Here’s some thoughts.
1. As obvious as this sounds, write like crazy for your high school newspaper no matter how lame it might be. If it’s lame, become an editor and strive to write investigative stories about things above and beyond the call of scholastic journalism: teen life, abortion, bullying, gay and lesbian struggles, suicide, college competition, the pressures of being young. Reach for controversy. Find a great, passionate teacher to act as your mentor who will give you maximum freedom instead of censorship. If needed, consider distributing an independent paper outside of school or on the Web. It will be the adventure of a lifetime.
2. Work like mad on your college paper, too. Write on every subject you can think of. If you love to write, consider remaining a writer and polishing your skills over the course of 4 years. Not everyone can be an editor. A college paper can be amazing if juniors and seniors devote their time and experience and expertise to producing great articles. And experience does show.
3. If you can seek out the local community newspaper chain, write for them, too. Today, as always, clips are important to get internships and jobs, and professional experience obviously impresses potential employers. It also will boost your confidence to know your larger community is reading stuff under your byline. Confidence shows, too.
4. You don’t have to enroll in a journalism school. There is a lot of debate about this and some will tell you that you need to be competitive in the future job market by taking lots of computer classes, marketing classes, everything from how to use digital recorders to camera phones to fashioning blogs and learning HTML. Today’s journalism schools have lost focus and will throw everything at you that you can imagine. They are trade schools in the purest sense, and this might not be for you.
Think hard about this. If you love history and politics and philosophy and foreign language and ethics and social studies and the law, if you realize that college is your one opportunity in life to connect with the great minds of all time, you might well opt for a broad liberal arts education instead of a J-school. Think hard and don’t let anyone tell you this is a bad move. (I would, however, supplement any liberal studies with work on a school paper or community paper. The powers that be will still be looking for clips and won’t ask you your opinion on the Allegory of the Cave.)
5. Realize right now that you won’t get rich from journalism and that bus drivers and some waiters actually will be making more money than you, without exaggeration. Loving journalism has nothing to do with living a luxurious lifestyle. It would be nice if this were so but it’s not. The reward is waking up every day looking forward to your job and knowing that this may be the day you change the world or save some lives, somehow. It’ too is an adventure of a lifetime, and always will be. The rumors of the death of newspapering are exaggerated. There will always be room for enthusiastic and talented young people who love the work and the words. Always.
Bob Kazel
BSJ Medill 1986
NHSI 1980
