A young throw-back journalist tackling the news biz
Changing journalism
Would I do j-school again?
This week marked the 100th anniversary of journalism classes at UNC-Chapel Hill. As a journalism major, I’ve been a part of one of the most renowned journalism schools in the country.
But if I had to start college again today, would I stick with the journalism school? That’s a tough call.
There have been a lot of benefits from being in the j-school. I was able to land an internship at the St. Petersburg Times after my sophomore year because of a special partnership between UNC’s journalism school and the newspaper. I wouldn’t have been able to get that gig any other way, and it was so vital to my development as a journalist.
The interviews lined up through the j-school also put me in touch with hiring editors at news organizations all over the country, including at The Charlotte Observer, where I ended up this past summer.
And classes by Ryan Thornburg, Chris Roush, Phil Meyer and Penny Muse Abernathy have been great.
But journalism schools are being publicly knocked for being behind the times in teaching students the skills they need in this era of change in media. It’s true, I’ve learned much more at The Daily Tar Heel, at my internships and on my own time than I have in class.
There are several majors I now see could have helped me out in a journalism career. Computer science. Business. Economics.
I’ve tried to take classes in those areas, but I discovered them too late in my school career to really build up any expertise.
I would have loved to have a degree in computer science and truly be a programmer. I’ve taught myself some Python on my own, which has already paid dividends. And a business or economics background could have helped me launch a career in business journalism or in news organization management.
I may be in the minority of the young journalists I talk to, but I wouldn’t abandon the journalism school if given another chance.
Yes, I would have taken different classes as I progressed through the curriculum. I probably would have minored in business or computer science.
But the benefits I’ve gotten from the journalism school, however flawed it may be, still made it an experience I wouldn’t give up.
So congrats, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Here’s to another 100 years.
Tags: Chris Roush, Journalism school, Penny Muse Abernathy, Phil Meyer, Ryan Thornburg, St. Petersburg Times, The Charlotte Observer, The Daily Tar Heel, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Discussion
5 comments for “Would I do j-school again?”
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© 2009 dunn, reporter. 
Now that you know what you'd like to have studied, put what time you have into learning from mentors, and asking questions of as many smart people as you can. After all, learning doesn't stop just because you finish school.
What going to going to school gives you is the luxury of time. What working gives you — especially when working in news — is the luxury of access while producing real-world work.
Good luck to you.
I'm not sure how it is at UNC, but here at NCSU, computer science focuses more on theory than application. The vast majority of my programming experience is the result of projects I worked on outside of class. Minoring (and even majoring) in computer science looks nice on your diploma, but the reality is all of the material is freely available online.
To your point about learning more from your internships/own experiences v. j-school. I graduated from journalism school in 2003. Our j-school was very good (Southern Illinois University Carbondal). Our student newspaper, where I worked all four years of college, won a Pacemaker while I was managing editor. But my fellow journalism school graduates all agreed back then that we didn't learn much in the classroom. We learned how to be journalists by working at the student newspaper and at our internships. And this was back in the day where we only updated our website once-a-day, and we truly believed print would live for a long time. I'm not ready to answer the question of whether I would do j-school again. I need to think about that and do some soul searching. But I loved your post, Andrew!
I am with you, Andrew, for the exact same reasons listed above. It was frustrating for the few months immediately following Commencement. But now that I am more than a year removed from graduation, it's a bit easier to gain perspective. The j-school, instead of sharing a specific trade, does a great job of providing students with the necessary resources (DTH, internship connections — both of which I took advantage of, too) to fuel an entrepreneurial spirit.
In addition to providing a network and internships, the J-School provides willing students with skills in reporting, web design, multimedia programming and social media strategies. Also, as stated in the comment above, college is a time to think as well as produce. Courses in digital media economics, business journalism, political communication, leadership, and global media systems give students opportunity to think about how to address the future and what their role will be in shaping a new media landscape.
Editor’s note: Jean Folkerts is the current dean of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.