Is a journalism degree worth the paper it's written on?

I KNOW I said it's nice to be nice, but sometimes I wonder:

Hi there,

I desperately need your help. My name's xxxx and on monday I will be printing and binding my dissertation and then I will have completed my journalism degree at XXXXXX University.

I appreciate how busy you must be but I'm looking into news selection in the press and I need a journalists inside view.

I've been constantly ignored or passed over by so many journalists from various papers for weeks and weeks and then some, and I am getting thoroughly disillusioned with the entire process but you could restore my faith by just answering 5 quick questions.

If you could spare a few minutes today to jot some sentences in response to the questions below I would be most exceedingly obliged (I will probably even literally jump for joy after the stress I'm currently feeling.)

Are articles commissioned by the news editor or does every journalist find their own stories?

Who decides if they are going to be NIBs, or Features, or proper full news stories?

Are there any particular topics that make a story more likely to be covered - for instance, human interest stories about animals or children? (apart from the horrible story of Maddy McCann)

What about foreign news, is it just America that your readers are interested in? Is that why in general it gets more coverage than other regions in the world (exc. the Middle East)

When it comes to holding the government or big organisations to account, is that a conscious decision, or are they reported because they're simply good news stories?

Or you could even give me a call and we could talk through the answers - it would save you writing anything.

If you are completely snowed under and can't help me, please forward this on to some of your colleagues - one of them must have five minutes where they could answer some very simple questions.

Anything you could do would be so helpful and really make the last year of slog on this project worthwhile.

Yours in hope (or should that be stressful desperation?)

There are no words.

Can anyone explain to me how someone can reach the end of a three-year course and send that? It's got to be a wind up, right?

I've reluctantly accepted that any sort of familiarity with a capital letter or apostrophe isn't a priority for a successful student, in the same way that the spelling of 'definitely' or 'all right' has gone to the dogs.

But surely they are being taught something about how journalism, like, works? It would seem not.

[Linda]

Comments

[ourman]

Ditto PR degrees that don't teach people to write to any standard. I mean some people have a writing gift, others struggle but everyone can LEARN to write to a requisite standard - and even the gifted need to learn what is expected in terms of style.

For all PR company's bluster about "Not just being a press release factory" the simple fact is that most are. So why aren't people be taught how to write?

I was lucky enough to do the Thomson Journalism course up in Newcastle. It was only four months and covered the basics - you learned the rest when you got your first job. Your learned fast.

[Louise Bolotin]

That sort of letter makes me glad that I never did a degree in journalism. Mind you, they didn't exist when I did my training... But I still knew how to write properly when I left school. I would be embarrassed and ashamed to send such a poor letter to anybody.

[Linda]

I know what you mean Louise - but it's got to be more the tutors' fault? What expectations are these people being given for their future?

Ourman - we had some Thomson trainees in with us for a bit, two very nice posh girls. One was a bit of a wildcard and the other whose career later took off big time as far as I can remember.

I did the Express & Star training course and the amount of red pen I got over my copy, left me in no doubt about how crap it was.

I think I'll dig out my piece on my first editor!

Have a great weekend all.

[Louise Bolotin]

Linda, I'd say it was partly the fault of whatever schools she was at before uni. In the 70s, teaching grammar went out of fashion, the idea being that language rules shouldn't get in the way of being able to "express yourself". Result? A whole generation that can't express themselves properly. But I agree the uni tutors should have taught the basics of the realities of journalism - a waste of three years otherwise, not to mention the money.

[Sally Whittle]

HA HA HA!

I think this is the funniest thing I've read in ages. Brilliant.

Like you, I've come to terms with the fact that nobody under 25 was taught grammar at school, and therefore is incapable of telling the difference between a semi-colon, a sentence and a synonym. Well, there will always be subs who will be paid good money to clean up the copy of these muppets.

But how, how, how, do you get to the end of a degree in journalism - i feel i should cap that JOURNALISM - and not know how stories get doled out, why a nib might be a nib not a feature, or what makes a good story. Jesus. I'd name and shame the institution and let's all see exactly what this unfortunate student paid to get such a great grounding in our grubby trade.

Sally

[Linda]

I'm sort of hoping I've got it terribly wrong and they are asking for comment on questions they already know the answers to, but it really doesn't read like that, does it?

[Andrew Grant-Adamson]

Oh dear! As a teacher of journalism I can only say there are good students and bad students. The letter writer appears to have completed the course but that is not to say he or she will get a degree or, if one is obtained, how it will be classified.

There is a lot to be said for doing a first degree in something other than journalism (science, history, languages or, if you must, English). After that a post grad diploma or MA should give a good grounding for work in journalism. But I would say that as I teach post grads: many of them do very well indeed.

[Linda]

Yes, that's a very fair point, he or she may fail miserably, unless they win anyone over with their plea! But that can't be much of a reference for the course, surely? If someone was a bad student, aren't they helped by this stage to understand where they are going wrong? :)

[Katie B]

It must be a wind up! Very depressing reading...