Breaking into journalism
| 09:15 UK time, Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Just back from Italy after being a guest of the . I'd been asked to take part in a session about the difficulties of breaking into journalism as a young reporter. The logic here being that , 1Xtra News and our new strand Revealed on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳2 as part of the teenage offering Switch, means that we employ many young journalists.
I feel the pain. It's never been easy getting into broadcast journalism - now it's even harder with a plethora of postgraduate courses and applicants with ever higher academic qualifications.
But how can journalism reflect society if our journalists have similar backgrounds and a similar view of life? It's a problem across our industry and certainly over the years ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News has been guilty, in my view, of recruiting almost exclusively from a similar well educated, middle class background. Let me be clear: there's nothing wrong with being middle class or well educated - it's just that not everyone should be like that. It's not instead of - it's as well as.
In Italy, the picture looks similar. The wannabes I spoke to were from professional and managerial families - because, I guess, like in Britain, you have to be able to afford that pricy postgrad. I also observed a very academic approach to this business from the professors charged with passing on their wisdom. I've always believed this isn't an academic business: it's intensely practical and focused on what your audience - readers, viewers, listeners -want to know about or might be interested in - that is, if we took the trouble to explain it properly.
My current and previous trainees are working class in background - our current trainee told me she'd never have considered the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ a couple of years ago because it seemed so lofty and remote as a potential employer and "they wouldn't look at me as I'm working class and Indian".
Thanks to people like Claire Prosser and Paul Deal, who set up the Journalism Trainee Scheme here, things are changing in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News training. Paul left school at 17 to work in local newspapers after being brought up in London's docklands, worked for many years in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Newsroom and he freely admits he wouldn't have got into the trade today.
The scheme's director Claire Prosser believes the "who you know" principle still holds far too much sway in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ even now, and her aim is to recruit people from "different backgrounds and communities who we don't serve well at the moment". Her point is that ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News has made some good strides on racial diversity - but much smaller steps in social diversity. People from different backgrounds bring different ideas, life experiences and perspectives to the media.
The Journalism Trainee Scheme has hired 21 young journalists on a 6 month apprenticeship. We train them and then help them with their job hunt at the end of it all. We don't set ANY minimum educational qualifications, and several have remarked that they simply couldn't have got this far through the established journalism postgrad system...in other words they'd have been lost to the trade. Their talents are obvious: intelligence, good storytelling ability, a knack of finding out news, persistence and a real connection with and understanding of wider audiences. We're not alone in developing this type of recruitment and is doing good work with .
As I watched a well known American journalism school attempting to recruit students in Italy this weekend - I was struck by a very different language and approach from them. Words like "semester", "thesis", MA, PhD and "dual degree" left me thinking their emphasis is flawed. A recent discussion with "an alumna" (her words) from this very university interested me: she appeared to be more concerned with proving to potential employers that she was in possession of a planetary sized brain than any real understanding of journalism - far less an editorial empathy with the people who are most important: those who pay our wages...our readers, viewers and listeners.
Comments
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ still "employs" runners on zero salary, something only people with parents who can support them can afford to do. If the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ really wants to level the playing field, they could at least pay all of their staff the minimum wage...
Journalists (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and others) sometimes make gross oversimplifications in their coverage of more specialised material (legal coverage is absurdly simplistic, as is anything to do with history or science). To the extent that my partner and I now use national media to raise awareness of a simple factual event before using more specialised media to obtain an accurate story. By seeking to reach out to some, you have already turned away others.
The whole bottom rung of the TV industry is populated by people who have had to do unpaid work to "break in", on average (as a recent study has shown) for around three months. Until that situation is addressed only those with private means will continue to buy their way in.
Paying the minimum wage is not only a moral necessity, it is also a legal one. Sadly the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, alongside many TV production companies, don't regard that as terribly important.
My contact with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ recruitment reflects Kendrick Curtis' comment. In 1995 my university careers service advertised vacancies for the summer vacation, one of which was for placements at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. "Minimum 8 weeks commitment, absolutely no expenses paid." So, at a time when casual paid work was still hard to find, students were expected to find (bearing in mind travel, transport and living costs of working in London) at least £800 for the privilege--because of course we can all rely on our parents to stump up that kind of money, can't we? Oh, and the university in question was Oxford, presumably meaning I'd be considered 'privileged'--notwithstanding the total lack of either academic background or money in my family.
Agreed. The problem with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ (and other media) is that most journalists don't have any specialist knowledge.
As an engineer I often roll my eyes where I hear some arts graduate on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ try to talk about anything technical or scientific.
As a former member of the armed forces I really do get annoyed when journalists start to comment on military equipment or procedures, something none ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalist has any experience of.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ employs researchers does it not? I bet they are all Guaridan reading arts graduates as well.
The problem here is with your assumption that journalism should "reflect society". Journalism should be factually correct, honest, and concern itself with issues that are of genuine importance. To a large extent, society at large appears interested in the trivial and the inaccurate, and journalism should resist rather than reflecting these trends.
You're spot on Rod. Our work in community radio is one way to redress the balance. The young people that we work with on the Wythenshawe estate here in Manchester have all the 'nous' needed for Journalism with a capital J but simply dont see it as a viable career path. Indeed, put them in a news room and their 'street' skills would see them well ahead of the average media studies graduate. But the opportuities that we present them with are only available due to the generous support of the Scott Trust and Children In Need. There are now over 160 full time community station across the UK but they are shoe-string operations and government funds for the whole sector are pitiful. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is lending a hand where it can but without major investment the idea of Journalism reflecting the nation will remain a pipe dream.
"Let me be clear: there's nothing wrong with being middle class or well educated - it's just that not everyone should be like that. It's not instead of - it's as well as."
Hang on, Rod. Not everyone should be well educated?
So faced with the option of two applicants, one without a good education and one with a good education, your decision would be what?
Of course everyone should be well educated! That's the whole point of packing our kids off to school for a decade or two. Journalists more so than most because they're here to inform the rest of us, get the facts right, ask awkward questions and do it all in clear, accessible, understandable ways.
I suspect you meant something more along the lines of not wanting to hire simply from certain educational backgrounds - Oxbridge etc - but don't make it sound like intelligence is optional.
Of course the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s journalists should come from all backgrounds. You don't need a degree in anything to be able to smell a cracker of a story, but you do need training to be able to tell it to the audience.
You do need to know what you're talking about if you're a specialist correspondent. Perhaps all specialists should have held down a job elsewhere before becoming a journalist.
The solution to this problem is straightforward. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs should actually do what they are required to do - force companies to pay the Minimum Wage to those who are entitled to it.
That way it will start to be a level playing field for all, and young people will be paid the minimum they are required to be paid by law. There's no point waiting and hoping for organisations like the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to do it themselves.
The problem with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ (and other) journalism is the current vogue for journalist to express their own opinion on a story rather than just reporting on it.
This is made worse by 24h news which leads to endless speculation and speculation on speculation, the idea that even the most minor story gets reported as "breaking news..", the insistence on news being "touchy feely" and a complete lack of discrimination and perspective about what matters.
If journalist just reported the stories rather than commenting on them then there personal background and bias's would matter less.
But then what would happen to all those snazzy graphics..
Completely agree with Mike Scott's post (6). You should never be ashamed of recruiting people who are "well educated". Education is not some take-it-or-leave-it random attribute to be occasionally disposed of in the interest of equality and 'accessibility'. Education IS the very heart of journalism. By all means recruit from different economic backgrounds, different universities, different spheres of life. But please don't start recruiting the less educated.
As a society we desperately need to place MORE value on being educated, not less.
I agree on the whole but I am surprised that you did not mention literacy as an indispensible qualificationfor a journalist.
I understand the important need for journalists to be drawn from all social classes, but I am confused by the reference to "well educated"
I don't see how well educated comes into a discussion on diversity. Surely well educated is an important element of the meritocracy?
There, encapsulated, is all that is wrong with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 'journalism' today. It is NOT your task to reflect society today. That is a job for commentators. It is your job, in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News to REPORT news in a competent and unbiased fashion. So it matters not a jot from where the journalist emanates, provided they are impartial and their personal viewpoint does not spill over into their reporting.
Until the confusion between reporting and commenting is removed, then you cannot hope to regain people's trust
Rod,
www.realfits.org.uk, an online journal and not-for-profit foundation, was recently launched to provide a new forum for precisely the kind of under-represented writers whom you mention. Their work will be paid for and published alongside articles by established media luminaries such as Noam Chomsky, John Harris of The Guardian and director Nick Broomfield.
Look at the headline on the main page! Can some of the semi-literate sub-editors not grasp that "media" is plural? This is not nit picking or pedantry. When I was young, one would have looked to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to set the standard for good English. It would be nice to bear that in mind when you are recruiting.
I agree with other comments here that specialised reporting is often sadly lacking, in either understanding of the source material or the assessment of intelligence of the audience - it is hard to tell which.
I suppose I would fall completely in your middle-class banding (despite lack of money to do unpaid work, as others have said), and I have an Oxbridge degree. But it's in engineering. Even that degree is sufficient to make your science-related news seem often absurdly simplistic, and in my own professional area - railway engineering - it is often preferable not to watch/read the news at all. You're more likely to be correct than other news sources, but the fundamental points of the story often seem to pass your reporters by completely.
Certainly the idea that someone could watch a news bulletin and want to know *why* something has happened - as opposed to just the plain fact that it has - only really seems to exist in your political news.
An interesting article that struck a chord with this former proofreader with the Birmingham Post and Mail who yearned for a chance to make journalism a career, but whose lack of education was the stumbling block that prevented the realisation of that dream.You see, back in the 1930's we left school at the mandatory age of 14 and entered the workplace. We were, after all, the working class. It is therefore heartening to read that members of my class are now being afforded opportunities to become members of the Fourth Estate.
The smell of printer's ink and the love of the written word has never left me, and over the 50 years I have lived in Florida I have written untold thousands of words, albeit just for the love of writing, and write a column for a small newspaper which likewise brings me not monetary gain but the immense satisfaction of seeing my words in print, and my byline in the title.
I wish all those young people in journalism programs the best of luck in their quest to enter the profession.
I understand the important need for journalists to be drawn from all social classes, but I am confused by the reference to "well educated"
I don't see how well educated comes into a discussion on diversity. Surely well educated is an important element of the meritocracy?
Unfortunately , journalistic integrity and unbiased factual reporting are an oxymoron as far a the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is concerned these days.
What was once a beacon of evenhanded factual reporting is now pandering to the lowest common denominator.
I could site numerous examples on a daily basis , but it is pointless , as the censors within the corporation, control the blogs , news reports and radio broadcasts to ensure nothing which does not fit the political bias which is endemic, does not reach the airwaves/cyberspace.
I agree with many of the comments posted here, particularly the ones about unpaid 'work experience'.
But I think there's another point we're missing. There are fewer staff jobs left in the entry and mid levels of broadcasting.
Young people from a low-income background cannot survive in an industry where contracts are short and not well-paid. They do not have the financial backing to ride out the periods when they will be unemployed.
Working class parents (particularly recent migrants to the UK)encourage their bright children into one of the professions. They see broadcasting for what it is - unstable, lowly-paid and family unfriendly.
If the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is serious about attracting a wide spectrum of society into its ranks it has to start making itself attractive. A decent starting salary and some long-term committment would be a first step.
Rod,
Maybe "diversity" could also include having lots of points of view: right and centre as well as left-wing.
It needs to be well written so that readers don't get bored. It shouldn't be in broken English otherwise English speaking people won't finish reading it.
I am living in a foreign country where everything is different and exciting but people around here do not see what I see as being unusual or interesting and therefore, they wouldn't bother to write about it.
I think the journalist needs to have experienced another culture to be able to pick out aspects which will be of interest.
Sometimes I am prevented from sending you the most interesting information and pictures simply because the culture here in Northern Pakistan is different and to send them would offend people.
There are other problems I've come across, including:
People being so competitive they won't bother themselves to train the up-coming generation to do what they do. Skills are then lost.
People's belief that somehow they are not 'worthy enough', not 'educated enough' or too humble to write to someone they see as being 'above them' or 'special'.
Prime ministers etc rely heavily on journalism and/or anybody with the information they need.
Lastly, there is a problem with technology, particularly amongst women, in Pakistan, who think that I'm doing some sort of magic trick with the internet. They do not these skills and no one has the time or resources to train them.
I have found it increasingly difficult to break into the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ despite making myself bankrupt by taking out a loan I couldn't afford to do my postgrad in radio journalism.
After 3 years of trying after graduation, and numerous job applications and freelance contracts later, I am now in the position of getting interviews for permanent jobs at commercial radio stations and have juggled three jobs to get the experience I needed. I don't even bother to apply for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Jobs any more because even though I have the qualification, the experience and the enthusiasm as well as making targeted applications, I still get the standard "thanks but no thanks" email from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ HR.
I am well educated, but am from a working class background and have had to fight for every opportunity continually to get the respect I deserve in the industry. I think the problem is that ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News is populated by middle-class toffs and the only way you are going to get in there is to work unpaid for months and months which as an ethnic minority applicant on a very low income and having family responsibilities, I just cannot afford to do, and also I do have lots of unpaid "experience" which has plunged me into severe debt, maybe it is the fact that I don't have a "white" name that holds me back, I don't know.
It is a real shame that ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ recruitment talk a really big game but actually don't play up to the ideal of equality & diversity that is on the website.
I know for a fact that the majority of jobs go to internal applicants, who are (guess what?) white middle-class, and well connected.