journalism at university??

Essentially, I’d always assumed I would study psychology at Uni (I liked it and it seemed interesting) and then I went to an open day at City, university of london and went to their journalism & politics lecture. I realised I might be interested in studying it, but I don’t have/haven’t done much extra things that correlate with it. For example, the lady at the open day said past students had ran blogs, interacted with professionals. So I’m wondering what are my chance of being accepted with nothing much to my personal statement?

Also, I’m also wondering what are the chances of getting a good job after uni with this degree?

Reply 1

Trinculo

I am by no means an expert, but to me journalism degrees have always been questionable, and we are now in the age where professional journalism is on life support as a career.

If you look at the most well-known journalists in the country over the last 50 years - I'm pretty sure you will find that almost none of them read Journalism, and most read some form of core humanities or languages at University. The age of the local newspaper is dead. The age of the national newspaper is pretty much dead. Nobody buys newspapers anymore, and newspapers haven't ever worked out how to monetize their online content. Broadcast journalism is all that is effectively left in the "profession", and trust in media has never ever been lower. Essentially, nowadays if you run a blog or a youtube channel and call it news - you're a journalist. You don't need a degree in journalism. The new media sites have largely been a flash in the pan. Buzzfeed, Vox and Vice are all dead or dying with their reputations destroyed. I can't help feeling that a university experience in something else, and spending your time there being open to ideas and meeting people would give you the best start and then you do your own thing and try to get taken on once you have an audience. I feel journalism is far more about who you know, and knowing where to be, than having what would essentially be three years of A level Media Studies.

Reply 2

ageshallnot

^ This.

Study a subject which you like and would help in a "journalistic" career eg politics, IR, science, languages...

Reply 3

MJ1148

Original post by Trinculo

I am by no means an expert, but to me journalism degrees have always been questionable, and we are now in the age where professional journalism is on life support as a career.
If you look at the most well-known journalists in the country over the last 50 years - I'm pretty sure you will find that almost none of them read Journalism, and most read some form of core humanities or languages at University. The age of the local newspaper is dead. The age of the national newspaper is pretty much dead. Nobody buys newspapers anymore, and newspapers haven't ever worked out how to monetize their online content. Broadcast journalism is all that is effectively left in the "profession", and trust in media has never ever been lower. Essentially, nowadays if you run a blog or a youtube channel and call it news - you're a journalist. You don't need a degree in journalism. The new media sites have largely been a flash in the pan. Buzzfeed, Vox and Vice are all dead or dying with their reputations destroyed. I can't help feeling that a university experience in something else, and spending your time there being open to ideas and meeting people would give you the best start and then you do your own thing and try to get taken on once you have an audience. I feel journalism is far more about who you know, and knowing where to be, than having what would essentially be three years of A level Media Studies.

I agree with a lot of what you've said - journalism has low pay prospects, low job security, is extremely competitive and the industry generally has a lot of problems such as the ones you have outlined, which are only getting worse. However, I'm not sure whether the solution is that people simply should accept defeat and give up on journalism altogether. Surely, the next generation is responsible for trying to improve things, which really is crucial given that journalism is a vital profession in any healthy democracy and given the rise of threats such as AI and disinformation.

Moreover, times have changed since the most well-known journalists in the country over the last 50 years started their careers. Back then, it really was the case that you could break into the industry by making coffee for people in the BBC newsroom. Nowadays, any broadcaster or publication is unlikely to give your application a second glance unless you have a master's degree in journalism or an NCTJ diploma alongside a tonne of experience (NB it is indeed much better to have a background in an academic subject first and then go onto study journalism at postgrad). To be honest, the job market is tough out there and this is now the case for many professions.

I also feel that people are waking up to the unrepresentative nature of the industry, and defeatist attitudes will do nothing to help the fact that most people who get the top jobs in journalism are from upper-middle class backgrounds, already have contacts in media and can afford to do unpaid work experience. I'm not from this background myself, and in my mind studying journalism will allow me to access opportunities that I otherwise would not have been able to, particularly since these courses are designed to allow students to network and gain contacts. Wanting to become a journalist, similar to wanting to become an actor or an artist, has always been an unachievable dream for many, but we still need people who are passionate enough to at least try to get their foot in the door, otherwise we will miss out on a lot of talent.

At the end of the day, it's better to study something you love than to study something that you don't really enjoy because it's "easier" or less risky - people forget that "you can fail at what you don't want" too (Jim Carrey). I believe education has a value in and of itself and even if I ultimately don't end up with a long-term career in journalism, at least I will have a qualification in something that I've pretty much always wanted to study and no one can take those experiences away from me. Also, it can only help with landing a job in similar sectors such as comms, copywriting and PR, which many journalists ultimately decide to go into. The prospect of getting into crippling debt is a serious consideration though and not something that people should take lightly.