So many paths to choose from when making the decision of which journalism area to focus on
Journalism is a constantly transforming workforce, forever evolving around the changes in our society and the technology that this society thrives on. With these changes comes both the loss and gain of specific areas of journalism. For example, as online journalism grows, print media shrinks. But what does this mean for aspiring journalists? University of Wollongong journalism students seem to be split two fold between change being a good thing or a disruptive process.
For some journalism students, the changing nature of journalism is a positive aspect as more areas of journalism are popularising. This broad range of journalism areas has made it easy for some students to narrow in and create a specific career path. For 19-year-old Scott Poynton, sports journalism is exactly what he wants to spend his life doing. A desire to write combined with a love of sport made his career decision easy, and he is thankful that journalism “provides so many opportunities to embrace my passion, as opposed to being stuck at a desk in an office environment.” Similarly, at 19, Amy Scurr has a clear direction for her future – she is determined to become a photojournalist for National Geographic. A career that will combine many of her passions: photography, writing, history, animals and travelling.
For these determined students, the massive amount of journalism fields and the ability to specialize in one specific area based around personal interests is the best thing about journalism.
Whilst Scott and Amy agree that the changing nature of journalism can be a scary prospect, they are comforted in the knowledge that journalism will always be relevant, as people need to know what is happening around the world. Amy explains that she may just have to “work in a changed form in the future” whilst Scott expresses that “if social media plays a significant role in the changing nature of journalism, I can use it to further my degree.”
Opposingly, some aspiring journalists find the constantly changing journalism fields overwhelming, with the choice of which field to specialise in being very difficult. Jayden Cross, 18, speaks of “having trouble deciding on the area of journalism to focus on as there are many to chose from.” The evolving nature of journalism can be daunting as even if a student can make a decision on what field to narrow in on, the stability of that area’s future is not certain. 18-year-old Breanna O’Neill is “afraid of focusing solely on one area, because that would really limit my options … I want to be able to open more doors later down the track.”
As technology changes and journalism becomes more online-focused, journalists must be able to have a broad range of knowledge and ability in several areas, with most journalists not having the luxury of being able to get the exact job they are hoping for due to competition as well as jobs being lost. For Jayden and Breanna, this is a positive thing, as their uncertainty career-wise has them testing every area of journalism in hopes of “becoming more passionate about a certain area which may help me to decide on my future career path,” Jayden explains. Breanna agrees, stating, “As the opportunities present themselves, I’ll consider different possibilities from there.”
Whilst the rapid changes in journalism continually happen all around us, University of Wollongong students are using these changes to decide on their future as successful journalists.
ASHLEIGH FIELD 