This always has been an interesting discussion to me.
There are two main sides in this debate about whether journalists really need a journalism major, and it’s pretty self-explanatory. One side feels J-school still gives you the necessary skills every journalist needs to survive. The other feels it is virtually useless and students should focus on other major(s) for their education.
There are other perspectives, too. Another thing to consider is that not every J-school student is seeking to become a journalist.
Here’s my take.
I first walked into the Central Michigan Life office in October 2005, my freshman year at CMU. I had not signed a major or minor yet and was just taking my first journalism class, JRN 101: Mass Communication in Contemporary Society. I sat down with the sports editor, Nathan Mueller, and one of the first things I was told, and something I would never forget, was this: You will learn more in here than you ever will in a journalism class.
For a little perspective, my initial idea was to major in information technology and minor in journalism. It wasn’t that I saw myself becoming a computer writer. It was because I wanted to work with computers and program, whether within journalism or anywhere else. I became a staff reporter at Life to get that experience and moved in the IT/JRN direction for my major and minor.
My sophomore year, I quickly realized I wasn’t cut out for programming. Furthermore, CMU’s computer science department, from my experience and others’, was littered with a lot of lazy teaching. Professors set a very steep learning curve for students and treated many of them with disrespect when they had questions.
Therefore, I had two paths to choose from.
One was to major in journalism and go for an interdisciplinary minor – media design, production and technology – that incorporated a lot of what I wanted to do anyway. Plus, it would benefit my journalism career by focusing on the technical aspects of online journalism and open up more job opportunities for me.
The other was to major in another path and minor in journalism, or possibly double major. I looked at political science, sports studies, business and a variety of different sciences. This came at the suggestion of a couple real-world journalists I talked to at the time. They reasoned that a journalism major isn’t needed to get experience at the campus newspaper, which trumps everything on your resume when looking for internships and, later, jobs. Plus, having a major in another field of work gives some an edge, they said, because it makes you more well-rounded as a journalist.
Certainly all true statements. But I went with option one.
I went over all my goals for what I want to do with my career. I want to work as a journalist at a newspaper or magazine, that was for sure. Particularly, I want to do sports writing or work in multimedia. Another option is being a copy editor. I wanted to choose the path that would help me the most on those goals. The media design minor is a necessity, I felt. So it came down to whether I want to major in journalism or another field, or both.
I looked over job qualifications at several Web sites and listings for the goals I had. I asked a CMU adviser about what I should do. We came to a consensus – that an alternative major, while nice to have, probably would not be worth the time to complete the major with the career destination I had. I didn’t have a particular interest in writing, say, politics, business or other fields. So I stuck with journalism as my major, with a concentration in news editorial.
After taking every required JRN class I need to graduate, I have no regrets over my decision, despite naysayers that believe J-school is useless.
If you are a news editorial-concentrated journalist like me, here’s what journalism school can do for you that you probably don’t get from just working at the student newspaper:
- Teach you media law.
- Give you different perspectives from professors who worked in the field for years.
- Force you to write stories in areas you otherwise may reject in a heartbeat at your paper.
- Give you connections to other journalists and publications affiliated with your professors.
- Give you extra references and sources for letters of recommendation.
- Open your job options, since several publications still require journalism majors.
There are other things, but those are the main benefits, from the top of my head. Do you learn much more from your experience than in class? Absolutely. There is nothing like being out in the field working an actual job when it comes to being a beginning journalist. And that is what employers and intern coordinators look at when hiring, for sure. But, if you let it, J-school gives you plenty of other advantages that you probably won’t enjoy just working at an independent student newspaper.
(Of course, there are other challenges J-schools face, such as incorporating online journalism. CMU introduced an online journalism curriculum, for example. The true benefits of that remains to be seen; I am not absolutely sure what they teach in those classes. But this is a topic for another day.)
What do I suggest to other beginning journalists as a college path?
Despite the choice I made for myself, my best recommendation for others is to double major, one being journalism and another in the field of your choice. If you like politics, political science is a no-brainer. If you want to write business, major in that field. If you’re looking for a well-rounded major to have the paper for, then look somewhere in life sciences, social sciences or even political science. These choices do have benefits when looking for jobs and will make you a more well-rounded journalist. J-school, after all, doesn’t teach you the content you write. Just be sure to ask yourself what your top 3-5 jobs would be, like I did, then narrow your major/minor combinations down from there.
Also, take a look at the journalism minor at your school. Depending on the classes it incorporates, you could get nearly all the benefits a journalism major would, and it would allow you to focus more class time on another major of your choosing. Sometimes, double majoring can be daunting for students. So this is another excellent option, depending on the J-school.
Whatever you do, though… while it does depend on what kind of J-school your university offers, I would seriously consider going to J-school and getting the extra benefits. They’re there. Trust me.
Feel free to comment. In fact, I encourage it, because this is a discussion with great points on both sides.
Posted by Brian Manzullo at July 18, 2009
Journalism