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I read with interest Bill Sinclair’s recollections of his time as a journalism lecturer at Napier University (26 September). I speak as someone from the other side of the fence; a former wannabe hack who completed a post-graduate course at another Scottish university in 2009.
I began with predictable optimism. I firmly believed that only a
journalism qualification would secure me a job in an industry that is notoriously difficult to break into. I knew there was no definitive
path that would lead to regular paid work as a journalist. I had
already served time on various publications and met several working writers, none of whom had ‘studied’ journalism but had still risen to the giddy heights of receiving monthly pay cheques.
Yet I still imagined that a laminated certificate would boost my
chances of finding work. To an extent, I was proved right. I am
fortunate now to be employed as a staff reporter. But my route from the classroom to the newsroom involved numerous dead ends and false starts. Judging from anecdotal evidence of friends and colleagues, mine was a fairly typical experience involving unpaid work placements, promises of job offers that never materialised, occasional shift work and hundreds of ignored emails.
I consider myself fortunate to be employed full-time for two reasons. One is the endemic underemployment and general lack of job opportunities that exist in the UK and across Europe – now is not a good time to be looking for work in any profession. The other is the sheer number of people who apparently wish to pursue a career in journalism.
But which qualification is best? There are one-year access courses at community colleges, four year degree programmes at prestigious
universities and post-graduate places available for those – like me – who felt that accumulating another year of student debt was a gamble worth taking. Some courses offer extensive training in video
production and broadcasting techniques, others prefer a more
traditional approach involving shorthand drill and practical tips on
how to handle your first ‘death knock’. There is no agreed strategy
among higher education establishments on how best to prepare a
journalist for news gathering in the 21st century. Given the speed at
which the industry is evolving, it’s unlikely that a common approach will be found anytime soon.
What is agreed – but never admitted – is that most journalism
graduates will never secure a full-time job in the industry. There are simply not enough jobs. There were never enough jobs. But that does not prevent colleges from continuing to cash in from the demand. A lack of employment opportunities is, of course, not restricted to journalism graduates. But I can think of no comparable industry in which there are fewer and fewer jobs available but more and more people wishing to apply.
There are many who believe that journalism is a skill that cannot be
taught; it is a trade that must be learned through experience. I
certainly discovered more in three days in a newsroom than three
months in a classroom spent largely rewriting fictional press
releases.
The fact remains however that news organisations expect – with few exceptions – their reporters to arrive on the job with a core set of basic skills. They do not have the time or the resources to teach
them. Being able to write in plain English helps, but a firm grasp of
media law and an ability to spot a story are equally important.
These are not things you pick up from writing features for student
newspapers, reviewing gigs for free on behalf of online arts websites or tweeting earnest opinions while watching ‘Question Time’. I say that as someone who has done all three.
Mr Sinclair estimated that only one in 10 of his students would ever
find a journalism job. That seems a fair estimate. Out of my class of
around 25, there are six, including myself, who are working
journalists. Around the same number are employed in PR. Most of the rest were sharp enough to realise what we all had subconsciously known from the start – that we were attempting to enter an industry going through a process of aggressive cost-cutting and ever-changing working practices – and decided to embark on other career paths instead.
Students, from all walks of life, spend an awful lot of money and
invest a huge amount of time and energy while studying. In return,
they at least deserve their chosen university or college to be
completely open and frank with them about their chances of securing a job at the end of it all. They should be told that it is possible to secure meaningful employment without being in possession of reams of watermarked parchment.
