Newsroom outlook not so bleak for job seekers

by: Rachel Bunn
edited by: Rebekah Baldwin

Journalism jobs may be changing, but despite reports about the decline of print media, students and career experts say it is not impossible to find jobs.


“I’ve heard some students say they’ve had a hard time finding a job, but not a lot,” said Marian Higgins, Grady Career Consultant at the University of Georgia Career Center.

The raw statistics alone seem discouraging. According to several recent studies, the number of journalism jobs is decreasing while the number of journalism graduates is on the rise.

In August, the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research released its annual survey of journalism graduates, showing a 10 percent decrease in job offers and interviews from the 2007 findings.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says jobs in journalism have declined over the past 20 years, with the sharpest declines coming in the past five.

From 2008 to 2009, enrollment at journalism schools across the country has increased about 30 percent, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Journalists and business experts are releasing new analyses of the future of the news industry on a regular basis. What is really happening to newsroom jobs?

Cecil Bentley, director of career services at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, says that although the Cox survey may be influenced by the recent downturn in the economy, it may be an indication of things to come.

“There will be a continuation in magazines, newspapers and other publications with seeing jobs disappear and change,” Bentley said. “I don’t see all jobs coming back [when the economy recovers].”

Students, although aware of the changes taking place, are not discouraged.

“I think all Grady professors are pushing the idea the newspaper isn’t going to last, but I still think they are going to be available,” said Mimi Ensley, a junior magazines major from Dalton, Ga.

Both Bentley and Ensley said that the newsroom is changing so quickly that 2011 graduates will be offered jobs that do not yet exist.

Bentley said that journalism schools are trying to keep curriculum current by offering classes in new media studies to give students an edge in the job market.

“Digital has changed how we do things,” said Bentley. “There’s still people doing work—they just have broader skill sets.”

Bentley says the buzzwords for journalists have been “multi-platform” or “multi-purpose” journalists, meaning, journalists should be editors, photographers and digital media experts as well as storytellers.

Judy A. Maxwell, editor at The Eatonton Messenger, said that she is looking for a reporter who will take an issue and pursue the story.

“I’d say accuracy, good listening—those would be the soft skill set. Computer savvyness, layout, photography would be part of the harder skill set,” said Maxwell, whose newspaper is launching a new magazine. “Accuracy is key, though.”

Higgins said that journalism students should be focused on transferable skill sets, giving them a greater variety of jobs they can apply for.

Does that mean students should abandon their journalism aspirations? Not necessarily.

“I would say start with an initial goal [such as] magazines, then look to newspapers, publishing companies, PR firms and other companies,” said Higgins.

Bentley says that students should be open to any opportunities that come their way.

Grady Career Consultant Marian Higgins lectures students about internship opportunities.

Newsrooms may change, but will never disappear

Newsrooms may change, but will never disappear

By: Rachel Bunn
Edited by: Becky Taylor

The newsroom is changing with the addition of new practices, and most believe although the newsroom will never be obsolete journalists will have to develop more skills.


Most newspapers are now using new technology, Web sites and social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to break news.

Traditional print media is being thrust into the 21st century, and the newsroom is changing the way it operates, one small step at a time.

“People are so impatient. They want the news and they want it right now, or 10 seconds ago,” said Al Summers, news editor at the Times-Courier, a weekly paper in Ellijay, Ga.

Summers said the integration of computers in the newsroom allows writers to generate more and better stories because they have access to more resources.

Writers now only have to type a single word into Google or another search engine to produce hundreds of Web sites containing millions of facts.

Pete McCommons, editor and publisher at Flagpole Magazine in Athens, Ga., disagrees with Summers.

He says computers are important and have aided in the general production of the paper, but do not have a significant impact on the development of news.

“Speed and ease of publication have increased. You still have to develop the idea,” said McCommons.

Computers are changing the types of jobs in newsrooms.

Emily Baldwin, former writer and editor for The Citizen Newspaper in Fayetteville, Ga., became the first web editor when The Citizen launched its Web site, www.thecitizennews.com, in 2005.

Although some jobs are being created, many traditional jobs are being let go. Baldwin was given the responsibilities of editor for the Life and Style section as well as being Web editor of The Citizen.

A recent Los Angeles Times article pointed to job reductions as the only way many papers are staying afloat.

As journalism students prepare to graduate in this changing environment, what lies ahead?

Marc McAfee, columnist for The Red and Black at the University of Georgia, believes students will no longer be defined to roles such as reporter, photographer or editor—journalists will have to be able to do everything.

“Everything is going into one narrow channel,” said McAfee.

Summers agrees that the more you are able to do, the better chance you have at getting a job.

“The more skills you have coming in, the more marketable you are,” he said.

With the rise of new media and “jack-of-all-trade” journalists, what will happen to newsrooms?

Baldwin believes that the community and the knowledge of peers is too valuable to abandon the newsroom. McCommons has a different take.

“It is entirely possible that publications will resort to the model of using mostly freelance writers, as Flagpole does now, but with those writers submitting their copy to an editor before it is published online,” said McCommons.

Summers and McAfee agree that publications need a cohesiveness that cannot be found without editors and newsrooms’ existence.

“Editors are still important,” said Summers.

The future of newspapers is less clear. Will they disappear in the physical form? Summers does not think so.

Summers believes that for local news, people will always want something they can hold or display.

Baldwin does not agree that physical papers will continue into the future, but believes that change will come gradually.

“It’s a slow evolution for papers.”

She says the baby boom generation still desire to have a physical newspaper, but dependence and love of the Internet by the younger generation will eventually drive papers out of print.

“You have to try to capture the next generation of people, what they want. At the end of the day, it’s a business.”