Young journalists challenged to work outside of mainstream media

Note: This post is part of this month’s Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists discussion on challenges facing young journalists.

As a young student and journalist I have one great fear after graduation — not finding a job. Strings of layoffs, hiring freezes and newsroom roadblocks to innovation keep me on edge, especially when I remember I’ll be entering the job market full time in two years.

There are other options, though. Ryan Sholin outlined great examples for digital natives doing journalism outside of MSM.

We could find an innovative project or newsroom, look for new business models (like Dave Cohn’s venture Spot.us) or start an entirely new venture.

This freedom lies before us like a mountain.

We have to rethink our education and skillsets. J-school doesn’t teach us the necessary skills to live in that freedom. Self promotion, business models, pitching ideas … these are the things journalists now contend with on top of producing content.

With these extra responsibilities comes more work, more stress and more opportunities to fail, though we can’t let that stop us. If we can prove these new methods of journalism work, they will become the methods of journalism.

Our task is to figure out how to make money with out skills while still providing useful information to the audience. The web gave us the power, now we’ve been challenged to use it.