Earlier this year I finished an NCTJ newspaper reporting course at Harlow college, and I’m still no closer to being a professional journalist.
This is not a bitter, chip-on-shoulder rant. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and it gave me the confidence to recognise and hone my journalistic abilities. However, I can’t help feel that I was being trained for a job that doesn’t exist anymore.
As anyone who is interested will know, the media is in a state of flux at the moment. During previous regime changes, such as the arrival of radio and then television, many eulogised the death of the daily newspaper. Now the enemy is the Internet. Newspapers survived these previous threats because they provide news in a format that is universally accessible and totally convenient to read whenever and wherever.
The Internet is a different beast to television and radio. Like a newspaper, it can be accessed on-the-go and on-demand. But unlike a newspaper, news websites have infinitely more content and, most importantly, they are free. What schmuck will buy a paper when they can get the same news and more for nothing?
The coming generations will truly be raised on the Internet, so unless the parents of today instill in their children a loyalty to buying newspapers, how can they compete in a digital world? The media is dead, long live the media.
Every major newspaper now has flashy, money-hungry website. Some are better than others, but all face the same problem. How do we make money? The current model is clearly unsustainable. Without the cash to pay journalists, news standards will plummet. As Nick Davies brilliantly exposed in his book ‘Flat Earth News’, stories get recycled and newspapers become reliant on the Public Relations industry and Government propaganda.
How about investigative reporting that exposes corruption and incompetence at the highest levels? Fugedaboudit!! far too expensive and time consuming, just stick a photo of Jordan’s tits on the front page and watch sales go up. I think the Guardian is now the only paper with a dedicated investigation team. It’s far cry from the heroics of Watergate and the ideals of the Fourth Estate, the reasons I (sanctimoniously) became a journalist.
Finally, back to the NCTJ and might I add, thank you for staying with me. From my experience, the course is geared firmly towards local newspapers. That might have been fine 20 years ago when that was the established route into journalism. Now, for every trainee job on a local rag, there will be hundreds of starving journalism students clutching their NCTJs. As a way to stand out from the crowd, it means very little.
So, what is the answer? you tell me. Starting this blog is one way I am trying to embrace the future. I encourage anyone in a similar position to do the same and get in touch when you do.
