Marketing/Advertising or Journalism: You make the call!
A year ago, a media recruiter told me that people in advertising almost never make the crossover to editorial or viceversa. She said it rarely happened in her 15 year’s experience in the media.
I guess she has a valid view, after all she’s been a media professional and recruiter for so long. But it also makes me think about how many of students in my masters of journalism class come from an advertsing/marketing background, and are there to change into the journalism field.
The media industry comprises several academic and workforce fields, these include advertising, marketing, PR, copywrting, media management and events, creative services, film/radio/tv production,graphic design, photography, publishing, media traffic and booking, media sales, and journalism (Print/TV/Radio/Online).
If you look at the online employment agencies in Australia, you’ll find that most of the jobs are in all the fields other than journalism. After looking for a journalism opening for months, I realised how many openings there was on daily basis for marketing/advertising, and especially in the online environment.
It definetely got me thinking. Should I be in a marketing/advertising or related field? Should I pursue the online world, after all that’s the way the industry is going? But I like traditional media! I did grow up with it, you know!
I started asking colleagues, ex and current uni mates, teachers, recruiters, friends working in the media abroad, everyone I could possibly think of that had some involvement with the media.
These are some views in common they shared about working in journalism:
1. Many aspiring journalists end up working in marketing/advertising PR, especially after uni.
2. If you haven’t done much work experience in journalism
3. It’s easier to get a job in the marketing/advertising/PR fields, there will always be more job openings.
4. Salaries are usually better in marketing/advertising/PR than in journalism with less work.
5. The deadlines in marketing/advertising/PR are not really daily or hourly, they tend to be more spread out and flexible. (One friend said: you usually tend to drive yourself from the office to ‘events’ (with champagne included) rather than being all day reporting from location, and with no social time.
6. It’s hard to crack a job in journalism as most jobs advertised are senior level.
7. Even if the job ad is entry-level, it will be given to the more experienced candidate. So, how can you get even an entry level journalist role to gain jexperience if no-one gives you the chance?
8. You have to do a lot of unpaid work to get a job in journalism, and many people can’t afford it. So, they tend to look for a paid job in a related media field.
9. The Australian journalism industry is small compared to the United States, and with a higher peer competition, the old saying- “it’s not what you know, instead who you know”, makes more sense than ever.
10. Because many aspiring journalists aren’t given the chance, and fall in another field like marketing/advertising/PR, they can really like it, and they can stay there and move up the corporate ladder in different directions.
