Lary Bloom
Writer, Editor, Teacher
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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
What Every Journalism Major Needs To Know
Stephen Brill has given Yale $1 million for journalism instruction. He should have saved his money. I can provide in this small space all the instruction journalism students need:1. Change your major. When I was a senior in high school, my journalism teacher gave me one rule to remember above all else: don't major in journalism. She said this in an era when jobs were plentiful, and it looked as if newspapers would be around forever. I disregarded her advice, and ended up workng nearly 35 years in the field, also disregarding Mark Twain's counsel: "Journalism never hurt any man, as long as he didn't stay too long."
2. Bone up on Google and Yahoo. If you have a chance at a job, those will be your employers. Forget about the New York Times -- the Times traditionally plucked its up-and-comers from the staffs of the regional newspapers. But those papers are dumping staff and no longer serve as a reliable farm system for the Times, the Wall Street Journal, of the Washington Post, the only three newspapers in America who have not been greatly diminished by newsroom cuts (though all three have also trimmed budgets and staff.)
3. Disregard all of this, if you are like I was. Journalism was a calling. Nobody could talk me out of it. And I'm glad they couldn't. But, if you go into the field, remember just this: get the story the right. Period. That's all there is to know.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 7:21 AM
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