The Grad Wrap: J-Schooler Comes of Age in Post-Newsprint Era
by Jaymee R. Cuti
(This concludes an ongoing series by byronbeck.com contributor Jaymee R. Cuti. Thanks, Jaymee!)
When I moved to Portland in 2002 with two years of newspaper experience under my belt, I expected that one of the city’s top weeklies would open its doors for me as if it had awaited my arrival.
Instead, I was grateful for a retail job three months later. After a year, a neighborhood minority press bought me a desk.
The Great Recession’s wrath on print media has made opportunities for 2009 journalism school graduates even scarcer.
This column, a writing experiment chronicling the first steps of one such grad “from green to dream job” wraps with this submission.
University of Oregon journalism school graduate Leanna Moskowitz has made major gains since her June graduation. Unlike droves of her peers (and mine), Moskowitz landed a full-time job in the second-leanest job market in the country. One month after moving to Portland, Moskowitz snagged a queue jockey gig on the graveyard shift for Netflix.
While writing hasn’t paid her bills, or even padded her resume, Moskowitz still carries a torch for her original ambition—to cover music and write features for a national magazine.
This series ends anticlimactically, with its heroine's dream of launching a journalism career still on hold. Perhaps deferred ambition is part of paying one’s dues in the post-newsprint era.
Jaymee R. Cuti: Bring us up to speed since the last time we checked in.
Leanna Moskowitz: I have been doing much of the same, working 40 hours a week, paying bills, exploring the city.
(Read the rest of the interview after the jump)
JRC: Three months in, what observations have you made about living and working in Portland?
LM: When I first graduated, I was excited [for] a break. The working world was new and strange; no reading assignments, no late nights in computer labs. But as time goes by, I find myself missing academia. I was applying myself in school and I feel very much like wasted potential in my current state.
JRC: After applying for several entry-level journalism jobs, what have you gathered about breaking into the local print scene?
LM: The biggest realization about getting into journalism is that I'll have to make that priority No. 1. I can’t go on working my current job and treat breaking into the j-scene like a hobby.
JRC: Realistically and ideally, where do you see yourself in a year?
LM: Realistically, I expect I'll be pinching pennies and drinking powdered milk, but if I really put my mind to it, I might actually be working in a newsroom. I might be copy editing or making coffee, but I'd like to at least be part of the media machine.
Ideally, same scenario, but less copy editing, more writing.
JRC: How committed are you to sticking with journalism in the long haul? How has that changed since graduation?
LM: I am absolutely still interested in working as a journalist in the long run. This false start of mine isn't enough to totally disillusion me.
I was pretty fantastical in my journalism dreams when I started out. The experience I have had in—and certainly, not being in—the field, has mellowed and put into perspective what were once grandiose expectations.
Since moving to Portland, I have simply realized what harder work journalism is outside of the comfy, florescent lit safety of the UO journalism program.
JRC: What advice would you give a U of O journalism student?
LM: I would advise new j-students, and I wish I could go back in time and advise myself, that going to class is not a sufficient education. J-student freshman: Get an internship. Get one every summer. New j-school grads: God speed.
Read the Grad Wrap series at Byron Beck's Window.
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|76.105.169.xxx |2009-11-08 01:00:34 Jaymee - New FaceHi Dave. Thanks for your question.
It was not my intention to skirt the reality that my craft was obviously blindsighted by technology. My mention of the "post-newsprint era" alluded to the digital age. The Grad Wrap article titled "The Digital Kid Has Arrived", http://byronbeckwindow.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-grad-wrap-cub-repor ter, addresses whether j-schoolers receive a new media education.
Beyond acknowledging the Internet's impact, I will leave the sport of analyzing print media's failures to the academics. I'm just a reporter.
!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."
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Last Updated (Sunday, 08 November 2009 01:28)
I have to ask why you blame the recession without mentioning newspapers' collective failure to embrace the Internet? And given that newspaper circulation is plummeting, what are your insights of the "paywall" idea where newspapers charge for content online?
Good journalism is almost a requirement of a healthy democracy and society at large, that's why I believe journalism will never go away. Students should continue to go to J class but the colleges and universities need to adapt their teaching methods to embrace online media.
One thought leader in this arena is Jay Rosen who teaches journalism at NYU. You should follow him on Twitter @JayRosen_NYU as he has some brilliant insig...