Changing times

02Jul08

I have a friend who is currently interning at The Tampa Tribune, and she recently blogged about the restructuring taking place there. They are making some big (and kinda exciting) changes.

However, with that restructuring comes more layoffs… and layoffs seem to be an inevitable epidemic in the field of journalism right now. Which is understandable, given that newspaper profits are down. But it’s enough to have an aspiring journalist, such as myself, a little bit nervous about my professional future.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way considering changing my direction. I am here to report the news. End of story. But I’m starting to think I may need more than good clips, internships and editorial and layout experience to get my foot in the door.

The future of journalism is online. That’s just the cold hard truth. And while I can fairly adeptly manage a Web site through Microsoft FrontPage, my other Web editing skills have gotten rusty in the four years since I took Web design classes.

So I started looking into Web design programs at local community colleges. And I was surprised to find that one, Baker College, offers an Associates in Web Development. Even better, it offers the program completely online.

I’m still in the process of acquiring information on the program, and weighing it against just taking a few refresher courses. Something needs to be done, that much I know. Good thing part of my attraction to journalism was the fact that I’d constantly be learning something new.

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Tags: Journalism, musings, webwork