Just one quarter of journalism grads find a job in media
Three-quarters of journalism graduates fail to land a job in the industry, despite courses typically costing young Australians $19k.
The new analysis, obtained by Mumbrella, is derived from a survey of 120,000 former students across all subjects, taken four months after studies finish.
Click to read January’s original Graduates Outcomes Survey
Mumbrella’s investigation raises concerns universities are enrolling too many young people and failing to prepare them adequately for what opportunities exist.
We can also report that, despite the huge number of redundancies in the industry this decade, the amount of students studying the subject has held steady at 4,800 a year – a slight increase from 4,700 in 2010.
The revelations are the second in a week-long Mumbrella investigation into how journalism is becoming a profession dominated by the wealthy. The full details will be published tomorrow.
The 2017 Graduates Outcomes Survey, published in January 2018, is a national online survey among ex-students of 97 universities and higher education institutions.
A total of 120,747 responses were collected across all subjects, representing a response rate of 45%. Ex-students were quizzed between November to December 2016 and May to July 2017.
In total, four months after graduating, 71.8% of those surveyed were employed full-time working in managerial or professional occupations.
However, for the first time, today’s new analysis reveals the success of those wanting to work as journalists.
Of the 512 journalism graduates surveyed, just 26.1% were subsequently employed in the industry. It is unknown how many of the remaining respondents acquired jobs in adjacent roles such as PR.
Mumbrella can also report that despite the number of jobs in the industry seemingly decreasing, the number of young people signing up for pricey courses has remained stable.
In 2016, the last year total figures are available, 4,787 young people enrolled in a journalism course, compared to 4,692 in 2010. Recently, numbers peaked at 5,202 in 2014.
Currently, students in Australia have their fees subsidised by the government, and pay only what is known as a “student contribution amount”. While there are slight variations depending on the course and number of units (or modules) per year, a typical humanities student will likely pay $6,444 a year or $19,332 in total for a three-year degree.
Speaking as part of tomorrow’s full Mumbrella investigation, former The Daily Telegraph editor Garry Linnell questioned whether a university education is necessarily the best preparation for a journalism job.
He said: “I don’t think it really matters if you come out of university or not if you’re keen enough and curious enough. People mature at different ages and I don’t think you’re going to have one catch-all philosophy which says that, ‘OK, you need a university degree to get a job on our staff.’”
Former The Daily Telegraph editor and ex-Fairfax cadet Garry Linnell
Postman’s son Linnell started his career as a cadet at The Age in the ’80s, but was one of three hired straight from high school, a practice largely unheard of in 2018.
It also stands in contrast to the new Fairfax training scheme, which requests students are “tertiary qualified”.
“If you see the crap being taught in some of these so-called journalism schools, then I’d much rather pull some kid out of year 12 and say, ‘Off you go for a couple of years and we’re going to skill you up,’” Linnell continued.
“These so-called J-schools… some of them are good, some of them are really doing some good stuff. But I tell you what, they’re very, very patchy and they should be so much better.
“Why does it take three or four years to get a journalism degree? It shouldn’t take that long, sitting in a classroom, listening to a tutor, going along one and a half days a week. They could easily graduate someone in 18 months or 12 months, no doubt about it. But then there would be fewer fees.”
Join us at Mumbrella’s Publish conference on September 20th, where we will be discussing the state of the journalism industry in our panel: ‘Has Journalism Become a Profession For the Rich?’ Details are available here.
This was the second instalment in a week-long series. Also read:
Monday (news): Broadcasters and publishers escape punishment for illegal internships
Wednesday (main feature): Journalism is becoming a profession for only the rich – so why won’t anyone talk about it?
Thursday (opinion): Degrees? Internships? No – all savvy journos require is ratlike cunning and a plausible manner
Friday (podcast – 28:30): Mumbrellacast – Illegal internships exposed
The fact that hardly any hiring editors are from the generation of “media degrees” means they’re not valued. As Linnell points out, four years to learn… what?
Far better to have economics, law, politics, finance, history, even a language, as an undergraduate degree, and have an extra string to your bow.
In the UK (back in the day, anyway) it was explicitly stated in the prospectus that undergraduate journalism degrees “were not intended to be a route directly into the industry”. Instead, you needed do [insert any degree] then the intensive nine-month NCTJ-accredited postgraduate diploma, which gave a solid grounding in media law as well as the practical skills required.
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I wonder what % of journalism grads that do get a job as a journalist are domestic vs international students?
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Why ask Linnell? It’s been a long time since he was a journalist.
Fact us that journalism schools are a rort, often promoting opinionated axe grinding polemic.
The better reporters have studied in a discipline like history or law or finance. The best learning is at work.
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Hi “Editor”
Well, I’ll explain more about why I asked Garry in tomorrow’s feature. He got his job straight from high school and rose all the way up to hold some of the most senior positions in Australian journalism – so I think he provides a very valid perspective.
I agree some journalism courses clearly aren’t doing a great job. But some of them are, too. I don’t want to tar them all with the same brush. Sadly, this is the best breakdown of figures I could obtain. I would be very intrigued to see exactly which ones are, and aren’t, getting students jobs in the industry!
Thanks,
Adam
It would be interesting to cross reference the stats in this article with the percentage of “entry-level” media and journalism jobs where an undergraduate degree is listed as a requirement on the job ads.
In my admittedly limited sample size of experience managers/editors/CEOs/etc are happy to say that a degree is worthless compared to practical experience but every job they advertise won’t even interview a candidate unless they have a bachelor of something.
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There are two factors that I’ve noticed … the first is that it has been obvious to anyone with the slightest interest in the media industry that journalist numbers – having risen exponentially over a number of years – are now falling, meaning there will be less opportunities. If prospective journalists bothered to do any research, they would know this and maybe do something else.
And what are the universities actually teaching? A recent release from the ABC and Uni Tas states that the journalist now doesn’t so much report news but “the role is … much-needed guidance to audiences and readers” suggesting that they see themselves as being superior to mere mortals – something that is particularly evident in the ABC where they claim their job is not to report news but “set the agenda”. When I was hiring, that kind of attitude would guarantee that the applicant didn’t get the job.
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I’m fascinated by the disconnect between what you are taught at university and what you do should you actually get a job in journalism. Must be one of the only industries where that is the case.
Surgeons are not taught where to suture and suction only to be told to ignore all that uni stuff and do it differently when they first don a surgical gown. But the same is not true in journalism. Surely that does not assist in the transition from study to employment.
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Hi editor,
“Fact us (sic) that journalism schools are a rort, often promoting opinionated axe grinding polemic.”
Please provide your source for this comment – what kind of research have you done to base this on? Have you ever been inside a journalism school or college?
Or are you just mouthing off without really knowing what you’re talking about – something you seem to be accusing graduates of doing.
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The PR industry cannibalised publishing, clients pay a fortune for ‘ free’ editorial rather than booking advertising directly with a publisher, developing a relationship and receiving added value editorial, if and when the topic delivers reader value.
Less revenue = Less journalists.
Soon all that will be left will be ‘ influencers’.
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…but can they spell?
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Max: UTS and RMIT.
Over 20 years of an open recruitment process we have never hired a j school grad.
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Hi Simon,
Completely agree, it’s fascinating. Why are thousands of young people paying for a degree which is often essentially useless? The counter argument, of course, is that it encourages independent learning through reading and research. But why should that cost $19k? It’s a ludicrous state of affairs.
Thanks,
Adam Thorn
Adam, the survey tracked students who had enrolled in a journalism course. Students majoring in other subjects sometimes enrol in journalism courses as electives. Understanding how journalism works can be useful for PR students, for example. Did the survey take into account that many of these students might not have intended to become journalists? Were respondents asked to specify their first choice career outcomes?
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Good point Christopher. My bet is that many of those 75% landed a job in PR or advertising. The degree wouldn’t have been a waste of time if you consider they likely got a good job. However, ultimately, we have many people trained to be journalists who then don’t enter the profession. This is the best breakdown I could get, but I would indeed be very, very interested to see a better breakdown.
Thanks,
Adam
Using that logic, doesn’t it mean that law, politics, finance, history, and language degrees aren’t valued because people seek work in other fields such as journalism instead of getting jobs in the legal profession, government, business and… ummm, whatever employs the other two you mentioned… maybe the historical factory and the language-speaking industry? Skills taught in journalism degrees are enormously valued in a range of new media and communications jobs. The fact that the jobs aren’t called “journalism” doesn’t make the employment less rewarding, in the same way that a history graduates aren’t considered failures if they gain employment as journalists. What exactly is the relevance of this survey?
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