Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists

October 12, 2008 in Journalism
Tags: blogs, city, guardian, Journalism, newspapers, politics, technology, telegraph, tntj, westminster

This post was written for Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists, a blog ring for young journalists to debate the future of their profession. The topic was ‘What would your ideal journalism job be and why?”

Strangely only Daniel seems to have given an indication of the field he wishes to cover. I think it’s important that we don’t concentrate on technology to the distraction of all else. The advances in media are fantastic for journalists but only if the new developments are the correct medium for informing our audience. As far as I am concerned the subject is the primary factor, swiftly followed by the best way to present it.

Personally I want to focus upon politics, firstly here in the UK and then ideally in the US. At City we do specialism modules and hopefully I will be given a place on the UK Politics strand. Not particularly revolutionary I know, but I want to be a Westminster or Lobby correspondent.

Also there seems to be little discussion of actual publications, this may well be a pragmatic decision not to limit future job opportunities. However it seems to me that we may as well spell out the places that are attractive to young journalists along with the reasons why. If we don’t want to work for these publications then are our peers going to want to consume them? I, like Katharine, want to work in newspapers despite their uncertain future. The ones that are enticing to young journalists here, as far as I can tell, are the Guardian and Telegraph.

These are newspapers that are accepting of the need for structural change, implementing new ways of disseminating their products, new ways of story telling and new ways of including readers in the conversation. Hopefully other publications will follow their lead, and certainly increased internet presence is desired by all UK newspapers, but I see these two staying as market leaders for the future.

As a fairly new convert to ‘new media’ I would also like the ability to use audio and video to assist in my reporting, and of course social media too. To be honest I’m not sure if I fully understand how much such advances will change the newspaper industry, but I do know that they will change it. That gives me a bit of an advantage doesn’t it?

Michael Haddon is a postgraduate at City University London, studying newspaper journalism.  A graduate of the University of Liverpool, he blogs at www.michaelhaddon.wordpress.com.