More Questions than Answers in J-School

      Go figure. J-school enrollment is up despite the shrinking of traditional journalism jobs in newspapers and television.

       I keep in touch with a number of Hawaii students in journalism schools on the continent. Several are taking marketing classes--just in case. But they're sticking with their major despite the scary headlines.

        They aren't sure what the journalism of the future will be, but they want to be part of it. Somehow they intend to fill in the blanks. Somehow they expect to find a new media business model that works.

       It's inconceivable, they say, for a participatory democracy not to have a vigorous "press" (the term lives on, even though printing presses are an endangered species.)

       Journalism professors frame the questions but can't provide the answers.

       One thing today's J-students are clear about is this: they need to get comfortable working on multiple platforms.

      Want to be a print reporter? Print purists are vanishing just as fast as newsprint. Still, writers will write. If you're just starting out, better know how to uplink your copy to the web. Better be ready to maintain a blog. And better make space in your purse or pockets for a palm-sized video camera and a Gumby-like tripod. 

      For most college students, the web part is easy. They're digital natives. But figuring out how to make a living in a world in which journalism's institutions are melting down is going to be some education.

Comments

[Damon]

Two years before I graduated from UHM, they were trying to close down the journalism curriculum and make it all "Communication".

I'm glad I could never write worth a bean.