Studying Journalism

AxlRose1992

How difficult is it to find work with a journalism degree? I would like to do it, but if it's very risky, I might find something safer.

XPS

Now there is a loaded question if there ever was on. To be honest if journalism is the area you want to enter then it doesn't really matter what your degree is - it will be all about experience and your ability to write newsworthy material in a logical, impartial and informative way.

To get that kind of experience you need to write for your local town paper and write for the college paper. Getting your foot in the door can be quite hard, you need to be ballsy. You have to be confident enough to pitch your ideas to an Editor who has 100s of wannabe journalists pitching stories to him every day - and often by the way you won't be pitching to the News Editor it will be newsroom manager or coordinator who probably has never written for the paper and will decide whether its worthy of bothering the editor with - these people are there to vet and filter out the randomers and most of them are ruthless - they have to be.

The degree in DCU is well respected, some in the industry believed it was watered down when it became a three year degree, but in retrospect I think that's more to do with the fact that they don't believe anything is a degree until you do four years and pay tuition fees. What editors want is someone who is reliable, can write, won't get them in trouble and can come up with their own stories whilst writing the one's they are given - and most importantly can tow the paper's editorial line. If you can do all of these confidently it doesn't matter what type of degree you have - often the more specialised you are the better chances you have of being hired.

For instance the most succesful journalists I know have degrees in:

• Psychology
• Law
• Social Science
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Literature
• Childhood Development and Education Studies

To name but a few. That is not to say degrees in journalism are not valid, you will gain a lot of essential skills and understandings that are vital to surviving in a newsroom, but be under no illusion most people who do degrees in journalism don't end up in journalism for various reasons.

In the current climate it is difficult for anyone, with any type of degree to get a job, in journalism paper's aren't really hiring full-time staff, they will hire freelance the odd time, but radio and TV seem to be taking on the odd person - but all those who I know who have been recently hired (The Mirror, Newstalk, TV3, RTE, Independent, and a few regionals) had strong personalities, are very confident and had excellent portfolios built up with their heavy participation in college media, and some freelance stuff.

LongLiveQ&A

I'm going into my final year of the undergraduate journalism course this September.

Firstly, XPS, gave you a pretty good run down of the situation. I wouldn't agree with absolutely everything, but I'm in broad agreement.

Secondly, this might sound absolutely crazy, but it's a bad idea to decide on your course based on the job prospects you'll have once qualified. I went to study architecture in Queens in Belfast for two years and I was miserable in the course. One of the main reasons for doing it at the time was the money. I dropped out of that and thought to myself 'fu*k it, I couldn't care less about money, I want to do something I'll be happy at'.
And that was it, I never looked back.

It is more than true that the majority of journalism graduates from the courses in DCU, DIT and UL will never work as journalists. A handful with become journalists, some more will go into PR and the rest will filter off into semi and completely unrelated fields. That might scare you, but, the numbers that don't become journalists has more to do with them being completely unsuited for the course in the first place. All that happens is that they stick with it to get a degree and then it skews the numbers at the end.
The point is, if you want to work in journalism then you'll more than likely succeed and bag a job at some stage after graduation. The prospect of getting a job in journalism is really based on how much you want it.

If you do accept your offer then I would say get involved in anything media-related that you can in college. There's a newspaper, a radio station, a TV company and then there's plenty of other societies and clubs as well. I got a job in a radio station before I went into third year and that was because of two things. First, the contacts and friends that I made, most of them through the paper and radio station. Second, the skills I learned through DCUfm. The software we use for playout is the same as Today FM/Newstalk, most of the Dublin regional station and loads of other regional/local stations.

So, the other point that would come from that is get yourself connected. Build up a contacts list. Contacts are the lifeblood of any journalism (print, radio, TV or online). Get talking to people, make sure they remember you, don't be afraid to sell yourself. You can organise to go to things like Frontline in RTÉ, or visit Newspaper and Radio newsrooms.

From the word go, try to get your copy (stories) into both national and regional newspapers. You might not succeed straight away, but keep at it, it pays off in the end. If you go into print, you may have to become a freelance. Keep you eye out for stories at all times, it's a habit you'll easily fall into after a couple of months.

Journalism is not just print news. Far from it, you have the other media of TV and radio and now online as well. There is also a world of other jobs you can branch off into with your qualification.

The last point I'll make is that if I am ever in the position to hire someone as a news reporter, in any medium, I will be looking for someone with a journalism degree and expertise in an area or a well-rounded knowledge. The argument always seems to be put forward that people who did an undergrad in a completely unrelated subject and then did a journalism masters are much better reporters. I couldn't disagree more. The masters in journalism is just the degree course crammed into a year. It doesn't work, they might get a broad outline of the world of journalism, but they are incredibly rough around the edges when they come out of college. It takes at least two years to properly hone your writings skills and as for their technical skills, well, they're non-existent.

There are major problems with how the undergraduate degree is run as well, don't get me wrong. But at least you have the time. You will get out of it what you put in, as I have said. After three years, if you have done a lot of what I talked about above, then you will be able to fit seamlessly into a newsroom. You'll need very little training.

It basically boils down to if you really want to do it or not. If you do then go in all guns blazing, if you don't then don't accept the offer, I'm sure someone else would love to get offered it in the next round. I hope that was some help. Let us know if you accept the offer

XPS

+ what he said

AxlRose1992

Thanks for the responses, greatly appreciate the points of view.

I was offered a Marketing course, but I also was offered a Journalism PLC course interview, which after 1 year I could possibly do Journalism in DCU. Also, I'm going away tomorrow for a week, so I gotta decide what to do by tonight!

jdivision

I'd agree with almost all of the comments above except about the three year degree

The quality of graduates has declined in my experience, their expectations are way out of line with the reality of what they'll be doing and their newswriting skills are poor. I would blame that on the three-year degree.

LongLiveQ&A

AxlRose1992 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses, greatly appreciate the points of view.

I was offered a Marketing course, but I also was offered a Journalism PLC course interview, which after 1 year I could possibly do Journalism in DCU. Also, I'm going away tomorrow for a week, so I gotta decide what to do by tonight!

This is gonna sound really prissy, but follow your heart. It's the best advice I can give. It took me four years to finally get into the right course and I don't regret it at all. If it's something you want to do, do it. You'll only regret it when you're in the wrong degree course. I wish you the best of luck whetever you choose

LongLiveQ&A

jdivision wrote: »

I'd agree with almost all of the comments above except about the three year degree

The quality of graduates has declined in my experience, their expectations are way out of line with the reality of what they'll be doing and their newswriting skills are poor. I would blame that on the three-year degree.

I'd agree, what I was saying is that most of the graduates aren't suited for journalism, there are only about five each year. You can't teach someone who isn't interested. The problem is that some of them think they can be journalists even though there isn't a hope in hell of them ever getting a job.

I am in the three year degree. I wasn't around when the four year degree was here, but I don't think the number of years is what made the course worse. I think the degree can easily be done well in three years. The problem, as far as I see it, is that the wrong modules were chopped out when the course was shortened. They left in all the pointless and annoying filler modules becuase they're shared with other courses and so cost less than the specific ones that the journalism course actually needs.

As bad as it is, though, I'd say you still come out with a good head on your shoulders for journalism once you immerse yourself in all the media you can and get every bit of experience going. It's the only way I can see to succeed.

lolgeela

hey ,im starting arts now in september but was hoping to do journalism in dcu but didnt get the points.its great to hear that you dont need a degree in journalism to become successful.but was just wondering if you can get into the dcu course another way?

Noodleworm

lolgeela wrote: »

hey ,im starting arts now in september but was hoping to do journalism in dcu but didnt get the points.its great to hear that you dont need a degree in journalism to become successful.but was just wondering if you can get into the dcu course another way?

yeah, its all in the prospectus.
Either through certain PLC courses, you you can apply to transfer if you have a level 6/7 in something similar.
go here and check the "how to apply section"