Advice on entering the Journalism field

Ok, ok...

I use it far to often, as my tone is often misunderstood therefore the "lol" is used to imply a rather friendly or perhaps cynical tone.

Thanks for the advice though.

 

you cynical bastard.

 

"LOL" is for people who have failed the smiley test. 8)

 

i was a ray of sunshine until i became an SportsJournalists.com member.

 

I also would like to say at my schools, our counselors did a fantastic job. They aren't all bad.

 

Except they are the reason I have to read your posts. Other than that, they are cool.

 

Thank you, Fredrick. They aren't all great, but I, too, had great counselors who were very useful in helping me find a college and making sure I was on track with my application, etc. My counselor even wrote me a great letter of recommendation, too.

 

Does it have to be that way, though? I know that's the prevailing opinion here, and it's certainly the case now, but will it always be like that?

What if, as some think, more and more advertising migrates to the web, and the recession finally ends, and newspaper websites start making a reasonable amount of money?

The environment is terrible now, but does it HAVE to be that way in six years? And that's what we're talking about in Klasky's case.

If he loves the business and heads in that direction, then maybe the same type of low-paying entry level job a lot of us started in will be available when he graduates. And perhaps the opportunities to advance will be there again.

Obviously, nobody can say that will be the case. But a lot of us got into this with no guarantees, just a love of doing this work.

And finally, if he starts off in that direction and things don't look like they're getting better in a few years, well, he'll still be young enough to adjust.

Again: Somebody's going to have to provide information to people -- news, sports, business, whatever -- when the veterans are retired and working at Walmart. That's not going to change.

 

This would be a fundamental departure from 15 years of web history.

This is not a recession problem. This is an internet advertising problem. Internet advertising pays a small fraction of what print advertising does. It always has.

This is why more or less *nobody* has ever figured out a way to pay for content producers online, outside of porn and a few highly focused niche web sites.

Can I 100% guarantee the future will be this way? No. Can a reasonable person look at the facts, look at the history and almost certainly come to that conclusion? Yes.

 

Yeah, unfortunately this is true. I wish I'd known better.

 

What people need to remember about high school and college guidance counselors is that they are academicians, trying to help people succeed as students.

They are not economists or soothsayers.

When kids come to them, they are trying to match students with fields that apply to stated interests, desires and goals -- ergo, if you like writing, counselors will suggest English or journalism as options.

Is it likely that any counselor knows the current state of every career field or industry that is offered by a school? No.

He or she will know what classes are needed to complete such a particular degree, and, if they're good, they may know what schools might be best for said aspirations, and maybe, have some scholarship/student-loan suggestions.

They will not necessarily know the real-world economic viability of every, or even any, field -- something that is ever-changing, anyway, and, as we've discussed, is usually difficult to predict with any certainty.

It is up to students to understand this and do their own homework, research and decision-making.

Talking to a guidance counselor is only part of that process -- in fact, it is the beginning of it, not the be-all or end-all to be completely relied upon in trying to determine the future.

Your future.

 

So what you're saying is to try to get a job writing for a porn site?