CJR Poll - CJR, September/October 1999

September/October 1999 | Contents

CJR Poll
Would You Want Your Kid to Be a Journalist?

By Neil Hickey

If your son or daughter approached you for career advice, would you recommend or discourage journalism as a life’s work? And what reasons would you offer?

In collaboration with the nonprofit, nonpartisan research firm Public Agenda, we posed those queries to cjr’s panel of high-level editors and news directors around the country. Ninety-one filled out our not-for-attribution questionnaire. Of those respondents, 57 percent work on newspapers, 12 percent in television, 11 percent on magazines, and 7 percent in radio. (Eleven percent specified "other.") Only 1 percent are full-time online journalists, but roughly a tenth have at least some online reporting or editing experience.

In a rousing vote of confidence for the profession, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of the news people we polled declared they would indeed encourage their offspring to pursue journalism as a career. Less than a fifth (19 percent) said they’d steer young people away from it. And 2 percent came down firmly on both sides of the question: they’d encourage it for some reasons and discourage it for others.

When we asked our panel which particular medium they’d recommend for their sons and daughters, newspapers came in number one with 59 percent of the vote. But – perhaps not so surprisingly – online journalism was second by a nose, with a walloping 58 percent. Trailing behind came magazines (31 percent), television (21 percent), and radio (13 percent). Eight percent said they’d recommend no news medium at all.

Among the panelists who would encourage their sons and daughters to enter journalism, one news person struck the commonest chord:

- "Journalism still offers the challenge of public service and being on the cutting edge of what is happening in our society. It nourishes the hunger for learning. One reporter, one photographer, one artist, one editor can still make a difference."

- "If money is not the object, you can’t beat journalism as a career – the endless learning, the constant change, the daily challenge, and, most importantly, service to the public. But you have to be willing to make journalism the center of your life. Balancing family and work, while do-able, will be a challenge."

- "I recommend it because of the opportunity it affords to be a part of every action, movement, change. But most of all because reporting the truth is a more satisfying way to earn a living than 90 percent of the (more lucrative) occupations dangled in front of young people today."

Thirty percent of our respondents either, a) would discourage kids from being journalists, or b) are "not sure" exactly which way to steer them. Excerpts from those opinions:

- "The profession has changed. Sensationalism is more widespread. In the field, I’m surprised now if I’m treated with the dignity afforded the average citizen."

- "Too much bottom-line pressure and not enough emphasis on good journalism, ethics, and quality. Pay is inconsistent with work and responsibilities. Downsizing has created a much-too-stressful work environment."

- "I want something better for my kids than working for some tight-fisted corporate henchman."

- "The commitment to real journalism is not there. Now that affirmative action is passé, there is no urgency to address diversity – a particular hardship for African-Americans. I would tell my daughter to run – don’t walk – in the other direction."

One TV newsman in the "discourage" group displayed a good-humored ambiguity about his advice. He complained about the long hours and low pay and lamented that the profession often "leaves a trail of disappointment." He and his wife have insisted that their daughters focus on math and science and "careers that are more likely to last a lifetime."

What’s the most promising news medium for young people to enter today? That query elicited some strong views. One of the many enthusiasts for online voiced the consensus: "It’s the future – and there’s more money in it for beginners and apprentices, for those who can figure out how to make it work."

Another: "Online opportunities are growing fast. The upside is practically unlimited. Good people with strong values and journalistic instincts will be sorely needed."

One news person who recommended an online career also checked off newspapers and magazines, saying, "The journalist of the 21st century must be a renaissance man/woman skilled at reporting the news through all possible mediums."

nm,m a television news background, that print journalism, both newspapers and online, is the only relevant press left."

In the end, newspapers were the top choice of our panelists for their progenies’ vocation. Why? "Because newspaper journalism has been, is now, and will be the basic form of communication on which all other media are based."

One newspaper editor had a fairly airtight reason for recommending that his son go into journalism: "He would be doing God’s work." The editor then recommended newspapers as the best medium for the kid. "No serious person I know," he asserted, "would get his or her news any other way."