By Riddhi Setty
WASHINGTON – It took Callie Hitchcock 100 job applications to get her current internship at The New Republic. Although she loves her job, Hitchcock knows she can’t stay there forever.
“I don’t think we should tell anybody don’t be a journalist because of the market, but in my experience, I sent out so many applications before I got this internship,” she said. “Even after this internship, I’m going to have to do it all again.”
On the same floor,veteran journalist Walter Shapiro, a staff writer at The New Republic, knows first-hand what Hitchcock is experiencing right now. “Getting jobs in the early ’70s was not particularly easy,” said Shapiro.
When he first set out to find a job, Shapiro sent out around 60-70 letters to different publications. He explained that he didn’t want publications to be deterred by the idea of paying for travel and accommodation for an interview. Shapiro said, “I would write totally implausible letters, saying, ‘By chance I will be passing through Wilmington, North Carolina, in about two weeks and I was wondering if we could set up an interview.’”
The difficulty of finding a job in the field of journalism is acknowledged by most journalists, not just in one organization, but across the country. According to Andrew Flowers, an economist at Indeed, there has been a 30% decline in journalism job postings on Indeed in the past year.
Flowers explained that the downward trajectory of local news outlets has been a large contributor to the decline in jobs. “Local newspapers have been decimated since the great recession,” he said.
Shapiro echoed Flowers’ sentiments, saying, “Ten years ago, I worried about who will ever pay for coverage in Pakistan. Now I worry about who will ever pay for coverage of a corrupt city government in a second tier American city.”
The decline of local papers means the decline of the traditional model of journalism. Now, as jobs at local papers are dwindling, it is becoming harder for those who are entering the field to get their foot in the door.
Inarguably, the uncertainty that has followed the decline of traditional media has troubled, and even influenced, the career choices of aspiring journalists. The discouraging data about the availability of jobs in journalism has left students and veteran journalists alike wondering if there truly is a future in the field.
“When I was younger, my dream job would be to work for Time magazine, but I don’t think that’s viable now, to work for a print magazine,” said Maria Wong, a political science major at the University of California, Berkley.
According to data collected by the Pew Research Center, in 2008, there were about 114,000 newsroom employees. By 2018, that number had declined to about 86,000. That means newsroom employment dropped by 25% from 2008 to 2018.
Patricia Gallagher Newberry, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, admits that despite her own successful journalism career, her opinion on the field from a parent’s perspective would be different.
Despite being a “huge advocate for journalism education,” Newberry’s role as a parent would mean looking at the field from an outside perspective. She said, “As a mom, I would have to say I’m not sure. The industry looks like it’s struggling; where are you going to get a job? What’s that job going to look like?” (None of Newberry's three children expressed an interest in pursuing journalism in college.)
Linden O’Brien-Williams, a strategic communications major at the University of Missouri, became all too familiar with parental concerns regarding the field of journalism when she told her parents she wanted to be a journalist.
“They would send me articles about how hard it is to get into journalism and how it is dying,” she said. However, this didn’t deter O’Brien-Williams and she eventually decided to pursue her passion.
Kimberly Cataudella, a journalism major at American University, is confident about the future of journalism. “I think the internal structure of journalism is still fine because journalists know what they are doing and they know the importance of what they are doing,” she said.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the field, many experienced journalists are still holding out hope as well. Mark Horvit, a professor at the University of Missouri, prefers to remain optimistic. Horvit said that while it is a competitive field, his students are still getting jobs.
Many of his students are currently working for prominent organizations such as ProPublica and The New York Times. “They’re making more money now than I ever made as a journalist and they’re in their 20s,” said Horvit.
Flowers explained that the death of local newspapers does not mean the death of journalism. “Deep investigative journalism at the national level is as good as it’s ever been,” said Flowers. “The New York Times and The Washington Post are more profitable than they have been in the last 20 years at least.”
USA Today reporter Jorge Ortiz explained that while the traditional path may no longer be easily available “in some ways getting a job now is easier because of citizen journalism.”
Although journalists may disagree on where the field is headed, the one thing they all agree on is the power and importance of journalism. “I think that as long as there is a public, there is a need to serve that public,” said Galen Bacharier, a journalism major at the University of Missouri.
Cataudella recounted a recent incident where she overheard someone say “some journalists are better than others but they’re all evil.” She said, “The fact that people don’t understand the power that the press holds, and the things journalists do for them, is very disheartening.”
According to Horvit, journalists aren’t the only ones facing problems. “Everybody whines about journalism because we’re in it, and we write about it a lot because we’re in it, but there are cutbacks in tons of industries,” he said. “If this is something you really want to do, do it now and see what you think of it, and maybe you’re still doing it in 10 years and maybe you’re not, but either way at least you got the opportunity, right?”
Kimberly Cataudella, journalism major at American University, stands in front of previous editions of The Eagle at the student media office on Nov. 20, 2019. Cataudella is a senior at American and the sports editor for The Eagle.
(Photo by Riddhi Setty)
