Journalism application rates are up – but why, and is it a good thing?

Journalism application rates are up this year, despite a tanking publishing industry. My personal take is that when people lose their jobs in a recession, or otherwise feel pressure, they take a “devil may care” attitude. Journalism is a profession that attracts people interested in making a difference and write about important issues, an ideal that may be insulated from economic factors. Applications for grad school also predictably increase across the board during economic decline. It’s anybody’s guess what the journalism world will look like in a few years. Simply put, the market for news is being filled by citizen journalism, virally propagated videos, and other user-generated content. No method of monetizing this content has yet emerged, and without money, it’s difficult to see an end in sight for the strife in this field. Some of my colleagues talk about “rebuilding” journalism from the ground up using traditional practices (reporting, writing) while others favor an embrace of convergence, where readers join in the conversation and multimedia is commonplace. Clearly I favor the latter perspective; several APOC alumni have been journalists, such as Anna Cearley, who blogs regularly on trans-border issues. The increased application rates might be a blessing to the field. The new wave of graduates could create a new framework for producing, delivering, and monetizing news and reporting. In that sense, we need the optimism, and we need new blood willing to start working hard for little pay - hey, that’s something common to traditional journalism as well!