The Advocate in Burnie has advertised for journalists. Nothing unusual in that, except they have pitched the ad at non-journalists.
I find this intriguing and refreshing. I’ve employed some mature people before who weren’t trained journalists and I saw a couple come through earlier in my career with mixed results.
Mostly though, they were successful. It’s like the adage that nobody has stronger faith than the convert.
The Advocate has stated they want people who are committed to their community, adding that people skills and writing skills are key attributes.
I think it’s the right approach. Too many graduates start work with a country paper looking no further ahead than 12-24 months.
Even if they are familiar with the local community they still need to build networks and some of their university habits need to be knocked out of them, especially those related to deadlines.
At one stage in Kalgoorlie I had nearly an entire newsroom of recent university graduates, and although they were all good people who tried hard, it wasn’t the ideal scenario.
Like everything, a balance is good. Our industry has trouble retaining people, largely because of the pay levels which are inferior to what’s on offer in marketing, public relations and politics for ambitious graduates.
That reality makes the recruitment of mature people from non-journalism backgrounds a good option if they have local knowledge and a long-term commitment to the community.
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Pay is one reason good journalists don’t hang around but the old media institutions are another. They don’t command the respect of days of old through sliding ethical standards and poor journalism and they can’t move into the new media with grace and an understanding of the way people ‘consume’ media now. Having a well-rounded reporter is a blessing for the company but the reporter can end up getting screwed by having to write / take pics / record video / edit sound / write analysis / sub copy. And how can they be good at all of them – or even care? Maybe specialists aren’t such a bad thing after all.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Some people like the variety. As an editor I let experienced people specialise, if they’re good at it and that’s what they want to do. Others like to have more diversity in their work.