It is counterintuitive. When industries downsize its usually not good news for new graduates hoping to launch a career.


In the past few weeks Newsweek announced it was laying off more than 100 employees; CBS just axed 160 in 13 cities; and the remaining reporters--post layoffs--- at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis received a memo saying management was building a "standup TV studio" and that,

" some of you will be tapped to produce content for Strib TV...if you think you have a voice or a presence on camera, here's your chance to shine."

But for journalism students the news of the ever shrinking newsroom may actually be good news.

"The medium is the message."

Today the message is that the tools of a journalist's trade are changing and to succeed you have expand your skill set. It's not enough to know your way around a reporter's notebook.

Having great writing, investigative reporting skills,and even looking fabulous behind an anchor desk is not enough.

While this may be obvious to any observer of the news, it seems to be taking traditional journalists by surprise.

Not so for journalism students. Lynda Kraxberger is an Associate Professor for Convergence Journalism at the University of Missou. She says students are savvy and upbeat about the changes taking place.

"We certainly see in ads that there are numerous positions being advertised for jobs [described as] online editor, online producer, multimedia reporter, online reporter, or blogger. Students see the opportunities to produce news content aren'tt going away but the way those jobs are framed are changing."

Amy Rymer is one of those students. At 27, she is finishing up her classwork for a masters in photojournalism at the University of Missouri. Prior to starting grad school, Rymer earned a business degree, worked as an intern for the foreign service, and put in time working for a non-profit.

" I did come here to become a newspaper photographer. I didn't consider whether its a bad time to be a photo journalist," explained Rymer. " I think its the idea that you are so passionate about what you are doing, that you are so certain this is what you want to be doing that you make sure that you get the skills to be marketable."

For Rymer, that means gaining skills in multimedia storytelling because it is not enough to be able to shoot beautiful photographs.

Click on Photo to view Amy's work.

As I was thinking about this topic, I asked Amy Gahran, who blogs at Contentious.com and is also an editor for journalism-centric Poynter's E-Media Tidbits blog,
to share her thoughts about the future of careers in journalism. Her headline says its all: Journalism Remains a Smart Career, Despite Shrinking Newsrooms.

That positive headline doesn't stop Gahran from admonishing J-schools that are not properly preparing students to gain skills to become "entrepreneurial journalists." Her experience with journalism students is very different from what I heard from the folks at the University of Missouri.

I get asked to speak to journalism students a lot, and it’s stunning. Most of them actually seem to believe that their career path will lead them to writing big investigative or literary features for major magazines or newspapers. They believe good journalism = Pulitzer. They’re actually BEHIND many other people their age in terms of how they use and view online and mobile media.

I’m not sure why that is — whether most journalism students are close-minded before the come to j-school, or whether j-school does that to them. But I see it so much that I can’t ignore it. Of course, I could just be getting fooled by how disengaged most of them act in class when I’m speaking, so maybe I’m just a bad speaker for that audience. But my gut tells me no, that most of them really believe we’re in the Lou Grant era, even though they’re not old enough to remember that show.

Mindy McAdams who blogs at teaching online journalism agrees with Gahran that J-Schools need to change their curriculum.

I’m in favor of teaching digital reporting skills (audio, photo, video — and don’t forget databases!) to every journalism student — in the core courses. On the other hand, I would never insist that every journalist learn how to write JavaScript or how to animate in Flash. There’s a world of learning options in between those two poles.

Why shouldn’t journalism students learn basic HTML and CSS? Why not learn how to optimize photos for online? (While they’re at it, they ought to learn Photoshop ethics too.) These are hardly rocket science, and a little knowledge in this vein can go a long way in a pinch — on deadline, or late at night when news breaks, or on the road. It’s not as if a journalist will always have a full support staff available — a full complement of programmers, designers, and trouble-shooters ready to step in and fix things.

Evan Groll is another University of Missouri J-School student who is optimistic about his future. "There are plenty of jobs," said Groll. Instead of focusing his study on traditional journalism, Groll opted for the school's convergence sequence. He says the skill set for a convergent journalist includes being able to read code and create interactive graphics.

Groll graduates in June and hasn't started his job search. As for his salary requirements he says,"somewhere between the starting salary for a janitor and $40,000."

The tools may be changing in journalism but the pay scale is pitifully the same. To get an idea of possible jobs, check out JournalismJobs.com.

Elana blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness