Recently, I went to a discussion panel titled, “The Future of Journalism: The End or a New Beginning.” The debate featured two writers, Hugo Martin from the Los Angeles Times, Richard Perez-Pena, from The New York Times (both of which are Pomona alums and alums of The Student Life) and Geneva Overholser, director of USC’s Annenberg School of Communications.
It was very interesting to hear the perspectives of three different people who are actively working in the industry. Richard Perez-Pena has specifically written about the changes in the journalism industry for the NYT. Based on what Pena said, it seems that it’s hard to predict what will happen anymore, especially in journalism. All three agreed that journalism is going through some major changes, moving more and more into the online realm. Pena from the NYT said that while the newspapers for the times have horrible numbers, their online numbers have been breaking records every month. The move to online journalism has also led to a lot of layoffs and a move towards hiring more freelance writers. Hugo Martin of the L.A Times said that there used to be hundreds of people that would just cover a certain L.A neighborhood, now that team has been reduced to just one person. Martin suggests that this is problematic since there are not enough people to cover the smaller, but nonetheless important stories that are deserving of attention.
Geneva Overholser, Director of USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, was very positive about the future of journalism, suggesting that with the changes that are occurring right now, this is a good time for journalism to reinvent itself. Often these changes are characterized in such a negative way, so it was good to hear something positive from someone who knows the business. While this is encouraging, it’s still difficult to think of the unknown, especially when so much of my life after college is unknown at the moment. Personally, I think it would be very difficult to make a living doing freelance straight out of college. Especially since no one knows your work or your name. If I end up not doing grad school, maybe I could try to get an entry level position somewhere at a PR firm and continue to do freelance on the side. No matter what, I want to keep writing, it just might be difficult to pursue a career in journalism right after college.
Right now, grad school still seems like one of the best options for me. My first application is due tomorrow for UC Berkeley’s program, thankfully they don’t require the GRE, however, they want their applicants to have more experience in the journalism field. I am not sure if I have enough experience to be admitted but I decided to apply regardless. One of the great things about Berkeley is that they have a magazine writing program, which would be perfect for me. Some of the other schools I am applying to (like NYU) have similar programs. I will be taking the GRE this Friday, so wish me luck!