A posting for an internship at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper and its website for a multimedia intern reads a lot like the job description for a 21st century journalist.
The ad reads:
This new position is for a multidisciplined and flexible multimedia journalist who can generate and execute multimedia ideas. Ideal candidates will be able to hit the ground running and juggle all types of content and content mediums on deadline assignments. One day you’ll be shooting breaking news photos and transmitting live from the scene, the next day creating a Soundslide feature on a local music festival, the next day shooting video of a political rally for the presidential election.
What is more revealing is the skills labeled as mandatory:
- iMovie or Final Cut Pro
- Audacity (or other multi-track audio editing programs)
- Soundslides
- Photo, video and audio content gathering and editing skills
- FTP and remote transmission skills
- Ability to turn high-quality projects quickly
- Ability to write cleanly and create engaging, informative blog entries, captions, web teases and headlines
No mention of reporting, writing or interviewing skills, though perhaps these are taken as read.
Given the way journalism is changing, these skills may become pre-requisites to succeed in the media. I’m glad to say that we cover all of this in the Master’s programme at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.
(Via the Innovation in College Media blog)
PDF
If you have the skills above and are interested in journalism, I’m sure you can conduct and interview and write an inverted pyramid. Shoot, if you’ve ever read a news story you should be able to do that.
The most significant change in the last few years has not entirely been the technology. If you look back on early Flash and Mac’s first Powerbook to support FCP , circa late 90s and read Video Age or Production Solutions, you’d come across quite a few people mskilling.
What’s been heartening and encouraging has been the change in attitude from hirers.
That is you can be mskilled – almost – and strip a story 6/7 ways or even 10/11 now.
Why would you do want to do that? Necessity, perhaps? Also because you can. Perhaps also because it’s relatively easier to shift those packages around and that frankly if you’re new, a student, coming into the market you increase your chances of doing any number of things.
As they say in those cooking series, here’s one I made earlier:
circa 1999Gallipoli – a diving expedition to look for WWI ship HMS Majestic in the Dardanelles stripped 6 ways e.g. BBC WS Outlook et al.
[...] Hermida at Reportr.net has found a “job description for a 21st century [...]
[...] description of the person needed for an internship at the St Louis Post-Dispatch looks like “the job [...]
threads, all pull-able; all go somewhere.
This is a debate that’s going global. But I don’t think any list is entirely satisfactory.
Some favour the “FTP”-style techo-skills; others promote “learning” and “curiosity”.
I don’t think we’ve got it right yet. It can’t be “all of one, none of all”.
Our local online editor at a national daily says “curiosity” is his numero uno criteria for new hires. He says he can teach skills, but not that inquisitive and eager nose for news.
Another colleague says we can teach that too. We try to do both at AUT, but we’re at the other end of the world.
If you want a sabbatical, or to send students for study-abroad, you and they could do worse then check us out.
http://www.aut.ac.nz
Excellent site, keep up the good work
[...] December 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment I think I convinced an undecided, inquisitive freshman that journalism is a perfectly reasonable career path to pursue in the 21st century. [...]