How to get a job in the media

Do you want to work in the media? If so, you are in good company. The chances are that a lot of your friends will want the same thing. Everyone knows the media is an attractive sector to work in, with more applicants than jobs. However, you should also know that the media is in a constant state of change.

If you want to work in the media, the chances are that you are interested in making content. Content is what the media produce. Traditionally examples of content are newspaper articles, televisions programmes or even arty photographs in magazines. All these things are content. However, this is only one type of content.

Broadband access is becoming much more popular. So, media companies want to take advantage of this and encourage people to view their content on the internet. For example, a popular television programme may be shown once a week on BBC 1. However, if the people behind the show set up a website, people can enjoy the show whenever they like. The can watch videos of the programme, read about the presenters or play quizzes and games.

The people that create the content for the website will need different skills to the people that make the tv programme. They will need to understand websites and be able to work with graphics, links and multimedia files. At the moment, most big media companies are really interested in multimedia content. This is the presentation of video, sound, graphics and photographs. It is often used to tell a story and usually allows the user to interact with it (ie press buttons and make things happen.)

All this means that there is more to think about for young people who want to work in the media. Despite the constant changes and impact of the internet, doing a good course is probably the best place to start.

The smart move

There are a lot of journalism courses on offer in this country. Unfortunately the quality does vary, with some smaller colleges and private companies having a shaky reputation. However, some organisations have been teaching journalism for decades and do have a good name. For example, Cardiff University and the University of Central Lancashire both have the right type of reputation and enjoy strong links with the industry.

However, there are still a number of choices facing prospective students. Should they study a purely academic subject at undergraduate level and then do a journalism course after that(at postgraduate level.) This is a very traditional route. However, places like UCLan do offer good undergraduate degrees in journalism. These days, time and money are limited, and people want to get on with their careers.

A practical option may be to apply to UCLan to study an undergraduate degree in journalism. At the moment UCLan offer six different degrees in journalism. They are; International Journalism, Sports Journalism, Journalism, Digital Journalism Production, Combined Honours Journalism and Journalism and English. So, there are still decisions to make.

Skills that will take you higher

While all these courses do look good, a student who is aware of what is happening in the media today may well choose to study Digital Journalism Production. This course does its best to prepare students for the future, so it is a good practical choice. It teaches students how to use multimedia, using exciting stuff like video and Flash. It also puts an emphasis on how to make editorial decisions. Editorial decisions are all about the judgment,and is a hugely important skill.

A student completing a course like this in the next few years would be in a great position. They will have a good qualification from a proper university. They will also have the skills to create content and should get a job pretty quickly. So who do want to work for? The BBC, Sky, ITV, ITN, Channel 4, Channel 5, MTV or Disney?

Links

The Department of Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire

Cardiff University

The Broadcast Journalism Training Council

The National Council for the Training of Journalists