As a recent college graduate, already the veteran of a former public radio station (RIP WMUB 88.5) and a public radio intern at WCPN ideastream®, one thing has become very clear to me: I’m insane for choosing to pursue a career in journalism.
People have told me so, literally, and on multiple occasions. Here’s why.
This past spring, Miami University held a forum on the future of journalism. The take away message from all panelists with the lone exception of NPR Midwest Bureau Chief Ken Barcus was that journalism is morphing into a pro-am (professional – amateur) model where hard working reporters are disposable. Twitter is the new talent, they said, and editors to sift through information are all the media needs to pay for.
Examples brought up were the India hostage crisis, where the public was notified of events in real time via Twitter. Or take a U.S. example; the last presidential election. CNN had people calling in nationwide on Election Day, reporting about what they were seeing. More recently, the protests in Iran again proved the significance of the Internet. With professional journalists banned, the world got its information primarily through Twitter and YouTube. Undoubtedly, the images of young Iranians like Neda, a woman’s whose death the world witnessed through their computer screens, were indispensable in informing the public. These “tweeters” weren’t journalists, but they reported as such, and they did it for free.
This last bit is what scares the professional and aspiring journalists of today the most. Why would anyone pay us to do what others are willing to do for free? Combined with an economic crisis that has almost everyone on hiring lock-down and a field that’s pretty tough to break into under normal circumstances, it’s no wonder many of my fellow journalism students have opted for public relations jobs, or to leave the industry all together.
After what you just read, you may very well agree that aspiring journalists are crazy. But one popular definition of insanity is attempting to get different results from the same action. So perhaps a take away here is that although we may be wary of this pro-am model of journalism, all the media personal who have been let go over the past several months and the media outlets that have shut their doors are a clear indication that the same old journalism isn’t working. Maybe it’s time to try something different, and journalists just starting out are the ones who need to be open to change. We should embrace social media; it’s our ally, not our enemy. Websites like Twitter can be a great way to find sources, get story ideas, and spread the word about what you’re doing.
Journalist and screenwriter Bruce Feirstein once said, “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.” In the end, it’s up to the journalists of tomorrow to prove their insanity, or genius. I prefer the latter, and if I have to tweet to get there, so be it.