Why Would Anyone Pursue a Career in Journalism

A student came to my office hours this year with what she described as a “personal dilemma.” She wanted to pursue a career in journalism. Her parents, though, had some concerns. Could she really find stable work in an industry that has hemorrhaged nearly a third of its jobs in the past fifteen years – and that is expected to shed more jobs in the next decade? And even if she could find work, would it be fulfilling, given the long hours and low pay that characterize a growing share of the jobs on offer? Wouldn’t she be better off, they asked, choosing a career with a less gloomy long-term outlook?

The dilemma, while personally felt, is not unique to this one student. Seemingly everywhere, journalists confront conditions that raise questions about the viability of their chosen profession. With few exceptions, news organizations are seeing revenues decline as digital media destabilize business models and intensify competition for audiences. Most respond by cutting costs and searching for new ways to “monetize” their offerings. This brings opportunities for some; for most, though, they introduce job insecurity, wage stagnation and worsening work conditions. What’s more, journalists’ public standing has diminished, as has their role as chief mediators of public debate. Why, given these conditions, would anyone want to be a journalist?

It’s a question I’ve spent a decade thinking about and researching. With a colleague in France, I explored how journalists in Seattle and Toulouse come to believe that a career in news is worthwhile; the ways they navigate their careers in a period of economic, technological, and social upheavals; and at what point journalism, for some, ceases to be an appropriate career choice. While French and American journalism differ in many important ways, journalists–especially those working outside media capitals like New York and Paris–confront broadly similar conditions that make these foundational questions both pressing and practical.

In both cities, we found that journalism is attractive because it represents a job that is interesting and substantial. At its best, it provides opportunities for expression, a sense of self-fulfillment, and a connection to broader social values like exposing injustice and serving the cause of democracy. These views are not naively held. From the earliest moments in their careers, journalists know that they could make more money, probably working fewer hours, and certainly with greater job stability by taking jobs in public relations or marketing. The fact that they do not indicates something important about journalism: namely, that it is a career that provides rewards that cannot be reduced to money.

https://www.postalley.org/2024/06/22/why-would-anyone-pursue-a-career-in-journalism/