October 2004

‘A J-School Year’ provides insight into journalism school life

In these days of journalistic turmoil, what is it like to spend a year in a modern American journalism school preparing to be the next generation to enter the nation’s newsrooms? What can we expect from this new crop of journalists, and what should students considering a career in the news business know about what to expect in “j-school”?

More than two-dozen students at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications are trying to provide some answers through a new Web log project, “A J-School Year,” at http://jschoolyear.blogspot.com.

Their observations about class, about balancing school with work and life’s other necessities, and about the state of journalism in general are often pointed. One woman writes about her frustration at not being able to take journalism courses as a freshman. Another suggests that to reach the new generation of readers, it might be necessary for journalists to write with their personal opinions clearly showing. You’ll get an inside look at what really goes on in “senior semester” – the capstone courses in which students work in the school’s broadcast and print newsrooms to produce a daily cable newscast and a weekly newspaper and Web site.

And, of course, there are the ever-present gripes about parking.

“These students are providing insights valuable not only to those thinking of a journalism career, but to industry professionals who need to know what their next generation of employees values,” says instructor Doug Fisher, who co-founded the project with associate professor Ernest Wiggins.

One of the “bloggers” checks in from Washington, where she is covering the nation’s capital as part of a media and politics internship. Others are struggling just to hold down jobs and study for classes. Wiggins and Fisher purposely have recruited a wide range of students, from freshmen to seniors already out in the job market, and across the school’s sequences: print, electronic, public relations, advertising and visual communications.

“A J-School Year” began when a recruiter called Fisher, a former AP news editor and the school’s primary editing instructor, wondering why more minority students did not go into editing careers. “What better way than letting students tell us themselves through this new and sometimes disputed form of journalism, the Web log,” Fisher says.

He and Wiggins, a former reporter and editor for The (Columbia) State and Record newspapers, expanded the concept to allow students to provide their insight on a broad range of issues.

Students and professionals alike are encouraged to visit the Web log, not only to read, but also to leave comments on the postings.