What's the biggest challenge facing young journalists? For me, it's money.

What is the biggest challenge for young journalists? Well, for me it's realizing that I'm not going to be a young journalist for that much longer, and because of that I wonder if I can afford to be a journalist.

I got into this business not too long ago because I felt it pulling at me. The importance of informing communities, helping people understand their place in their community and the world, the need to challenge those in power...these ideas struck me and inspired me to leave a job in PR that just started paying off financially.

Despite a bump in the road (a graduate program that failed to deliver), I've been pretty happy with my decision to enter journalism. I work at an innovative paper, er news organization, that gives me opportunities to report for print, for the Web and for television; it gives me space to explore lots of stories; it's taught me multimedia storytelling methods and has made me feel as if my decision to enter journalism was the right one. Unlike some outlets, this paper takes chances and encourages innovation and exploration.

But, as countless journalists before me can attest, journalism doesn't pad your wallet very well.

And with the media business free falling at an alarming rate, and no true viable business model on the Web, I'm pretty sure it's going to stay that way.

Add the lack of money to a desire to live in a big city (where jobs are shrinking, not growing), and I have a pretty good reason to wonder if I can afford to be a reporter. After all, I've got debts to pay and it's nice to be able to eat and drive my car.

There are social pressures, too. All of my friends, it seems, are getting married, buying houses, having babies. If a woman will ever agree to it, I'd like to get married someday. My romantic failures aside, the prospects of a reporter's paycheck providing the things I would like in my life are slim.

I am satisfied knowing that I am achieving what I want in journalism. But the future is scary. With 30 on the horizon, I realize that I'm not so young anymore and I'm tired of Ramen noodles, tasty as they are.

Can I afford to be a journalist? I just don't know.

"I have to find people who need help"

This video is one of the reasons I am training to be a journalist. On this day of days (well, yesterday), I always recall the video of Dr. Mark Heath, who hid behind a small car as one of the towers collapsed, then immediately went to find people he could help.

At one point in my life, I thought I would join the military to serve my country, avenge this day and do something. Well, those dreams faded, but I learned that I could help my country by writing and reporting and fostering the free flow of information.

I've searched for this video for six years.

In Which I Create Multimedia

I had my first day on the job at the Lawrence Journal-World yesterday. Not much happened, newswise, but I covered the Lawrence Fall Arts and Crafts Festival. It was a nice community event, and the story can be found HERE. There's also some decent video that I took with a handheld digital camera. I always thought these videos were done with heavy duty equipment, but this was a similar camera to what I own...and that is about as heavy duty as a toy dump truck. Anyway, it was great to be in the newsroom and learn the ropes. Woohoo!

Click this link to Watch the video.

I am a machine

Since I've started grad school, I've not had that many opportunities to do a lot of writing in class. Luckily, I have started writing for the University Daily Kansan, the well-respected student daily here. Most grad students don't write for the paper, but I want to have as much writing under my belt as I can.

I'm going to get a lot more experience.

Today, I was hired on as a part-time reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World, the daily here in Larryville. I'm psyched! I guess this means I'm a working journalist. It's cool and weird at the the same time. Mostly cool, though.

A precarious start to a career?

There’s a huge kerfuffle in Santa Barbara you may have heard about. Long story short: The owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, Wendy McCaw, is essentially steering the editorial side to encompass her views, much to the disdain of a shrinking readership and staff.

But that’s not deterred one young reporter from jumping on board (fourth item). Tom Risen, the son of NYT’s James Risen, is the newest hire at the Santa Barbara News-Press. I met Tom on Halloween — he was Hunter S. Thompson, I was quail huntin’ Dick Cheney — and he seemed like a good guy. He is a Medill classmate of my friend, and newbie Tribune reporter Matt Lynch. I wish Tom the best, but wonder if that culture is the best place to begin a career. It seems to me that it would be beneficial to land in a newsroom that is not rife with conflict (tough to do these days, I know), one that could truly help a young reporter become the best he could be.

I hope Tom is able to grow as a journo, but I am afraid the distractions at the paper might be overwhelming. In any case, good luck Tom!

The top seven things I want to learn in j-school

I’m going to j-school to learn to be a journalist. Even though I majored in journalism in college, I’m certain that by getting an advanced degree and honing my skills and expanding my network, I am doing myself a favor. Here are the top 10 things I hope to learn over the course of the next two years.

1) Writing: I’m a pretty good writer. In fact, if I have one skill, that’s it. But I know I can be a better writer. And I’ve been slinging corporate key messages for so long, I think a good kick in the ass will be good for me.

2) Reporting: This seems obvious, but there’s a difference in compiling information and actually reporting a story. There’s more to it. I want to learn how to go deep into a story or situation and quickly identify the story. I can tell you who, what and where, but I want to know “why.”

3) Video/photo/Web: Since MT is apparently really hard for me to master, and the customer service reps don’t get back to me, I want to learn to create cool video, exciting phtos and real, interactive, effective Web sites. I’m pretty excited that I’ve been able to do some of that on another blog I keep for work, and I want to take it to the next level.

4) Interviewing: Another obvious one, but something I’ve struggled with for a while. When I spoke to people for my work with the Chi-Town Daily News, I asked some good questions, but it took me time to develop them. After thinking for a few minutes or rehashing notes, the smart questions came. But I want to ask them on a dime and not have to pause to digest information before my questions are the important ones that unlock the key to a story.

5) How to get (and keep) a job: It’s going to be tougher now, I think, than in almost any time before in journalism. And it’s going to be hard as heck to go where I want to go, which is, of course, Sweet Home Chicago. Joe Grimm had some good advice on his careers page at Poynter, courtesy of the Trib’s recruiter. I’ll keep it in mind and hope the wind blows me back, via Chicago.

6) Bravery: I’m not looking for the Silver Star here, but I want to get over the fear I sometimes have of talking to the man on the street. I covered a gay pride prom a while back and the one thing I really wanted to do was talk to a couple on a date. But I didn’t. I talked to a bunch of people, but I could have made a decent story great if I’d found the courage to mingle more. It just felt awkward disturbing people at their prom. I’m not that happy with the story (and I wrote that shitty headline…yech), but it’s a lesson to me that a story can always be improved by a little gumption. This will also help me to…

7) Take steps to be a foreign correspondent: I don’t know how the heck I’m going to do this, but it is totally fascinating to me. I don’t know if it’s something i’d want to do full-time, because frankly I don’t have the language skills to go anywhere other than an English speaking country, but I look at young reporters I admire and they’re totally doing it. Evan Osnos at the Tribune is in his early 30s and kicking ass reporting in China; my current fave reporter James Janega, also at the Trib, has written some incredible dispatches from Iraq; and the Washington Post and Fresno Bee both have 23 year old reporters covering the war. Except for the constant fear of death and abduction, I think that’s amazing.

More later. There may be more later…good news is that a new computer is on the way!

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