(More) Advice for journalism students | (Mais) Conselhos para estudantes de jornalismo

yeah, but are you ready?

Suzanne Yada dropped by yesterday and left a comment to my post about new roles for journalists, regarding the part where i say “A journalist is a brand”: The whole notion of branding and networking is something too many journalists are scared of, as if it meant to sell your soul. I wrote a lengthy blog about it here, and I got some interesting private responses like “Oh no, I don’t even want to think about this.” It’s too bad! She wrote two brilliant posts with a list of resolutions for journalism students, that you must read if you’re still in school (and even if you are not), in which she talks about the importance of self promoting. I wrote about this too, and it worries me that professionals (and especially the younger ones) aren’t taking this seriously. Reality check: you will hardly be recognized as the CNN, Rolling Stone, Time or Newsweek journalist because you’ll be a freelance most of your career. That is how the market will be working in the future for most of us. So, if you are going to be the manager of your own company (you) you better start thinking how to promote it. The funny thing is that we do it everyday in real  life, in the way we show up for job interviews, the way we connect with teachers, other journalists, or other type of people that may land us a job. Now the goal is to take that online too. I have made more  professional connections in the last year just through my blog than in eight years answering to job ads. And the way i’m doing it, people are coming to me! Alfred Hermida reminds us that this year will be rough everywhere for journalists. He gives the example of Azeem Ahmad, that despite being  considered the Birmingham University Student Journalist of the Year hasn’t found a job yet. I helped Azeem out once and i saw how dedicated and bright the guy is, and it’s a shame. But his chance will come. So follow the advice on these posts, and start building your brand to get noticed.

A Suzanne Yada deixou ontem um comentário no meu post dedicado aos novos papéis dos jornalistas, pela parte em que digo que “Um jornalista é uma marca”: Toda a noção de branding e networking é algo de que demasiados jornalistas têm medo, como se se tratasse de vender a alma. Escrevi um post longo sobre isso aqui e recebi algumas respostas privadas interessantes como “Oh não, nem quero pensar nisso”. É demasiado mau! Ela escreveu dois posts brilhantes com uma lista de resoluções para estudantes de jornalismo, que devem ler se ainda estão na escola (ou não), nos quais ela fala da importância da auto promoção. Eu escrevi sobre isto também, e preocupa-me que os profissionais (especialmente os mais novos) não estejam a levar isto a sério. Chamada à realidade: dificilmente serão reconhecidos como o jornalista da CNN, Rolling Stone, Time ou da Newsweek, porque serão freelancers a maior parte da carreira. É assim que o mercado vai funcionar para a maioria de nós. Por isso, se vão ser os gestores da vossa própria empresa (vocês) é melhor começarem a pensar como vão promovê-la. O mais engraçado é que nós fazemos isso todos os dias na vida real, na forma como aparecemos nas entrevistas de emprego, como falamos com professores, jornalistas, ou outras pessoas que nos possa arranjar trabalho. Agora é praticar isso online. Fiz mais contactos profissionais no último ano através do meu blog do que em oito anos a responder a anúncios. E são eles que vêm ter comigo. Alfred Hermida lembra-nos que este ano vai ser difícil para os jornalistas. Ele refere o caso do Azeem Ahmad, que, apesar de ter sido considerado o Estudante de Jornalismo do Ano da Universidade de Birmingham, ainda não arranjou trabalho. Eu ajudei uma vez o Azeem num trabalho e vi como ele é dedicado e talentoso, e é uma pena. Mas a oportunidade dele virá. Por sigam os conselhos nestes posts, e comecem a fazer com que a vossa marca seja reconhecida.

Os professores de jornalismo dizem o que os alunos precisam de saber | Journalism teachers tell what students need to know

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas in Austin

Durante o ONA, Alfred Hermida pegou no seu N95 e perguntou as professores presentes o que é que eles precisam de ensinar para formar novos jornalistas. Robert Scoble, Rosental Alves – o orientador do workshop de Jornalismo Online a que assisti em Junho (sim, eu vou continuar a falar disto porque foi mesmo bom) –   e outros deixam a sua opinião sobre o que é necessário que os estudantes de Jornalismo sejam e aprendam. Vejam todos os videos aqui.

During ONA, Alfred Hermida took his N95 and asked around to the  teachers present at the event about what they have to teach to grad journo students. Robert Scoble, Rosental Alves – the professor at the Online Journalism workshop i attended last June (yes, i’ll keep on referring to it because it was really damn good)- and others leave their opinion about what journalism students need to learn and to be. Watch all videos here.

The advice for graduates was that they need journalism plus a new set of skills. The basics of journalism — curiosity, passion, accuracy, serving the public interest — were still important. But journalist students also need to learn about how the digital revolution has changed, and continues to change, the media.

This involves understanding how people are consuming media and how content flows online, as well as being aware of the importance of community and the conversation taking place online. Teaching journalism has become “journalism…plus” as Robert Scoble says below.

Journalism Grads Need Basic Skills Plus Openness, Flexibility by Alfred Hermida

Ferramentas online para jornalistas | Online tools for journalists

Ferramentas do negócio | Tools of the trade

Que ferramentas online usam no vosso dia a dia como jornalistas? São suficientes e as mais eficientes? Permitem colaborações externas?  Podem ser usadas a partir de qualquer lado? E mais importante ainda: facilitam e melhoram o vosso trabalho? Alfred Hermida criou uma lista para os seus alunos com as 31 melhores aplicações para jornalistas.

Which online  tools do you use in your daily work as journalists? Are they enough and the most efficient? Do they allow external collaborations? Can they be used from any computer? And most  important even: do they improve and make your work easier? Alfred Hermida set up a list for his students with the 31 best apps for journalists.

As part of the iJournalism class I teach at the UBC j-school, I hold a session on online tools for journalists.

What is striking is how much these tools have developed in the past year.

Some fall by the wayside and new ones spring up, such as sites that mine social network sites for personal information.

31 essential online tools for journalists

Estarão os estudantes de jornalismo preparados? | Are J-students ready?

Old Thinking Permeates Major Journalism School

I sit in Professor Quigley’s class unsure of what to expect. As a member of Generation Y, I am in touch with what my peers find popular — the Internet, iPods, flip-flops, cell phones, etc. — but as a social media maven on the Internet I am an exception to the other 15 students in the class.

“Nowadays it’s essential for journalists to blog,” says Professor Mary Quigley to a class of 16 NYU journalism students. The class is titled “Reporting Gen Y (a.k.a. Quarterlifers),” and it’s one of the few NYU undergrad journalism classes that focuses on new media.

Old Thinking Permeates Major Journalism School, by Alana Taylor

A pergunta pode parecer estranha, pois a  questão que se vai pondo é se os cursos de jornalismo estão preparados para formar novos profissionais. Mas estarão os alunos preparados para enfrentar os cursos? Creio que muitas vezes se parte do pressuposto que as novas gerações têm know how suficiente para lidar com o ambiente web, que são digitalmente literados. Pois acho que está errado: acredito que a maioria dos jovens com idade para frequentar o ensino superior não sabe navegar na web, usar ferramentas de publicação de conteúdos, ou apenas reconhecer  o que é um feed RSS. É claro que posso estar enganado, estas minhas ideias não têm fundamento científico, baseiam-se em algumas experiências que tive e de uma sensação que ficou ao lidar com algumas pessoas.  Os professores que me lêem podem validar ou não estas opiniões graças a uma observação mais directa das capacidades dos seus alunos. O artigo que justifica este post fala de alunos de Jornalismo da Universidade de Nova Iorque, que não têm blogs, e que têm programas e professores desfasados da realidade.  Se por parte dos alunos eu percebo a falta de iniciativa – também já fui jovem e prguiçoso, agora sou apenas jovem-   não compreendo a falta de espírito crítico relativamente à ausência de conteúdos  programáticos que englobem os media online de forma exaustiva. No meu curso não me lembro de termos falado uma única vez de conteúdos online, mas isso foi há 10 anos. A quem se deve apontar responsabilidades? Aos directores dos cursos que não estão cientes do estado actual das coisas (se bem que deveriam era estar cientes do futuro estado das coisas), e aos alunos afectados, por não se queixarem nem se interessarem.Mas também ao sistema de ensino que não promove uma educação digital paralelamente à tradicional – que já é mal dada, em geral. Podem dizer que toda essa geração de estudantes usa a internet diariamente, e tem contas em redes sociais, usa o messenger, etc. Pois, mas para se transformarem em profissionais de comunicação têm que saber mais do que jogar online, pôr fotos deles e dos amigos no Hi5, sacar música e filmes de borla, e mesmo assim muitas vezes com dificuldades. As competências que se lhes exige são imensuravelmente superiores, há um corpo de conhecimento que agora está a ser criado e posto em prática por um número relativamente reduzido de pessoas fará parte da base de toda uma actividade profissional, ao qual terão que estar atentos. A questão que ponho é a seguinte: será esta falta de preparação apenas desinteresse intencional, ou uma enorme falta de noção da realidade? Aqui fica também o conselho de Jay Rosen para os jovens que blogam.

The question might sound strange, since the major doubt about teaching Journalism is if schools are well prepared to graduate the professionals of the future. But are students ready to face Journalism school? I believe that too many times we start from the idea that the new generations have enough know how to adapt to the web environment, that they are digital literates. Well, i think that’s wrong: i feel that most youngsters old enough to be in college don’t know how to surf the web, use self publishing tools, or simply recognize and explain what is a RSS feed. Of course i might be wrong, these are my scientifically un-fundamented ideas, based on some experiences i had, and a feeling i got dealing with some people. The teachers that may read this can or will not validate these conclusions thanks to a more closer contact with their students. The article that set this post talks about Journalism students from the New York University that don’t have blogs, and out of touch curricula and teachers. If on one hand i understand a certain lack of iniciative – i was once young and lazy, now i’m just young – on the other i don’t understand the lack of critical spirit towards the absence of learning contents that regards exaustively online content. In my school, i don’t remember one single time we talked about creating online contents, but that was 10 years ago. Who should be held accountable for this? The courses headmasters who aren’t aware of the current state of things (though they should become aware of the future state of things), and the students themselves, for not complaining or giving a damn about it. But also to the general teaching system, that doesn´t promote a digital education, alongside with the traditional education- that is bad enough already, in general. You can say that this whole generation of students uses the web on a daily basis, and that  they own accounts in social networks, use IM, etc. Yeah, but in order to become true journalists or communication professionals they have to know more than play online games, post pictures on Facebook, or download music or movies for free, and many times with some difficulties. The abilities that will be demanded from them are hugely superior, there is  a body of knowledge that is being created and put in practice by a reduced number of people that will become part of the ground for an entire activity, to which they have to be paying attention. This is what i ask : is this ill preparation just intentional allofness, or a huge lack notion of reality? Here’s also Jay Rosen’s advice for young bloggers.

Conselhos para que quer ser jornalista | Advices for wannabe journalists

Recebi um comment num post antigo em que dou alguns conselhos aos jovens que querem ser jornalistas, onde me pediam alguma orientação. Esta foi  a minha resposta: “Bem Vanda, as tuas dúvidas são perfeitamente legítimas e a paixão por uma actividade ajuda muito para que sejamos bem sucedidos nela. As médias nas universidades vão variando, mas podes procurar os guias do estudante para o ensino superior para veres as médias de entrada nos cursos de jornalismo.No liceu não faço a mínima ideia de quais serão as disciplinas, mas na universidade procura os cursos que privilegiem as novas tecnologias, e que tenham as melhores condições. Essa é a tua primeira investigação jornalística: procurar dados sobre os cursos de jornalismo, e falar com pessoas sobre eles. Não te posso ajudar mais nesse campo. Os conselhos que te dou são estes, e são muito simples: – melhora o teu português: o teu comentário está cheio de erros ortográficos e alguns gramaticais. Se cada um falar a língua à sua maneira ninguém se entende. Para resolveres isso aconselho-te a ler mais livros, e de preferência vai tentando ler obras que sejam intelectualmente mais exigentes do que a anterior. Se houver algum conceito que não compreendas, usa o computador, o Google é uma ferramenta fantástica. Isto leva-me ao ponto seguinte. – desenvolve o teu conhecimento: um jornalista tem que ser curioso por natureza, caso contrário é mau jornalista. É preciso que tenha a capacidade de perceber o porquê das coisas, e inteligência para compreender as consequências de determinada situação. Se não queres aprender coisas novas, escolhe outra coisa para fazer na vida.Hoje em dia o grande problema no jornalismo é a divisão entre os que querem aprender, e os que querem ficar na mesma. – respeita os outros: isto pode soar um pouco estúpido, mas no jornalismo lida-se basicamente com pessoas. Se não respeitarmos a pessoa com quem estamos a falar, e, acima de tudo, a comunidade que queremos informar, estamos a ser más pessoas. E maus jornalistas. – começa a trabalhar num orgão de comunicação, local ou na web: deves andar a meio do liceu, pelo que pude perceber, mas nunca é demasiado cedo para teres contacto com a realidade. O jornalismo é daquelas profissões que se aprende enquanto se trabalha, o que traz duas vantagens- se vês que não gostas estás sempre a tempo de fazer outra coisa, e se gostares já estás a ganhar experiência. Tens formações para jovens jornalistas e outras coisas do género no site da Youth Press Portugal . E visita sites ligados ao jornalismo para começares a conhecer os cursos que existem em Portugal, e fala com pessoas que conheças que estejam em Jornalismo para saber o que eles pensam dos cursos onde estão. Procura na web manuais de jornalismo, e cursos online de jornalismo, porque eles existem. Em português e em inglês. – podes criar o teu próprio blog onde faças as tuas próprias reportagens de concertos, festas, etc. Aprende a usar ferramentas como slideshows, editores de vídeo, áudio e de fotografia. Se não tiveres material usa o telemóvel. Para começar chega bem. – lê jornais e revistas, visita sites informativos, vê as notícias na TV: primeiro apercebes-te que existem várias maneiras de contar a mesma coisa, e depois também começas a ganhar noção de qual é o meio que mais te fascina. – se não és humilde, esquece: há sempre alguém que sabe muito mais que nós, e devemos aprender sempre com esses. Há também os outros que não prestam e nos dificultam a vida, mas temos todos que engolir sapos algum dia. – não tenhas medo: dúvidas temos todos, mas esta profissão baseia-se no pressuposto de que queremos saber uma coisa que ainda não sabemos, ou que as pessoas não sabem e precisam de saber. Fazer perguntas a desconhecidos é o dia a dia de um jornalista,por isso não te podes dar ao luxo de ser tímida. – cria a tua vida para além do jornalismo: esta profissão é absorvente, viciante, enclausurante. Mas precisamos todos de uma vida para além do trabalho. Boa sorte.” Se tiverem mais conselhos e ideias, deixem-nos aqui.

I had a comment in an old post where i gave some advice to all the youngsters who want to become journalists, asking for some guidance. This is what i answered: “Well, your doubts are perfectly legitimate, and being passionate about a job helps a lot to become successful in it. The college averages are quite different, but look in student guides for the universities to see which grades are required for journalism courses. In highschool, i don’t have a clue of what subjects you have to take now, but in universities try to find the courses that favour new technologies, and have the best facilities. That will be your first journalistic assignment: look for data over journalism courses, and talk to people about them. I can’t help you more than this in terms of academic field. The advice i can give you are these, and they’re quite simple: -improve your grammar: your comment is filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. If everyone starts talking in his own way we won’t  be able to understand each other. To work on that, i recommend you to read books, and preferably, try to read more demanding works than the one before. If there’s a concept that you can’t grasp, use your computer, Google is a great tool. And this leads me to the next point. – develop your knowledge: a journalist must be curious by nature, otherwise he is a bad journalist. He must have the ability to understand why things happen, and the intelligence to foresee the consequences of a certain matter. If you don’t want to learn new things, choose another way to make a living. Nowadays the main issue in journalism is the great divide between those who want to learn and those who want to remain the same. – respect other people : this might sound stupid, but in journalism you basically have to deal with people . If we don’t respect the person with whom we are talking with, and , above all, the community we want to inform, we are being bad people. And bad journalists. – start working in a local or a web media company: you must be halfway through highschool, as far as i can tell, but it’s never too early to get in touch with the working reality. Journalism is one of those jobs that you learn while doing it, wich has two favorable points- if you see you don’t like it you are always in time to go do something else, and if you do like it you are already creating a background.  You have courses for young journalists and stuff like that at the Youth Press Portugal website. And visit other places connected with journalism, to get to know the available courses, and talk with people you know who are taking them, to find out what they think about those courses. Look on the web for journalism manuals, and online journalism courses because they exist. – you can create your own blog where yo can present your own news stories of concerts, partis, etc. learn how to use tools like slideshows, video, audio and photo editors. If you don’t have the gear, use your cell phone, it’s good enough for starters. – read newspapers and magazines, visit news websites, watch tv news: first you realize that there are many differente ways to tell the same story, and then you’ll find which medium fascinates you the most. – if you’re not humble, forget it: there is always someone that knows a whole lot more than us, and we must learn from them. There are also the other s who stink and will try make our lives difficult, but we all have sometimes to just sit and take it. – don’t be afraid: we all have doubts, but this job is based on the pretext that we want to know something we don’t know, or that people don’t know but they have to. Asking questions to strangers on a daily basis is a journalists life, so you can’t afford to be shy. – live a life beyond journalism:   this is a absorbing, addictive, cloistering job. But we all need a life beyond work. Good luck.” If you have any other thoughts or ideas leave them right here.

Update – Greg Linch – Artigo completo | Full article

The biggest challenge facing a young journalist in today’s media is…

Uncertainty.

This is a very simple answer to a very complex question. But it’s fitting because uncertainty is a common theme in many other challenges young journalists face.

Uncertainty is the greatest challenge facing young journalists

Referi neste post um artigo do Greg Linch, mas ele avisou-me que aquilo era apenas um esboço que acabou por ser publicado acidentalmente, por isso aqui fica o link para o texto completo. Obrigado Greg e desculpem-me os leitores.

I referred in this post a Greg Linch’s article, but he let me know that it was a only a draft that happened to be published accidentally, so here’s the link for the finished text. Thank you Greg and my apologies to the readers.

Desafios para jovens jornalistas | Challenges for young journalists

The biggest challenge facing a young journalist in today’s media is:

Fitting into newsroom cultures that have not evolved.

Entering an industry full of companies with uncertain futures.

Trying to thrive at an organization that is behind the times.

Greg Linch, We’re facing an uncertain future in an industry that’s failing to change

O Journalism.co.uk postou quatro artigos sobre as dificuldades que os jovens jornalistas podem encontrar no panorama jornalístico actual. Ideias a reter: muito do que terão de saber não vos será ensinado nas universidades; terão que saber fazer de tudo, porque é isso que as empresas esperam de vocês; é preciso estar atento à evolução da tecnologia, das tendências e do mercado. E ainda: se fizerem tudo bem, estarão à frente de quem manda e terão que se adaptar a duas realidades – a existente e a imposta no vosso local de trabalho.

Journalism.co.uk posted four articles about the challenges that young journalists will face in the current journalistic setting. Main ideas: a lot of what you need to know will not be taught at your university; you will have to know how to do everything, because that is what companies expect from you; you have to follow closely the evolution of technology, trends and market. And another thing: if you do it all well, you’ll be ahead of those in charge, and you’ll have to adapt to two realities – the existing one, and the other imposed by your working conditions.

One of the greatest challenges young journalists face today is holding out for the change – that steady shift from print to web – that many more established journalists fear.

I’ve found that those “established” journalists are generally older and/or less computer literate, and have become quite accustomed to the state of things in print journalism. Because of this, we younger journalists have to take some initiative.

Laura Griffith, Holding out for the change

Journalism and newspapers have been moving online for years and we can no longer make the distinction between skills needed for print versus skills needed for broadcast or radio journalism. We need and deserve to be better prepared for the industry we will enter. By providing more integrated courses, allowing students to become proficient in programs from Quark to InDesign to Final Cut, universities could raise the bar and provide their students with better skills, and ultimately, job opportunities.

Katharine Lackey, Tired of Being Self-Taught

What does the industry expect of a young journalist?

• Multimedia supernerd. Jack and Master of all trades, always.
• Work within the structure. Stamps out innovation, conforms thought processes.
• Expects hierarchy to control ideas, publication and content.

Young journo’s big woes: J-school doesn’t meet industry expectations

O Repórter Moderno | The Modern Reporter

Na sequência de algumas dicas para estudantes e jovens jornalistas, deixo-vos aqui este post do Innovation in College Media, que apanhou bem esta descrição de Meranda Watling (do famoso MerandaWrites.com) de com um jornalista deve trabalhar hoje em dia.

_______________________

Following some tips for students and young journalists, i’ll leave you with this post from the Innovation in College Media, that caught well this description by Meranda Watling ( from the famous MerandaWrites.com) of how a journalist must work today.

That story that broke at 4:30? It came in via an e-mail tip. I actually “broke” the news about 4:40 p.m. I had quickly confirmed the gist of it and wrote two paragraphs to post immediately. Because the editors were in the daily budget meeting, I had another reporter read over it, and then I had a copy editor post it asap so I could begin chasing the sources who were leaving their offices at or before 5 p.m. After I reached those sources, I wrote into the online version and updated. When my editor got back he swapped it out and posted it in the No. 1 spot online.

I went to my board meetings armed with notebook and pen — AND a laptop, Internet card and my Blackberry. I continued to report and write during the meetings. On my drive between the two meetings? I made calls on the A1 story.

When I got back to the newsroom around 8:45 p.m., I made a few more calls and banged out the A1 story and then two more about the meetings I’d covered. All before the 10:30 print deadline. I made cop calls, and half-way down the 10-county list we heard a shooting over the scanner. I went there and called in a Web update from the scene.

That is a sampling of what “newspaper” reporters are expected to do today, at least at my newspaper.

Today’s newspaper reporter

Outros links relacionados | Other related links

Estagiários de Jornalismo, isto é para vocês | Journalism trainees, this is for you

Profissão: Jornalista; Salário: …pois… | Profession: Journalist; Sallary: …er…

Como preparar a nova geração? | How to prepare the new generation?

Nathan Denette/National Post

Joyce Smith, associate professor at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism.

Os desafios são grandes,por isso é necessário preparar melhor os jornalistas do futuro. Leiam este artigo para perceber o que se está a fazer no Canadá nesse sentido.

The challenge is huge,so it is necessary to prepare well the journalists of the future. Read this article to understand how they are doing it in Canada.

“If the medium of a different generation of journalism students was the newspaper or the six o’clock newscast, for this generation it’s online,” says Mike Gasher, director and associate professor in the department of journalism at Concordia University in Montreal.

As industry demands change, it’s time to bid farewell to the image of a pencil and pad-toting reporter, he says.

“We all perceive online journalism as the future … What we’re all waiting for is people, especially in Canada, to start making money off of their online news operations, for online advertising to become a serious revenue source, and I think you’re going to see an explosion.”

The expansion of the Internet as a platform for journalism is a mixed blessing for those in the media industry — on one hand, it provides a wider audience and easier access to information (where would today’s reporter be without Google’s search engine?), yet forging into the new online world also increases pressure for professionals to be more versatile and resourceful.(…)

The Financial Post

32 conselhos | 32 advices

You should really be trying to get fired.

Ok, don’t seriously try and get fired like throw-an-M80-in-the-bosses-coffee-mug fired. But do speak out with passion, vigor and conviction to any and everyone, regardless of rank, when you see your company doing stupid things in the dying, old media way. Your company probably needs you more than you need them. You can either speak out now and try to save both your butts, or sit back, fall in line and wait for them to cut your job to save theirs.

32 of the best real world career and life tips for new journalism graduates entering the newspaper industry

Se estão a acabar os vossos cursos de Jornalismo posso vos dizer que ainda agora estão a começar. Will Sullivan do Journerdism deixou muitos bons conselhos para quem está vossa situação (e não só). Deixo mais um: acreditem em vocês mesmos, e sejam bons uns para os outros. Isto é uma profissão que podemos adorar, mas é apenas trabalho. E boa sorte.

If you just graduated in Journalism i can tell you this is just the beginning. Will Sullivan from Journerdism left a lot of good advices for those in that situation (and others can take them too). One more from myself: believe in yourselves and be good to each other. This may be the job we can love, but it’s only work. And good luck.

via António Granado