I hate it when professors discuss the “disservice” they might be doing their students by training them for a career in journalism. To me this banter just seems disloyal and short sighted.
Perhaps this is because I don’t “buy” a lot of the “gloom and doom” circulation in, ironically, the press about the death of newspapers. Apparently those wishing to study journalism don’t either.
A story I read recently confirmed my thoughts on the subject by reporting that the fundamentals of journalism are still attractive to those choosing a college major.
Graduate j-school programs still are seeing an increase in enrollment. This is because of students’ interest in the rush of deadline, sense of accomplishment surrounding a well-delivered story and the belief that they’ll help shape the changing journalism industry, according to an LA Times story, “As newspapers decline, journalism schools thrive.”
Is it possible that these students know something that many journalism profs are just too pessimistic to admit?
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