ATTENTION YOUNG JOURNALISTS - BE YOUR OWN BRAND

Journalism has obviously been a cyclical profession and is reflected in journalism school enrollments (1), especially since I started my career in the mid-1970's. When I left the University of Missouri-Columbia J-school in 1979, jobs and good pay were plentiful, especially in local TV news where I worked as a reporter/photographer in Missouri, Kansas, Texas and Florida.

One thing I've learned since then - you will be penalized by journalism employers for growing older and being more expert at what you do, especially in TV news. I also learned that with such a nomadic and volatile employment environment, it's best to have additional non-journalism skills that can serve as a back-up "day job". That's why I morphed in the mid-1980's into corporate TV production, public relations, movie and network TV production. Now, I am on a path to teach middle and high school history and am attending college again.

Today, compared to the 1970's and 1980's, young people with a journalism degree have so many more opportunities to do what they love because of the dramatically increased numbers of ways they can reach a news audience - print, "radio", magazine, TV - as a result of the Internet and wireless device revolution. The medium is no longer the message (sorry Marshall McLuhan), the CONTENT is now finally the message.

You Tube, podcasts, blogs, Internet radio channels and networks (iTunes, IHeartRadio, etc.) and other ways of connecting with an audience proliferate now. Back when I started as a journalist, there were local TV, radio and newspapers to work for and to gain experience with, and of course the big national newspapers and network television news programs were there for a select few achievers to join. No CNN or Fox News, no Yahoo News. The opportunities were limited.

Porter Versfelt III in the Florida Everglades working for 

WCKT-TV (NBC) in 1981. The station news helicopter is on the left.

I and my young colleagues back then would have killed to have so many ways to distribute our work. Today I believe, if you are a good journalist and writer, and perhaps also have a good on-camera presence (video), you are in control and do not have to be dependent on working for a news organization. I urge you to freelance, BE your own brand. There are no limits to your future. You are now in the age of Free-agent Journalism.

(1) Anderson, Monica, Pew Research Center: "The Job Market Tightens, But New Journalism Grads Remain Upbeat" (06 August 2014) Source: Journalism Enrollment Study

Copyright 2014, Porter Versfelt III

CNN's Soledad O'Brien - "Social Change" Journalist?

This is an interesting examination of one well-known CNN news anchor and her supposed objectivity.

Michelle Malkin's analysis here rings true, as I have witnessed and experienced this same kind of behaviour among TV anchors and journalists whom I have worked with over the years - from Missouri to Miami and Abilene (Texas) to Atlanta, including at CNN.

Anecdotally, it is interesting to note that many TV photojournalists (TV news cameramen) are often much more conservative than their in-front-of-the-camera, hair-sprayed colleagues.

Malkin writes in her piece (see full article link below):

" ... If you don’t accept the left-leaning agenda of “social change” journalism, you’re enabling racism. If you don’t support the pursuit of racial hiring goals as a primary journalistic and academic goal, you’re selling out."

"Now you know the reason for O’Brien’s thin-skinned reaction to Obama’s critics. When you vet the president, you vet the media. And they don’t like the narrative table-turning one bit."

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/03/14/whats-the-matter-with-soledad-obrien/

It is mind-blowing to me that so many in TV news - both on the network and local levels - cannot see that their on-air advocacy hurts their brand, their credibility and ultimately, the reputation of journalism overall in the United States of America.

Update @ 1413 14 March 2012:

Upon reading this blog, a colleague reminds me not to paint ALL TV journalists with the same broad brush and that many are "moderate" rather than liberal.

I respectfully disagree.

In my 30 years of professional experience in news and regular media, and observing them to present-day, I see that on-air TV journalists - anchors and reporters - are more often than not liberal, especially on the network level. The "system" and corporate culture seems to weed the conservatives out of high-profile, decision-making and public positions.

I have met many, many closet conservatives while working at CNN, NBC and ABC News, local TV news in Miami and Atlanta, and in "Hollywood". I am often approached on the "down-low" by them, eager to speak to a kindred conservative soul in such a liberal profession where they dare not reveal their true beliefs without risking their jobs. In my view it is the new McCarthyism.

One of the reasons I chose to leave regular TV news employment was because of its inherent and pervasive liberality. Off-air comments and discussions among newsroom staff were often disparaging and jaded about anyone or any group who didn't agree with their world-view.

While objectivity isn't an absolute of course, one CAN try, and in my experience, many (not most) TV news reporters and producers don't try very hard today.