21st Century Journalism
22 Mar 2010
Although journalists are commonly regarded as working in print, broadcast and radio, there is a new trend of convergence. We are constantly reminded by our senior lecturer the importance of journalists being a vital part of the multi-media platform in the 21st century.This means being able to work in many fields, such as self-shooting (not AK-47 associated by any means) and doing a piece-to-camera (PTC), while also sub editing with software such as Indesign and creating page layouts. In short, it is like multi-tasking. Twitter updates, or website updates are now, like it or not, a big part of modern day journalism.
The industry is suffering with constant cutbacks and as trainee journalists we are adamant in making sure we get more than just one sugar-coated skill that we need to enter the profession - getting a job after being qualified is paramount to this course. And academic pursuits are not at the forefront. Practical aptitude on the other hand, most definitely is.
Saying that, it is worth noting that the HND Practical Journalism course at Cardonald is the only course in Scotland to have links with the BA Journalism degree at Caledonian University. If and when completion and passing of the National Council for Training of Journalists preliminary exams are done, students can go on to third year at Caledonian. The Cardonald journo course is also ranked as one of the top journalism courses in the entire UK.
Louise Devlin