updated information from the 2011 thread, hasn’t changed.</p>
<p>OK, here is the real, real deal.
Journalism was always a bad major.</p>
<p>I have since lost touch with just about everyone I went to school with, but I doubt that any of them actually wound up being a “journalist” (at a large city newspaper or anywhere) as a career.
Several went into public relations, etc.
But “journalism?” No.</p>
<p>Now, the bad news.
It’s worse.</p>
<p>You asked for a blunt answer.</p>
<p>GolfFather, as a prospective journalist myself, would you please go into detail of why it was a bad major to begin with (I always heard that they don’t really teach you how to do x, y, and z)? My “mentor” so to speak used to be a journalist before becoming a teacher, and his best friend works for the AP, and I think he majored in journalism. </p>
<p>And what do you think about a double major of journalism and something else that would be beneficial?</p>
<p>By coincidence . . .</p>
<p>[The</a> 13 Most Useless Majors, From Philosophy to Journalism - The Daily Beast](<a href=“The 13 Most Useless Majors, From Philosophy to Journalism”>The 13 Most Useless Majors, From Philosophy to Journalism)</p>
<p>Huh, my Northwestern (Medill) friends seem to have done quite well. Some are producers or on-air talent on various television programs. Others write for major newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, WSJ and NYTimes.</p>
<p>NU and Columbia and a few others are the handful of top programs. They aren’t indicative of the thousands of Journalism degrees granted, whose job prospects are dismal.</p>