Link: Who's running your education?

Of all you nice journalism and mass communications students through out the U.S., two-thirds of you are female. With the exception of a bare handful, you're under the age of 25.

But your departments are headed up by white (90%) males (64%) over the age of 55? This information comes from a survey conducted by Thomas Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, reported on here.

Do you think this is a bad thing?

In its context, I don't necessarily think we should be throwing up our hands and prophesying doom -- yet. The good news is that over 60% of these guys have at least 5 years of practical experience, an unheard of number in other liberal arts majors.

Link: New Media Meets Campus Media

Inside Higher Ed asked a good question yesterday: what skills should college journalists develop to have a successful career later on?

"...even the smallest commercial newspapers, with 10,000 readers or fewer, are looking for reporting candidates with experience writing for the Web and uploading stories to the Internet, according to a survey of newspaper managing editors conducted by Wendelken and Toni B. Mehling of James Madison University."

A knowledge of AP style won't get you by anymore. Any good journalist needs to be able to set up a basic website, shoot stills and video or craft multimedia presentations. Maybe all of the above. Are you getting that kind of training at your school?

Why don't you have a career section?

Name me one newspaper with job listings that has never included an article about career advice. That's right. You can't. I understand that most small papers don't have room for a full career section, but why not a column or occasional feature?

It doesn't make sense, then, that college, or even high school, newspapers offer absolutely no job advice. After all, aren't you in school to be better equipped to make money?

We're talking about a super easy subject, too. Colleges have career centers, full of very helpful people. Ask for interviews. Ask for press releases. Ask for help. You'll get more material than you can use in a year.*

Trying to develop a little more interaction with your readers? Let people send in job questions. I'll bet you that you can get someone in your local career counseling office to write the column -- odds are good that you can get it for free, too.

Trying to up your ad sales? Offer to sell job listings near your career column for a premium rate.

Trying to find content that you can delay in case of big stories? Develop a couple of employment features that can be left on the back burner until you need them. The great thing about career stories is that they're a constant. Someone's always looking for a job.

Sample story ideas:

• 10 tips for a tip-top resume
• Finding a summer internship -- that pays!
• The extracurriculars recruiters look for
• On-campus resources for your next job hunt
  

*High schoolers, your counselors and advisers offer a lot of the same help.

Definition: Convergence journalism

Convergence journalism:

A form of journalism in which various forms of media (writing, video, photos, and more) are combined to create a larger journalistic project. The web is an ideal platform for convergence journalism, as evidenced by the move towards multimedia presentations at papers like The Washington Post.

Where are you getting your news from?

I read the news every day. By the news, I don’t mean just skimming a local paper. I get headlines every day from three major newspapers delivered by RSS feeds. I get e-mail newsletters on every imaginable subject. I read blogs and websites.

It takes me at least an hour to get up to date. I’m an extremist, although I’m willing to claim it’s very worthwhile. However, I’m not evangelical to expect all of this from you.

On the other hand, I can’t see why any newspaper editor or reporter doesn’t take the time to check out a couple of specific pieces of information every morning.

Google Alerts: Why not let Google tell you whenever somebody writes something about your school? I actually got clued into a story on campus before the administration knew about it because of Google. Put your school’s name in quotes, as well as important figures on campus – you’ll always be surprised what turns up on figures in administration.

Your alumni magazine: I’ve seen alumni magazines swipe stories from the student paper more than once. It’s once a month and at a lot of schools you can get it online.

Your local daily: Given that I think you should read a copy cover to cover, I understand most people have no inclination. But take the time to run over the local headlines online, at least. You never know what kinds of stories will pop up in your neighborhood, and most locals will still keep you up to date on national news.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Call me a nerd, but seriously – I have gotten some amazing leads out of this magazine.

I’ve got a huge long list of further recommendations, but I won’t make you suffer. Think about it, though – what’s your best source for news about your school?

The Ongoing Student Loan Crisis

Yesterday's NY Times ran an article about the continuing issues with student loan providers. The Government Accountability Office's recent report on the Department of Education's failure to prevent wrongdoing by lenders.

This is a story on the national news that directly affects college students. But how many college students even know that this is an issue? Certainly most college newspapers aren't covering it.

It's not an issue of lack of information -- it's covered in national newspapers. It seems more likely to be a question that student editors don't know how to cover the issue. Most of them can't afford to send a reporter on down to D.C. for a couple of interviews at the GAO.

But why not call the GAO's public relations office and ask them to email a copy of their press releases? After all, I can't imagine there is a college student with absolutely no access to a cell phone with free long distance and email -- even a friend's.

Sale of Dow Jones Finalized

Today, the sale of Dow Jones & Company to News Corp. was finalized.

Why the heck should college students care?

Let's set aside all discussion of post-college life and any vague hope you may have of getting a job in a good newsroom. There's plenty of other meat on this particular bone.

Right now, a lot of questions are being asked about whether newspapers can exist outside of media conglomerates. The party line claims that this is not an issue for college newspapers, but there are a few papers that have been bought up.

Student papers are extra tasty for media conglomerates:

1. There's a guaranteed audience, with a very specific demographic. It's very easy to sell advertising for such a specific market.
2. There's a cheap staff that won't need relocating, training, raises, etc. They're even excited about the opportunity. And after graduation, they can be funneled into other media properties for relatively low costs.
3. It looks good that a media conglomerate has an interest in up-and-coming journalists.

It can be a beneficial arrangement for newspapers too -- independent college papers spend a lot of time worrying about money and newspapers supported by colleges or universities have an inherent bias issue.

P.S. The Wall Street Journal has also been a bastion of good journalism in the past -- will Rupert Murdoch keep up the high standards? Today, journalists aspire to the WSJ's standards. Will they still be setting benchmarks for the rest of us? Or will they fall in line with Murdoch's conservative slant?