Looking To The Future: Passion Overcomes Fear for Many Young Journalists

With employment rates across the news industry expected to decline 14 percent within the next eight years, U.S. newspapers making their staff reapply for jobs and reporters earning significantly less than the average U.S. wage, one would expect young journalists entering the workforce today to feel more apprehensive about their career choices than ever before.
However, hyper-passionate would be a good description for many young journalists at the 2014 Excellence in Journalism conference. Armed with briefcases, badges, resumes and hope, students and recent graduates invaded the hallways and conference rooms of Thursday’s EIJ conference. The glum outlook many talk about when referring to the future of journalism does not scare them in the slightest.
“I’ve always been into journalism. I’m not going to get scared now. It’s what I love to do, and it’s what I know,” Amanda Cordero, 21, senior at Emerson College said.
Cordero studies broadcast journalism and said she knows coming to events like EIJ are important for networking.
“Networking is so important when you’re just starting out and trying to get your name and work out there,” she said.
Orko Manna, 20, is a junior at Northwestern University. His love for broadcast journalism overcomes any fear of entering the field.
“Journalism is something I truly love. I love filming. I love telling stories. It’s not about the money so much as it is about my passion for the job,” he said.
Manna said he is focused on getting as much experience as he can while in early career stages so he will be an appealing job candidate down the road.
“People are always concerned about getting experience on student papers and things like that, which is good, but there are so many professional publications you can intern at and submit work to. These kinds of experiences are extremely important,” he said.
As a second year graduate student getting his master’s degree in newsgathering for print and broadcast at the University of Colorado Boulder, Lars Gesing has been immersed in living and learning the journalistic world for most of his upper education.
He said professors and other journalism professionals often warn him about his career choice, but he isn’t backing down.
“There’s always going to be journalism. The platforms are changing, but I’m not afraid. I will have to adapt, but I don’t care where my stories appear as long as they make a difference,” he said.