Thursday, October 13, 2005

Is it all about $$$?

Romenesko's media blog had a link to this story - "For future journalists, it's cash, not causes" - in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about how j-students are not interested in low-paying j-jobs. Please read and comment on what you think of the story.

2 comments:

Barry Thompson said...

Everything about that article irritated me.

First of all, anyone who gets into journalism thinking they’re going to be rich is a tool. I mean, yeah, you can make money in PR. You can make MUCH more in business, or finance, or even prostitution.

Secondly, the grandstanding "rah rah muck raking" aspect of the article was extremely pretentious. “Oh my god, these kids aren’t out to save the world! They’re interested in providing a comfortable life for themselves! How selfish of them!” C’mon now. A lot of the freelancers I know have to work in coffee shops, retail joitns, or restaurants on the side just to make rent. If that’s what I’m doing in three years, whatever. If that’s what I’m doing in 20 years, I’ll become a shill for whatever multinational corporation will take my integrity in exchange for cash.

Thirdly, I can’t stand it when conservatives moan about college professors being elitist liberals. As if being a professional smart person somehow means you don’t know what you’re talking about. Worse yet are the students. “Whaaaa, I’m 18-22 years old, but I can’t handle my opinions being challenged!” I believe Bill O’Reilly says it best; “SHUT UP.” Think whatever you want, but don’t act so shocked when the rest of the world doesn’t align with your hang-ups to protect the sanctity your fragile eggshell brain.

Aniko said...

It's an unfortunate reality that people are going to be interested in money as well as the substance of what they do for a living. It's not surprising students would want to make a decent living. It does occur to me, however, that the rate of pay that these students are supposedly balking at is not actually that low for people who will be in entry-level positions. There are plenty of people who are older, have worked many years and earn less per year than that. These students need to learn that. If they had a more realistic view of what they should earn at the beginning of their careers, it would give them a chance to really contribute to journalism. And some would find they like to do what they do and would mature and change. Some wouldn't but at least we wouldn't have to worry this much about people going into the field of journalism.

On the issue of professors being left-wing, I don't wish to ally myself with the right-wing, but I have noticed that NU classrooms could be a somewhat hostile environment for a conservative thinking student. When even the teacher, or in some respects the moderator, in a classroom is openly biased in one direction, that is not necessarily good for the free flow of debate. I'm not sure I have yet had a teacher who is a conservative but I know I have had teachers who are liberal. I'm not sure if that is indicative of most professors political views.