Tough Question from a Journalism Student: Where’s My Job?

What’s the future in Print Journalism? Tough question for newspaper people, but even tougher for a J-student whose ambitions now seem to vanish rapidly into thin air.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from one of them. Her main question: will my education ever bring me a job? I tweeted her desperate cry for help,  soon to find out that it struck a lot of people. I immediately received tens of replies, first asking what I had answered her and afterwards offering help and giving advise.

So I decided to offer an – anonymous – reprint of her mail on my weblog, together with my answer. In translation:

Dear Bart Brouwers,

I am a student at the Utrecht School of Journalism.

I’m doing an article on the future of newspaper journalism. Our school still offers newspaper journalism as a major, but other journalism schools don’t anymore. And even here just a few students have chosen newspaper journalism.

The reason? In short, we see no future in it. The announced downsizing at national newspapers de Volkskrant and Trouw, has strengthened that feeling.

I read your article last week in newspaper Trouw in which you say that the 60 young print journalists that will be sponsored by the state, could better be sent to the new online media.

Now I wonder, and with me many journalism students, in a few years when we graduate, will there still be a future career in print media? Or should we orientate on these new online initiatives you are talking about?

Sincerely, X

My answer:

That’s a tough question. In fact, you ask me if you had better quit your school or if there is still a small chance for you, some place out there in the newspaper industry…

A question that’s hard to answer by mail – the nuances are too numerous. Even if I tell you I am certain that the future of journalism will be online. For now I have two thoughts though:

1. in general: as long as you are willing to use your important skills in journalism as a basis for your work, you could turn out very well, even if that would not be in newspaper journalism istelf. As for any journalist: you always have to be flexible and entrepreneurial, so you can always adapt to new situations.

2. More specifically: wouldn’t it be nice for you to organize a small symposium at your school where students can meet with experienced journalists and newspaper managers? You let them do some brief introductions and then all enter a debate about employment opportunities and the role that both you and the industry itself can play.

Note: I would of course be happy to participate.

We exchanged a couple more mails and now she is trying to pursuade school into having her organize this symposium. Which is great. The fact that this girl not only sent me her questions, but also immediately grabs the opportunities that came along, proves that she will be allright in the long run.

Which ofcourse unfortunately doesn’t apply for all of her colleagues in the newspaper business.