Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Journalism in Ireland - is it really that difficult to break into?

2»

Comments

  • #32
    Kovu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,241 ✭✭✭✭Kovu


    Mr.S wrote: »
    To be fair, a 2 year long PLC in journalism wouldn't get you that far!

    The one (PLC course) in Ballyfermot allows you to progress into second year in DIT, which is a Lvl 8 Honours degree if you finish it out.


  • #33
    Zimmey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 96 ✭✭Zimmey


    Childhood friend of mine whose father was a school caretaker and mother was a sometime school secretary (both alcoholics) did very well as a journalist in Ireland and is now a subeditor at a respected broadsheet in the UK. I know subediting isn't journalist but her position would be still be a sought after one. She's a very self-assured, determined individual, always was. And she'd be talented too in fairness.


  • #34
    DanielODonnell
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 652 ✭✭✭DanielODonnell


    Journalists can't be taken seriously as most of them can't even get the names of countries right, it is all America this and Britain that with a bit of Ulster thrown in at the side.
    All journalists are anti SNP and Sinn Fein.

    Many of them use wikipedia for their research as I noticed when one made a mistake that the exact same mistake was present on wikipedia


  • #35
    Halloween Jack
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,658 ✭✭✭Halloween Jack


    DanielODonnell wrote: »
    Journalists can't be taken seriously as most of them can't even get the names of countries right, it is all America this and Britain that with a bit of Ulster thrown in at the side.
    All journalists are anti SNP and Sinn Fein

    I assume you're a journalist then, seeing as you've got the names of both the countries you mentioned wrong...


  • #36
    DanielODonnell
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 652 ✭✭✭DanielODonnell


    Halloween Jack wrote: »
    I assume you're a journalist then, seeing as you've got the names of both the countries you mentioned wrong...

    I do not understand your comment, I used the names America, etc to show how the journalists get it wrong.


  • Advertisement
  • #37
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,029 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Neil Issagum wrote: »
    RTE?

    I love your user name :D


  • #38
    yabbav
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 247 ✭✭yabbav


    It is very hard to break into especially if you are good and ethical


  • #39
    B.A._Baracus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,238 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    Zimmey wrote: »
    Try to crack into digital marketing. I hear traditional journalism training is prized in that profession. :)

    I am a web designer and apart of my recent education was learning about digital marketing. Boy, talk about one hard industry to get into? it's nothing but internships offered out there.

    But with that being said digital marketing is generally a total con. I must state that I am not coming off as an expert, because I am not, But it's just the amount of people i've met who've claimed to know it but in reality know nothing is shocking. It's one of those 'buzz words skills' a lot of people lie about.

    For those who don't exactly know what digital marketing is? it's pretty much this:
    - Marketing is marketing. You are meant to have core-marketing skills. Strip away the online aspect and you should understand marketing in the real world.
    - The digital aspect comes from knowing how to advertise online and the processes and formats to do so.
    - For one example.... Google AdWords because we've all seen them. It's when we do a google search and are presented with ads at the top and right hand side of our search query. A person who knows digital marketing should will know that you have a range of options such as what time your advert will display, the what search terms, to how much you are willing to pay. Alot of options. Too much to go into detail.


    Wanna know the problem? Most people lie :pac: So many people pretend to know it but know nothing about the three points listed above :pac:


  • #40
    beks101
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,802 ✭✭✭beks101


    Former Irish TV producer here.

    Nope, it's not. I wouldn't advise anyone to get into Journalism if they're interested in a steady, stable job with a straight forward career ladder and decent take-home pay. It is emotionally, mentally and financially taxing and in Ireland, doused with ridiculous competition and hilarious nepotism.

    However. If you're willing to work for free, sacrifice your social life and any spare time you have for an indefinite period of time and start from the bottom up - including making coffees and running errands and printing off scripts and working Christmas day and New Years Day and the night shift and 18 hour days til the cows come home - all while smiling at the right people and feeling privileged to be there - then you'll eventually earn your place at the bottom rung of the pecking order.

    Where you'll work for Supermacs money for a few years and struggle to pay bills and lose friends and miss out on relationships because you're so obsessed with work while you slowly wait for your next opportunity. It's intoxicating like that. Once you get a taste of it, it's very hard to leave.

    I've worked all around the world for international news networks, and most successful journalists I know resent how much they've sacrificed to get to where they are, but will never, ever leave, because Stockholm Syndrome has set in and nothing else they could do would come close to the frenzied, panicked, wild excited energy of a newsroom.

    My advise to any budding journalist would be to get your degree, intern at a reputable and widely recognised media org and get the hell out of dodge. Move to London or NY or Canada. The opportunities are vast abroad, and the roles are far more diverse. Become prolific with all the production tools, follow social media relentlessly and work for free or for tuppence for a pre-determined period of time. Then, put a sturdy, inflexible price on yourself and don't settle for any less.

    And fcuk the naysayers. My career guidance teacher laughed when I told her I wanted to be a journalist and my mother had a meltdown. I've had front row seats and birds eye views of some of the most incredible, life-altering moments of history over the last decade because I didn't listen to them. I've also slept about 50% less than most of my friends and had panic attacks over stories and taken work home with me every day of my life since I graduated.

    But I digress. Yeah Ireland's a tough market. Small and not very diverse with not as many roles and a bit of an Old Boy's Club, especially the tabs and the likes of RTE. But it's doable. With a lot of balls.


  • #41
    Azalea
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,796 ✭✭✭Azalea


    B.A._Baracus wrote: »
    I am a web designer and apart of my recent education was learning about digital marketing. Boy, talk about one hard industry to get into? it's nothing but internships offered out there.

    But with that being said digital marketing is generally a total con. I must state that I am not coming off as an expert, because I am not, But it's just the amount of people i've met who've claimed to know it but in reality know nothing is shocking. It's one of those 'buzz words skills' a lot of people lie about.

    For those who don't exactly know what digital marketing is? it's pretty much this:
    - Marketing is marketing. You are meant to have core-marketing skills. Strip away the online aspect and you should understand marketing in the real world.
    - The digital aspect comes from knowing how to advertise online and the processes and formats to do so.
    - For one example.... Google AdWords because we've all seen them. It's when we do a google search and are presented with ads at the top and right hand side of our search query. A person who knows digital marketing should will know that you have a range of options such as what time your advert will display, the what search terms, to how much you are willing to pay. Alot of options. Too much to go into detail.


    Wanna know the problem? Most people lie :pac: So many people pretend to know it but know nothing about the three points listed above :pac:
    My experience of it is that it's quite different to traditional marketing - it's more creative and interactive; the customer has more of a say. Unlike traditional marketing which is just messages being thrown at people.

    I guess it depends on where the person works too though.


  • Advertisement
  • #42
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    The money is crap and it's hard to get stable, reliable work.

    I have to say from experience, I hear a lot of people who moan about not being able to find jobs in the field - but they're **** journalists. Knowing the right people certainly helps, but only if you're a good journalist to begin with.

    Also, people accuse many journalists and publications of being lazy, but the vast majority of the time the reason behind a perceived lack of investigation/total coverage is budgetary.

    Grand for RTE as the state broadcaster but it's not feasible for the majority of media to undertake serious investigative journalism, for example.


  • #43
    yabbav
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 247 ✭✭yabbav


    FAS course seems to be the way. Most of Irelands journalists seem to have taken that route.


Advertisement