Where can aspiring writers get jobs? “Everywhere”

Reporters at work, circa 1936

The media business is in complete upheaval and, my gosh, people are writing for free at places like Bleacher Report and the Huffington Post and hundreds of others. So where can aspiring journalists get jobs?

“Everywhere.”

That’s the answer Susan Brockus Wiesinger gives. She’s the new chairwoman of the journalism department at California State University, Chico.

As Robert Speer writes in the Chico News & Review, Wiesinger “is fervently making the case that, contrary to popular perception, the profession is not dying—far from it.” Speer continues:

Yes, she tells students, corporate daily newspapers are suffering mass layoffs, but the nation’s thousands of community newspapers are doing well, as are magazines. And the need for clearly and cleanly written content in other arenas—on the web, in business, on cable or broadcast television, in the public-relations field, and in many other areas—is growing rapidly.

When students ask her where they can find jobs, she has a one-word reply: “Everywhere.”

Speer writes that Wiesinger tries to make sure incoming journalism students realize that the skills they’ll learn in her department will pay dividends in almost any profession they choose. And while many journalism departments are moving away from teaching writing in favor of teaching multimedia skills, Speer writes, Wiesinger hears from employers that what they’re having trouble finding is people who can write.

Encouraging words for journalism students—and for aspiring journalists trying to hone their writing skills in non-academic settings.

Know anybody like that?

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Painting: “Movie Starlet and Reporters,” The Saturday Evening Post, March 7, 1936, by Norman Rockwell. Creative Commons, Smithsonian American Art Museum