It’s graduation season and journalism schools across the country are spitting out classes of elated and exhausted journalists into the big bad media market. At ceremonies from UC Irvine to NYU, commencement speakers—most of whom rose up through very different worlds than that which exists today—are calming the next generation’s fears and stoking their fires. There was Wolf Blitzer at Penn State, Tom Brokaw at the University of Montana, Bill Moyers at Whittier College (“I’m not sure anyone from my generation has anything to say to your generation except, ‘We’re sorry.’”), to name just a few bigwigs. The gist of most speeches: it’s tough out there, and you have to be tougher—seize the moment, get out from behind your desk, make it happen for yourself.
NPR science guy Robert Krulwich took this scare-and-comfort approach at Berkeley. The job market is scary, he acknowledged with an historical comparison— “It took 10 years for those Greeks to figure a way into Troy”—but journalists today have to create their own opportunities. “You can’t trust big companies to keep you safe,” he told those licking their Conde Nast-addressed envelopes. This isn’t 1950. You have to start blogging, or producing videos, work for pennies, build up a brand, and then the rewards will come. Develop a body of work, says Krulwich, and “maybe that’s your way into Troy.”
Is he right?
Today we’re asking you to assume control of a j-school graduation ceremony, tailoring the event and its theme to these dynamic times. First, who would be your ideal speaker? And second, assuming they’re not taking your calls, what would you stand up and say to those fearful faces of tomorrow’s journalism? What is it that you think journalism school graduates need to hear right now? Let us know below.
7 words of wisdom from Steve Martin: Be so good they can't ignore you.
#1 Posted by Dave Martin, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 01:18 PM
Never be afraid to ask for help or advice from your editors, or anyone in the business who has more experience than you do. If you don't have a journalism job: keep writing anyway. If you do have a journalism job: don't take angry online comments personally, and accept corrections humbly. It's always better to get it right than to seem like a person who is always right.
#2 Posted by Lauren Kirchner, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 01:21 PM
Despite what you may have heard, the world does not end at South Ferry.
#3 Posted by Joel Meares, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 01:24 PM
Internships are great, but regardless of your financial situation you can't be content with that experience. You need to seek out the stability (and respect) that comes from paid work. If you don't think you're worthy of that then the people doing the hiring won't, either.
#4 Posted by Michael Meyer, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 01:29 PM
Specialize. Pick a subject area and know the hell out of it. The fragmented media industry values expertise as much as good storytelling; they are equally important.
#5 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 02:17 PM
I am coming up with sad, bad advice like, “There’s no I in internship.” So I’m going to second Curtis’s sensible “Know the hell out of a subject.” And then add: “And try to know what you don’t know.” By which I mean, I guess, keep learning. There’s always more.
Also: if you don’t have any friends who aren’t journalists/aspiring journalists, make some.
#6 Posted by Liz Cox Barrett, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 03:33 PM
Be humble. Recognise that, to the nearest approximation, you know nothing. Take criticism on the chin, learn constantly, strive to be better. Read, widely and variedly, and absorb what good writers are doing. Support your colleagues (Krulwich's "horizontal loyalty" concept).
And most of all, pull your finger out. There are plenty of people doing what you want to do on their own terms, for the love of it, in the dark hours. You cannot compete with that by waiting for opportunity to come knocking. Play, experiment, just get on with it.
#7 Posted by Ed Yong, CJR on Tue 17 May 2011 at 05:04 PM
1) Always tell the truth.
2) Ignore other 'advice' and 'rules'.
#8 Posted by Ali Gharib, CJR on Wed 18 May 2011 at 11:30 AM
It's only been a year for me, but here goes:
It's perfectly okay to go to a small market. I noticed that editors of larger pubs keep an eye on the small teams.
A lot of J-schoolers start out in one job for a year and move up.. a looot of them.(That's not really advice, but hopefully it's encouraging.)
#9 Posted by Daniel Woolfolk, CJR on Wed 18 May 2011 at 11:44 AM
1) DON'T expect to develop a style until
you've written a million words.
2) Deadlines are your FRIENDS.
3) The more you READ, the better you WRITE.
4) Even the same story is never written the
same way twice.
5) SEE with your heart & your head, as well as
your eyes.
. . . just a J-school grad from St Bona's
#10 Posted by BJK, CJR on Fri 20 May 2011 at 04:52 PM
Travel, and always with a relevant book (or Kindle or Nook). In addition to reading the best long-form journalism you have time for, study a language other than English, and also become conversant in statistics and data analysis. Spend at least 20 minutes each day writing, even if you haven't yet landed a full time gig; you'll be amazed at how much you can produce.
#11 Posted by Justin Martin, CJR on Mon 23 May 2011 at 03:14 AM
best advice ever from Woody Allen in his commencement speech: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
#12 Posted by Mark A. Larson, CJR on Mon 23 May 2011 at 05:28 PM