Who the f..k is that Pulitzer?

Tags

communication, influence, journalism, public relations, Social Media, university

At the Bureau of Unemployment in Montenegro you will come across many people with the educational and professional background in journalism.  They can’t find a job, and the situation isn’t much different in the region (article on Montenegrin lenguage– I would guess globally as well what with the technology disrupting the entire sector, but on the other hand some are handling things like a threat and others like an opportunity). 

But in Montenegro, I can’t say I am surprised.  Though they are graduating, students are hardly ready for the work in the news bureau.  If they luck out and get a job, it is most likely their first experience with practical work (e.g. actually being reporters).  Their key motivation at that point in time is learning, and while we theoretically learn as long as we live, there ought to be a healthy balance between learning and hitting the ground running.  Today there are fewer media businesses every day who can afford to hire someone who needs to be trained.  And while on the topic, it seems that the situation isn’t any different when it comes to Public relations program at the University.

So what are the reasons that Montenegrin universities graduate unprepared to enter the labor force?  One is inadequate educational program that offers very little practical experience or none at all, much less an opportunity to be creative.

If at this point you’re shaking your head thinking, ‘Well in the era of smart phones where anyone can be a reporter, if you chose journalism as a career do you really need anyone to give you an opportunity to try it out?’  And this is where we come to the second reason, which is a pervasive lack of entrepreneurial initiative (I could write a blog about exception to this, but here, I’d like to talk about the trends and patterns that have become a standard).  So let us examine each one in more detail.

Students lack practical experience.  On a very basic level, Universities don’t feature adequate equipment (cameras, production studios).  On a more strategic note, Universities aren’t pursuing partnerships with the media establishments that could provide students with the badly needed exposure to the business of journalism.

A result is a bucket full of theory with limited possibility to test it, much less exposure to provocative and instructive experiences from fellow colleagues such as Pulitzer winning author Dana Priest of Washington Post.  Imagine learning about various forms of interviews through Frost-Nixon movie (as I’m typing this, I wonder if our students even know who David Frost was).  How did he get the idea to do the interview with the (in)famous president, what type of preparations did he do, how did he film the interviews, what type of manipulation was he both exposed to and tried to employ himself.  I could easily teach half of semester using the Hollywood’s interpretation of that story (Oh, have I mentioned that the film was nominated for 5 Oscars?).

A good reporter has a sixth sense and a drive to chase down the story.  Business-minded individuals are the same.  Some people are born with it, others learn it.  Universities ought to teach and inspire it, ought to create environment where entrepreneurial initiative is nurtured.  Unfortunately in Montenegro it appears that students sign up for journalism in order to ‘make it’ into one of the existing media establishments in the country or get a job with the Government (both very noble- don’t misunderstand me- but if the youth doesn’t dare and venture for something new and, well, daring, what will it do when it is no longer ‘youth’?).  This seems to be the dream job in Montenegro, as a fellow blogger Srdjan Vukcevic noted (Montenegrin language blog).

At the end of this long critique, let me offer some suggestions that may lead to reducing unemployment among fellow journalists, who I fear think that Joseph Pulitzer is a new type of cheese, jam or jeans:

• Universities who offer journalism as a degree ought to follow through with the minimum standards of equipment that provides opportunities for practical work
• Universities ought to introduce practical work as a necessary requirement for      graduation (this would necessitate partnership with the media establishments either here or elsewhere, as technology enables students to intern or work for regional and global entities).
• The second point lends itself well to stimulating entrepreneurial initiative.  Whether a student interns/works for an established media business or develops his/her own  niche, should be a matter of personal preference.  In any case, in the age of Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ and Twitter ‘retweets’ and ‘followers,’ it is relatively simple to monitor and evaluate students’ performance for all interested sides- the University, the student, and the future employer.  This doesn’t require revolutionary ideas, check out how Columbia does it- cheap and simple, yet creative and stimulating.

author: Miroslav Radojevic, MA

---