There are rumblings that journalism schools, as we have known them, are on the decline in America. It’s assumed that this is tied to the decline in job opportunities in newsrooms and magazines as those industries die an agonizingly slow and painful death.
In some corners the decline of the J-schools is being lamented almost as if it is the death of truth, itself. In other corners it’s applauded as a welcome change from the elitist persona journalists have taken on. Why do they even like to be called “Journalists” anyway? Doesn’t “Reporter” sound cooler, tougher?
Unlike the practice of law, medicine or teaching, journalism requires no license, no certificate and no college degree. Just like the actors who spend years getting their Master’s Degree in Theatre Arts and come to Hollywood to secure that great bartending job, J-school graduates enter the job market with enormous debt and high expectations. If they do get an entry-level position, I suspect they learn more about the actual business of journalism in their first month on the job than they did in their four years at college.
Where once these elite (and expensive) programs used to spend most of their time teaching about an ethereal code of journalistic ethics, they are now focusing on how to produce YouTube videos and how to blog. (I kid you not, kids are getting their parents to shell out $100K per year to learn how to blog.)
But, of course, the editors doing the hiring have their journalism degrees and for them to validate the wasted years they spent attaining that sheepskin, they require their new employees to have undergone the same penance. And so the J-School veil of legitimacy is propped up and legitimized for no good reason other than to make everyone in the newsroom feel superior to their blue-collar readers.
Are you worried about the decline of good journalists if J-Schools start to vanish? Take a look at arguably the most influential journalists in the last fifty years:
- Bob Woodward, English Literature Degree
- Edward R. Murrow, Speech Degree
- Walter Cronkite, No College Degree
- Carl Bernstein, No College Degree
And, which of their contemporaries did get a journalism degree? This guy:
Disgraced Dan Rather.
What are they teaching in those J-schools?
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58 Comments
[ Eli's Hammer ] What I have noticed is that almost all media types these days have degrees in LAW. Somehow it slants the news in an odd way that iI can't quite get a handle on. Like speaking 'legaleze' …words with no actionable meanings.
What good is that degree for this kind if they have No integrity. No wonder ratings are in free fall, newspapers downsize, and the public seeks out Fox and conservative talk radio for its news. I don't hold out hope for those others, for they just don't get it.
I don't need one.
I would match wits with the best and the brightest, turned out from the best journalism schools in the country, and I never finished high school.
Honor, integrity, morals and ehtics cannot be taught in any school. They are either ingrained into ones psyche, prior to entering kindergarden, or the aren't. I'm thankful for every backhander, and every ass paddling I ever got as a child. It taught me right from wrong.
Well the three most important things that are missing from our entire educational system staff are:
Integrity
Service
Professionalism
Well, journalists make up their "licensing" in their own minds/egos. Exhibit A:
“You’re going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe. All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I’m up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn’t left the efficiency apartment in two years.” (NBC Evening News’ Brian Williams warned New York University journalism students, 6 April 2007)
It’s really a shame, a free press is important to our Republic. But what we have now is a propaganda organ for the state, more specifically the left, and needs to be pulled out by the roots and start over. We need to get back too, “Just the facts ma’am,” …I know that’s Joe Friday but it works. Tell us what happened without the stupid editorializing, you’re not there to change the world, ala Joseph Goebbels, he’d be so proud. The press needs to go!
Oh yeah! Lessons learned in the woodshed are most valuable. Now kids will hire an attorney and sue for assault. We’ve allowed things to get out of hand!
To me, it's not a big mystery why the MSM is solidly Left….
They are all too stupid and unskilled to get real jobs of a practical nature, like engineering, scientist (not weather related), or General Contractor.
But most have writing skills and the gift of "blab"…
They become indoctrinated in J-School by tenured Marxist professors….
Speaking to and hanging out with only the like minded…
Talk about the one way echo chamber…
Forget J-school, at MY Uni, blogging classes were offered under the ENGLISH program! And of course, it had to be a left-leaning political blog to get an A. J-school gave us a chance to learn how to write in print style for newspaper, to build a stringbook (portfolio) to build a resume, and to compete for J-school recognition awards. But ocnsiderin gno one reads newspapers anymore….
I will tell you who needs a journalism degree, or at least significant retraining, the MSM.
http://www.PoliticalCentrist.com News and views for independent voters
With the STANDARDS these days…. NO ONE…. they just spew there agenda and get on with it!
As is pointed out by the story on another thread, where a J-school student had his answer marked "incorrect" by stating that there was "no evidence" of racial slurs at the HC vote day protests. Facts are immaterial; the "message" is all that counts. There's your Journalism school curriculum!
Just proves my theory on attorney's……….
You mean to tell me that they teach blogging at Universities? Good lord! Whatever happened to education?
knowledge, and education are two entirely different things…
Fortunate enough to have been well educated, yet lucky enough to have been 'fed to the wolves' at a young enough age to become, as the Plains Indians would say, a 'human being', the understanding here is that college is HIGHLY overrated.
Biff and Muffy go because their folks are rich. They learn little,or nothing. Average Joes go to make something of themselves. They learn how to become wealthy. The underclass goes to become radicalized.
They learn how to overthrow a society that enabled them. Such is the contrary nature of humankind.
Go figure…
Yes, and every unit was taught by the same professor, who also happened to be a liberal contributor for the city's online magazine. So he had a certain \”standard\” when it came to passable blog posts. He would assign the class the topic, and grade on both quality and content. There was a measurable difference between my conservative friends' posts and my liberal friends' posts, regardless of their abilities as writers. Of course, thanks to tenure, he'd been at the school since the age of the dinosaurs, so no one said anything, which is also a major problem with higher education. The intimidation of students. But that's off-topic.
Jaci Greggs
http://meandmysoldierman.blogspot.com/
/>Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive. ~ Ronald Reagan
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Subject: Cowboy Logic replied to your comment on Who Really Needs a Journalism Degree?
You know Eli, I rarely agree with you. But you're right. On Fox I can think of Megyn Kelly, Greta Van Susteren and Kimberly Guilfoyle off the top of my head. And they always have Judges Napolitano and Pirro on all the time. Apparently a law degree is the most desirable quality in a commentator/host.
My friend, you have it figured out, and know the drill.
Back about 1998, my financial mans daughter graduated high school. They lived in the "Golden Ghetto" of North Dallas. For graduation, she got a brand new BMW sports car convertible. I was shocked. I was amazed, at the opulence, that I was subsidizing.
It's a new world for the old J-school graduates that's for sure. I got a degree in Journalism before blogging had even been invented. Back then it was assumed that you would end up working in television or newsprint. The internet was barely a twinkle in Al Gore's eye (I know I don't need a /sarc tag here). But, speaking as someone with said useless degree, I wouldn't change the way things have gone. I did have a good set of instructors who tried to push objectivity as a standard. But it's been a losing battle and the leftists have continued to control the medium. Now, it's not the college degree that determines success, but rather dogged honesty. The MSM is dying because it deserves to and only those with the right kind of pigheadedness (like Andrew Breitbart) are going to survive in a world where the truth of your words can be validated or debunked very, very quickly. Everyone can be self-made in the blogoshphere, but you gotta be able to withstand the scrutiny.
Having grown up in a small weekly newspaper business in a small town, I was taught some very simple rules of reporting news. Who? What? When? and Where? To deviate from that was considered a cardinal. There are very few real news reporters today and the business has changed to a bunch of opinion writers.
bet that was a revelation…
And know the feeling. The experience we have had with the current crop has been elucidating; for every winner we see an even mix of clueless drones/whiny losers. Amongst other things we speculate in consumer goods and the air of entitlement seen from people who have created nothing and done little other than amuse themselves is breathtaking.
As Bart Simpson once famously said, after viewing dozens of out of contol young teens at an arcade:
'Looks like it'll take another Vietnam to thin out their ranks'…
Lessee- Ernie Pyle. Mark Twain. H. L. Mencken. Sinclair Lewis. Stephen Crane. Nellie Bly.
Nope, not a J-degree in sight.
Sadly enough, the rest of the story, when the tech market crashed in 2000, the man I mentioned was heavily invested in it. Along with being my financial man, he was an investment banker, at a private firm, that was rather "well connected". He lost a great deal of his money, his family's money, his firms money, and my money. In 2001, he held on as long as he could, while still trying to maintain "living large" and putting on the North Dallas front.
He went out for the Sunday paper one Sunday and never came home. He was missing for a week. He had pulled his Suburban into a Dallas parking garage, crawled into the back seat, and blew his brains out.
Money isn't everything in life.
I still have the note he left for me, folded up in my wallet.
now THAT's a story…
No wonder you're squared away. It's a shame to have to get those type of life's lessons but in the very narrow view rather he than me- but still, the desires societ inculcates into our young and this poor bastard couldn't keep up.
Sad. So sad…
Why do they even like to be called “Journalists” anyway? Doesn’t “Reporter” sound cooler, tougher?
Speaking as merely a consumer disgusted with the media in general… "reporter" at least connotes some credibility. The person is there to report the facts. "Journalist," on the other hand, gives me the feeling that the facts are secondary, and that the narrative comes first. A journal is like a diary, after all, and journalists are like teenage girls writing in their diaries about their hopes and dreams.
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Ouch.
As an Ernie Pyle Scholar at Indiana University, I am happy to say that no one in the J-school has attempted to indoctrinate me– yet. I'm only in my second semester, after all. I'm in the "accelerated" track by being an EP Scholar and therefore a direct admit (so I don't think I can speak for every journalism student here), but in my experience we are primarily taught writing and information-gathering techniques, and ethics is always an underlying theme. It is also a requirement before we graduate that we all take a 400-level class on ethics.
Maybe IU is a bright oasis in a sea of elitism, but I'm being taught the values that I have always applied to journalism: objectivity, fairness, and accuracy. They make sure we understand that we will be temporary stewards to the institution, and to keep our feet on the ground.
As far as "journalist" versus "reporter," I think that has more to do with the changing industry than anything else. Media has become highly competitive, and every new journalist needs a diverse set of skills if he expects to survive. "Reporter" has become a narrowly defined title, while "journalist" implies that one can do more than just write things down (Personally, I like "reporter" better, anyway).
I'm glad you seem to be excited about your education and looking forward to apply your trade. My guess is that many in the MSM were just as excited when in your shoes.
As an outsider that is only able read the end product of those that have come before you, something has caused most of them to loose the objectivity, fairness, and accuracy that you say is being taught to you as a foundation. You are an intelligent person, you obviously watch TV news and read newspapers, what is your opinion? What has made so many want to view the world through such a utopian, socialist prism? Why can't the events of the world be reported in an objective, fair, and accurate way? Why are politicians not asked the hard questions and then not allow them to filibuster and dance around an answer? Is it the bosses at the news organizations? I don't know. I hope you are different. Good luck on your education and career.
Just like the actors who spend years getting their Master’s Degree in Theatre Arts and come to Hollywood to secure that great bartending job, J-school graduates enter the job market with enormous debt and high expectations. If they do get an entry-level position, I suspect they learn more about the actual business of journalism in their first month on the job than they did in their four years at college.
Absolutely true, from first-hand experience.
Right. In high school English class (circa 1963) we were taught about something called a "pyramidal" news story. Who, why, what, when and where. It was a sort of template for writing a straight news report without injecting your own stupid opinions or politics.
That took all of a half hour… we needed no more than that to get the idea. My friend who joined the school newspaper produced perfectly written stories that would put a Dan Rather to shame.
All the J-schools turn out now is propagandists. ex: Coric, Williams, Blather, Matthews, Oberdork, Cooper, etc, etc, etc.
As an old school, J-school graduate, it was exceedingly difficult being a conservative in a liberal world. I fought many battles during the Reagan years, but I was just one person. I warned them that everything was slanting to the left. I warned that too many of them yearned for the editorial pages. We are reaping what I saw in the eighties. I won't mourn them.
Journalism is dead. Long live journalism!
A journalism degree is just a sign that says you have mastered being told what to think and accepting which opinions are correct.
The perseverance of America's most beloved investigative reporter, Stu Pidass is what got the scoop on not the birth, but the CONCEPTION of President Barack Obama – EXCLUSIVELY at SPN Headlines:
http://stupidassnews.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/wit...
Keep smiling!
They don't need no stinkin degrees.
John Belushi's sweatshirt that says merely "COLLEGE" comes to mind. Many kids pay big money at a college to study a foreign language. It would be cheaper to move to that country and get support get some kind of job there. You could interact with the locals and learn the language for free.
I have a sheepskin from a j-school. I got one before it became a a communication school. I actually took some writing courses before joining in the electronic TV production No career path.
I took a basic news writing and reporting course and found an aging newspaperman as a print media mentor.
Besides learning how to build a news story I was indoctrinated in the holy tenants of writer objectivity, getting solid quotes or facts backed up by 2 sources. Finally I submitted my work to a story desk editor for approval. When my story landed on the copy editors desk it was checked for conformity to the AP style book, sliced and diced to the point I could not recognize it . It was hammered into me that my personal feelings were to be kept out of my writing and if I had an opinion it was only fair to let the reader know my story was a feature article or an editorial.
After graduating I couldn't get a job (they didn't tell me I had to have a friend in the business) so I went to the Dean of placements and complained that I didn't have enough training for the jobs I was seeking and the Dean replied
"we only educate students and not train them". That was back in 1976.
Many great reporters have no formal training in journalism. Reputable and respected journalist have enough integrity
and values to be honest with their reader base and differentiate between fact and opinion and checking their list like Santa twice on the facts.
I think those without formal training or an "education" can be fine writers of blogs. Those who wright blogs can claim the
distinction of being a professional and treat their readers like clients instead of customers.
I think those who discount the "sheepskin" (journalism education) might be jealous and wish they could have some fun
going to college because I had a great time and I worked my ass off on a 4 day newspaper.
You don't need a journalism degree to write well. You need to be honest with yourself and your readers. Have fun!
With some notable exceptions i.e. medicine and engineering, there are any number of jobs that seem to require a degree for no good reason other than what the author stated. "Validating the boss' wasted years". I wonder how many people are like me, worked on a degree over the years just to get a ticket punched for advancement only to find that after some writing centric classes, everything else was a waste of time. As I tell college "elitists" who talk about their experiences as if they peaked at age 22, experience trumps everything in my book and a college degree is nothing more than a minimum requirement.
Most people with degrees in Journalism work in public relations. I suppose that with the decline in newspaper jobs, more ex-reporters will seek PR jobs.
So true…I majored in Communication Arts with an emphasis in journalism at a small, Christian, liberal arts school in SE Tenn, but I was hired (for the job I've held for the past four years editing and managing an online magazine for pastors) based on the strength of my portfolio as editor of said college's student newspaper (i.e., "real world" experience) rather than for my degree.
I tell college & high school students who are interested in journalism these days to spend less time learning "journalism" and more time learning about everything else. The key to good journalism is being conversant in every discipline–this gives you a point of connection to get the best stories and grasp enough of the lingo of any given topic to write an informative and credible piece. If you go to college to learn how to think and happen to major in journalism, you'll probably do fine. If you go to college to learn how to "do" journalism, I'd like fries with that.
Lamentation over the decline of "journalism" makes for fine rhetoric, it has become a self-swilling proflgate disgrace as an occupation. That summary and assessment can be extended beyond so-called "J" schools. One thing Obama recognizes is the need to dumb down society, a lesson he learned from Carter and the creation of the Department of Education. What a sham and shame, a testament to the hideousness of Carter and this administration.
I suppose it can be argued that any education or advanced learning is better than less but not universally applied. Having been an instructor for some years it became a wonderment to me just how some of the students who showed up in college got there. Now, with Obama and the departments of Saturation Socialism, what had been high school level of learning in the 60s and previously is now showing up in upper division college amusement programs aka curriculum.
Rather never got too far from his Huntsville, TX roots; witness the recent watermelon crack. Journalists often lack two things: knowledge of history and command of the language. Frank Rich proved he didn't know the events of Kristallnacht and didn't see a Reichstag event in any number of Obama's actions. Let them keep making fools of themselves. And let's have fun pointing out their mistakes.
Far be it that I should ever come to the defense of Gunga Dan, I have despised him since the 60s when he showed up wearing safari gear in Vietnam. But… that comment about water melons in SE Texas had NOTHING to do with racism or the allusion to water melons as a racial stereotype. If you don't know about truck farmers and produce in the deep south, particulary around Houston/Galveston area, you won't understand where he was coming from.
Unimpeacable pomposity is what has sullied, for my interest, all of them. I turned the TV off after Waco and only wish I had some software device that could eliminate network porn from the internet. Unwittingly stumbling upon something from CBS is always anger provoking to me. Scourge as Krugman, Rich, Marlene Dodd (aka Dowd) and those nasty WaPo things besmirch the internet experience.
A bachelors degree is as useful as a good word processor. It's what is being processed that counts. Truth can be expressed in the simplest of terms. It's when some one with an agenda attempts to report , that the language becomes contorted. It is no wonder then that more media elite have law degrees. Imagine how dangerous "Baghdad" Bob Gibbs would be, had he a law degree…
Good thinking. Most degrees except for those in the hard sciences and math and phsyics are like that. While I was earning a doctorate I was astounded at the group-think I found among my associates.
Excellent post, SQT. As an old J-school graduate (1972) I can relate with much of what you say. I can confirm that objectivity was stressed and even recall the late Jim Vinson (editor for the local CBS TV affiliate news station) showing the class copy that he had corrected because it reeked of bias by the newswriter. I think everything started to change after Viet Nam and reporters permanently attached themselves to everything liberal. Too bad, because at one time it was a trusted and objective source of information. Now the MSM has become nothing more than the propaganda wing of the DNC. By the way, the best writing advice I ever got in college came from a lecture by Ray Bradbury who said if you want to learn how to write…just start writing. Truer words never spoken.
There are plenty of people in the hard sciences who drink the Kool-Aid, though. Notable examples can be found in climate science. You think they'd know better than to make data try to fit ideology.
One needs to go to school to study how to be a 5th Columnist? I thought Obama took care of that automatically.
A journalist is what remains of a reporter after you've removed all compunction to rely on actual facts.
"Who Really Needs a Journalism Degree?"
Not since the web came along. We can slant things, distort things and outright lie, with no consequences. That is what is wrong with the web. Anyone with an internet connection becomes an expert. Only requirement? Sixth grade education!
If one can write one can be a journalist.
Reporting is more of a challenge and is no longer practiced.
Nobody needs a degree to be a journalist.
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