Storming the media barricades – advice for young journalists
This week Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen, who began his career four years ago, gave the keynote address to would-be journalists at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s Student Day. This is an edited version of his speech.
Good afternoon, I can remember distinctly the last time I was in this room.
It was 2009 and I was sitting where you are. I’d come to this event, a friend and myself — from memory we sat up the back — and I can remember at the time wondering if I’d ever get a job as a journalist.
It was only four years ago and then as now getting a job was ultra competitive but I’m not sure there was quite as much media ‘doom and gloom’ as there is now…
Good piece. “Make contacts, work hard, make the best of ‘shit kicker’ tasks” apply to any job.
A great way to get in – if you’ve got the luxury of working unpaid for months on end. What about the students who need to work four days a week to eat more than 2-minute mi goreng noodles? How can they tackle indefinite unpaid internships? They can’t. It baffles me why close to 5,000 kids sign up for journalism courses each year.
They’re you go kids, that’s called enthusiasm. Well done to you, Nic. If you don’t live, breathe, soak-up media everyday then give the game away. I’ve interviewed a stack of media graduates for jobs and they openly admit they never read a newspaper or magazine. Knowing Kim Kardashian doth not a journalist make…