Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The time to tackle over capacity in student journalism

Journalists exercise power. Ideally, they exercise that power on behalf of the powerless. If they know nothing about what it is like to be powerless themselves, they may come to exercise their considerable power on behalf of the already powerful.


Ht-Adrian Monck

An extract from a reply from Cary Tennis to a journalism tutor having doubts about teaching the profession when there are no jobs to send the students to.

It is an interesting question.Of course no degree can guarantee a job at the end but there is a wider question at the end of this that doesn't just relate to journalism.

Surely our learning centres should align their output to the job market and the skills required.

Journalism courses have expanded rapidly over the past few years and yet there has been no similar expansion of the job market.

Yes there will be the argument that a degree is a degree and will teach life skills but a journalism degree like a medical degree teaches job specific skills.

With today's debate on increasing student fees,maybe this is the time to tackle supply and demand?

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