Depending on one’s general disposition (or mood on a particular day), studying journalism right now is either an important, exciting endeavor or a big, costly mistake.

The beginning

For me, journalism is all I’ve ever wanted to do. What’s been happening the past couple of years has broken my heart and caused me at my lowest moments to wonder why I didn’t study something practical, like accounting.

After completing the master’s program at the Missouri School of Journalism, I was lucky enough to be included in what turned out to be the last round of hires at a daily metro newspaper.

I’m hired, now what?

It was my dream job. I felt like I was part of something important, even though only a small sector of the public cared about the rural and suburban town issues I wrote about. I felt hopeful that I’d eventually move up the ranks of beats, as reporters always had, and maybe even snag a coveted features writing position. Other journalists at a similar point in their careers when it all hit the fan can relate to what happened next.

Uh-oh

Money for travel and training dried up. Positions went unfilled as people left, mostly for jobs outside newspapers. Beats merged, and reporters who had been at the paper for years had to go back to covering government meetings. Morale plunged. And this was at a relatively stable newspaper without layoffs.

Then there was this newfangled Internet thing. Surprisingly enough, even though I left j-school in 2005, I had been required to take only one credit hour on multimedia journalism. I had no idea what was to come.

Techno-what?

I’m a words person. I love writing and editing and grammar and all of those other topics that make me a fun date. In my other life I was probably a copy editor or English teacher. So imagine my surprise when, during a training for multimedia journalism at The Poynter Institute, I learned that I also liked producing videos, audio slideshows and other multimedia components. And I wasn’t bad at it.

I began to see journalists as storytellers, no matter the medium. I felt hope. Back at the paper, I created a blog, shot and edited videos to go along with print stories and eagerly looked for ways to get more involved with multimedia.

The old print vs. online

But my new priorities as a multimedia storyteller conflicted with my duties as a print reporter. Over time, my interest waned.

I accepted the possibility that change in the industry might not come from established media corporations that are cutting journalists in favor of tech people.

Why can’t we be both? This idea isn’t new, and there are plenty of multimedia journalists out there who are both and will lead us through these times.

Finding a new path

After much soul-searching, I decided I’d do more good for journalism by sharing my passion for the craft and interest in online journalism with the next generation. This change has made me hopeful for journalism again.

Friends in (and out of) the journalism world questioned the ethics of encouraging young people to go into a dying profession, only to get laid off and end up in nursing school to learn something practical.

A hopeful future

After observing enthusiastic high school journalists who care about ethics, want nothing more than to tell stories and know how to communicate through technology better than I ever will, I’m convinced that journalism will survive. I believe j-school students studying media history in 2050 will be writing term papers about how we came out of all this. Chances are, they will be writing about major players who today are still in school and have yet to decide to go into journalism.

To make sure this happens, journalism educators are working hard to keep up as high school newsrooms transition as well. I don’t have all the answers of how this will happen, but by giving students the right tools, listening to their ideas and keeping an open mind, we’ll make this transition successful.

This blog will be a place to compile resources and lessons for journalism teachers and students and to share examples of good work coming out of professional and scholastic journalism.

And I promise to try to stay in the mode of thinking that studying journalism is an exciting pursuit rather than a mistake. But if I begin to question it, I’ll share that, too. Happy storytelling.