What does a journalist need to know?

Danny Sanchez asks:

What are the top three things a freshman journalism student should do or know to be a competitive job candidate three years from now?

Funny that, because I think Howard Owens was thinking along the same lines a few days ago: Journalists: Invest in yourself. Also, read these thoughts from the editor of the News-Record.
Truth be told, I don’t think we can identify three “top” things they should do or know to be competitive in three years. Only a year ago, I heard broadcasters and newspaper editors dismissing the idea that beginning journalists should know new media/convergence/digital (whatever you want to call it) skills. Now, job ads seem to be picking up on these skills. Who knows what exactly the digital media sphere will look like in three years?

Students will need to know how to take passable photos and collect audio and maybe video (for a “writer”). Photojournalists will need to learn to shoot decent video.

But instead of three things to “know” or “do,” I’m going to suggest three attitudes that will help greatly in the next three years and beyond:

An excitement about the changing media environment: There is so much for people in business suits to fret about - the business model is broke, the readers are fleeing, the online isn’t pulling its share of revenue … But the journalist should delight in the prospects. If a journalist coming out of college can’t muster excitement for community journalism, computer-assisted information presentation (e.g., database apps) or new storytelling forms, perhaps they need to consider another line of work.

The desire to learn new things: I’m not sure what the situation will be like in one year, much less three. But I do know that a journalist is going to need the ability to adapt to changing requirements for information. That means at some point, a new journalist coming out of college is going to have to learn something they’d never experienced before. If you decide not to learn, you can probably still get a decent job. But you’re limiting your usefulness and your upward mobility, IMHO.

Embracing the “other”: We like to talk a lot in journalism about “the people” and “the readers” as our customers, as the people we serve in a democratic society. And there’s a lot to be said for that. But if there is one thing I’m sure of about the media of the future, we are going to need the “readers” as partners in a discussion about the news. If you can’t engage the people around you who don’t have college degrees and aren’t “professional” journalists, then lock yourself in the ivory tower of the newsroom and hope you can ride out the storm.

Thanks to Mindy McAdams

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