I spent the last two years of my life dreaming.
I dreamt of finishing my post-secondary schooling at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), and dreamt of leaving school and instantly having piles of job offers sitting on my desk from various news outlets throughout Canada within weeks.
After all, I had just spent the last two years of my life learning all things journalism, how the industry works, how to write in proper Canadian Press style, and how to have no fear when approaching and interviewing or taking photos of strangers. After all, how could there not be companies with arms outstretched waiting for me to make a great addition to their team?
This was not the case. I suspect it wasn’t the case for any of my classmates either, and it hadn’t been the case for anyone graduating the program for quite a few years.
The reality is slightly more harsh, the reality was spending thousands of dollars on schooling fees only to come out of school with no real prospects, only a head full of journalistic skills and a basic idea of where to start looking.
I have no grandiose idea that it’s easy for graduates of other programs like business or law to leave school and find employment quickly. I understand that everyone who leaves post-secondary struggles as a new graduate, but what can I say, I’m a dreamer, always have been.
I got lucky in my endeavours; luckier than most from my class I would be willing to say, and found employment only a few short months after leaving school. I spent a large majority of my days sending out resumes, hoping to hear back from someone who just so happened to love my writing and it happened to pay off for me, thanks to my now editor, David Willberg and publisher Richard Sadick at Estevan Mercury Publications.
But for at least half of my classmates, possibly more, the end of journalism school will more than likely be the end of their journalism career. This isn’t from them having a lack of skill; however, it’s from a lack of industry and new positions within that industry.
Journalism will never die. It’s a necessity, and although daily newspapers have been struggling in recent years, the community papers throughout Canada are still beloved by many, and remain the main way that many throughout the country get their news.
We as a civilization crave knowledge. We all strive to be well-informed and knowledgeable on events both local and national. However, journalism as we have known it for over 100 years is struggling, and the proverbial death rattle may not be long off.
There are millions of reasons you could assume are contributing factors to the pains of print journalism: the invention of the television, the demand to use less paper products, the growth of the Internet – the list could go on forever.
With this knowledge of current hardships, you may be wondering why someone may even want to pursue a career in print journalism, and the answer is simple: it may be the transition to a new era that is just around the corner.
For years now, the public have been consuming media in new ways, from Facebook to Twitter and YouTube, the age of digital media has come, and I would be willing to bet it’s here to stay.
Journalism may be transitioning, but the craft will never die. The true reason I got into this industry is, of course, my love of writing, and understanding world events, but other than that, I saw an opportunity. The opportunity to be at the forefront of an industry reborn, I strive to be a pioneer of the craft. I want to reignite the love that the public once instilled into the media and use that trust to begin a new age of journalism.
It may be a scary few years, no one quite knows how the transition to a digital news world may exactly happen, but it’s also exhilarating, to be at the forefront of a craft that’s been around since the creation of the written word, that now is being totally rebuilt.
I hope to spend my career making innovations, instilling trust in the people who I intend to serve diligently and remaining at the forefront of an industry that I love, that has been given a wonderful chance to truly become as great as it once was.
