Questions about journalism

College Majors Journalism Major
1

<p>A friend I know wants to be a journalist. However, he has doubts about whether or not the degree itself is worth obtaining. This is mainly because of the fact that a Journalism degree is not necessary for one to get a job as a journalist writer. Instead, he is considering majoring in something like psychology or even graphic design (my own major) while at the same time contributing to our school paper. He reasons that one of those degrees would aid him in obtaining the degree as he would have an additional talent to bring to whichever newspaper he seeks work at. He would also - in theory - have built up writing samples to show to his prospective employer from the writings he would have contributed from the school paper all that time. He does appear to show that he is genuinely interested (and indeed passionate) about the fields he is considering as an alternative so pay isnt one of his primary reasons for wanting to change majors (or even a primary concern at).</p>

<p>Of course this is all theoretical. My question is does it work out in practice?</p>

<p>Also, is a journalists job as difficult to obtain as a graphic designers job is?</p>

2

<p>His overall reasoning is sound. He should probably enroll in at least a couple introductory newswriting courses, to get a solid grounding in journalistic style and practice. But the most important part of one’s application package is the work product, so he’s on the right track as far as thinking about his clip file.</p>

<p>Also, he should really look to build skills beyond writing - you need to be able to do multimedia, blogging, Twitter, etc. to be competitive in today’s journalism market.</p>

<p>Yes, finding a job in journalism is very difficult right now. It’s a shrinking field with a lot of competition.</p>

3

<p>^^ That exactly with an emphasis on multimedia.</p>