Shrinking Newspapers: A Journalism Student's Perspective

It's a scary time to be a journalism student. When you tell people what you're studying, their reactions range from a kind-hearted but unconvincing 'oh, well I'm sure you'll be one of the few who gets a job' to an alarmed look followed by an awkward 'mm, it's an interesting time for the media, isn't it?'. It is easy to tell what they are really thinking- what is the point?

It seems that the closer I get to finishing my degree, the less likely it becomes that I will ever hold down a job with a traditional news outlet. As everyone knows, Fairfax is cutting 1,900 jobs and News Ltd is also promising to shed staff. Australian journalism is in transition. Newspapers all over the world are changing- they may even be dying. It's a story that's been around for a while, and saying that the media is not like it used to be is stating the obvious- but yet myself and many of my friends have chosen to study journalism at university. Are we crazy?

 The Australian looked into this earlier in the year, and articles like this only add to that niggling feeling that maybe we're setting ourselves up for failure. Are we ever going to use the skills we're learning in practical subjects? Will anyone care that we understand the concept of an inverted pyramid and will our knowledge of the theory of the Fourth Estate ever help us in a shrinking industry?

Maybe it's about adjusting expectations, which doesn't have to mean downgrading them. It might not be the case that we all see our names in print every day for a forty year career at a major daily, but that doesn't mean that we won't find work that is fulfilling for similar reasons that a job at a newspaper might have been. This might be writing for a website, working in social media or Public Relations, or for a lucky few, gaining a highly coveted position with a revamped but healthy traditional news outlet.

It's also worth pointing out that skills in communication are valuable in a range of areas (well, pretty much every area ever).The subjects I have studied in my Journalism major aren't just about how to write a news article: they are also about analysis, understanding the media in society and appreciating new trends in a globalised world. Surely, these skills could be useful in many contexts. So even if we don't become journalists, this doesn't necessarily mean that we are wasting our time. Isn't the idea of basing your career on what you studied during your three years at university a little out-dated anyway?

Next time you meet a journalism student, don't shudder and show them pity. They are, no doubt, aware of how volatile the job market in their chosen profession is becoming. Maybe they have accepted that their future isn't going to look exactly the way they thought it would when they first selected journalism as a major. But giving up all hope of ever gaining a fulfilling job isn't going to help anyone.

Being a journalism student in 2012 is scary, but it isn't hopeless.

The Rum Diary

The latest movie I've reviewed for lipmag is The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp. You can see it here!

More posts after pre-Easter homework subsides!

lipmag Film Reviews

My latest film reviews for lipmag:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

My Week With Marilyn

Weekend

The Descendants


Have a read if you like! As I mentioned below, My Week With Marilyn is definitely the best film I've seen in a while, but all of these films had something to offer in their own way.

More to come!

welcome back

Well, hello, dear blog. It's been a while. I have to admit that between beach trips, live music adventures and watching plentiful amounts of Dawson's Creek, I forgot about you this summer. Who knows if the revamped template will inspire me to visit you more often, but perhaps a little spruce was all that was needed for a revived existence of posts, pop culture and pics. I hope you can forgive me for my neglect, because now that uni is back in full swing, I definitely need somewhere to rant about things that don't belong in essays or primary source analyses.

I'll start things off again with a very quick post. I have not forgotten writing altogether, though- I've still been doing regular film reviews for lipmag. The best movie I've had the pleasure of seeing and reviewing for some time was My Week With Marilyn- you can read my review here. While you're there, check out what else lip has to offer- it's become a daily visit for me.

I recently got a new and cool camera, so hopefully you'll be seeing some photos on here in the near future. For now, I'll just share a few of my experiments with the ego-boosting indie app Instagram. I hope you find them as hipster as I feel when I take them.

The ever-indie Elizabeth St, North Hobart.

A little bit of Japan in the Botanical Gardens.

A teapot so cute that I haven't actually used it yet.

The Slap and ABC's Latest Ad Campaign

When a program is as heavily promoted as The ABC's The Slap, it's hard not to become skeptical before the opening credits even begin. After seeing an ad for what seems like the thousandth time, it can feel like you've already seen the whole series and already know all the lines off by heart. Despite this, I was still somewhat hopeful that this eight-part Aussie drama would have something in it worth watching. Friends of mine have read the book and swear by it, and as I've already said, there's always that chance that it will be a good old fashioned home-grown classic.

So what was the verdict?  The cast is full to the brim with familiar names and faces, raising expectations high. All in all, they didn't disappoint.  Most notably, Melissa George has graced us folk down-under with her television prescence again as Rosie, the mother of the child that is slapped at Hector's (Jonathan LaPaglia) birthday BBQ. Aside from bringing attention to the program, the cast's major achievement seems to be portraying characters that you instantly hate, yet not in the way that makes you want to stop watching. As each episode is from the perspective of a different one of these characters, there's an incentive to watch again and find out more about what's going on behind the insufferableness.

Of course,  William McInnes' occasional snippets of narration are a highlight. What more do you need?

The Slap screens on ABC1 at 8.30 on Thursdays (it stole Crownies' spot, sigh).

Image from Borders.

In the beginning, there was a pilot.

Oh, pilots. When I first watch them, I rarely realise how important and mythical they will become to me later on. I can't even remember the first time I saw the pilots I love most. It feels like I've always known the famous lines off by heart, and have always laughed at the outdated haircuts the characters are sporting.  It's the moments that define the show's entire story, the lines that are referred to again and again later on in the series and the meeting of characters that will have epic relationships that make them so freaking special.

The inspiration for this post came from watching one of the greatest pilots ever, the very first episode of One Tree Hill. We meet Lucas Scott and his enemy Nathan. They're enemies who just happen to share the same father. A very un-cheery Peyton and Lucas have their first meaningful, which-one-is-more-brooding conversation. The contrast between those at the River Court and those in the gym is set up so that we know that Lucas has never belonged indoors. Nathan seems to- but maybe it's just the ghost of his father. Brooke doesn't feature at all in the pilot, which is a noticeable absence! Even so, as any dedicated fan will know, the basketball game that closes the show changes many of the characters' lives and is a defining moment in One Tree Hill history.

If you have never seen this pilot, watch it. Once you've watched the rest of the show, go back and watch it again. Then maybe you'll understand.

If not, just ignore me. That's fine too.

Arty Beginnings

Sometimes, movies can be just too arty. Sophia Coppola's Somewhere comes to mind, a film that left both me and my movie going partner with one simple question- 'what?'.

Luckily, Beginners doesn't fall into this trap- it is just arty enough. Whimsical characters and the photographs and drawings that are interspersed throughout the story are simply cute and funny, rather than seeming to scream 'look at me! I'm profound!'. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a man in his late thirties who has just lost his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer). Dragged along to a party by his friends, where he dresses as Freud and can't help but take his friendly dog Arthur (who is complete with subtitles), Oliver meets a girl that is equally sad and equally interesting- the beautiful french actress Anna (Melanie Laurent). The movie follows their romance and flashes back to Oliver's childhood and his final years with his father, who came out in his seventies and began a relationship with a younger man.

Each of the different stories complement each other perfectly, explaining why Oliver is who he is now. Plummer is fantastic as a man living the final stage of his life to the fullest, not worrying in the slightest about the years that have passed or the years that won't happen. The closeness that develops between Oliver and Hal is sweet and comforting, while Oliver and Anna's romance is nothing short of lovely: a classic tale of two lost souls finding their place with each other. Of course, one of the highlights is definitely the cute animal: Arthur is a chatty and loyal pet that we can probably all recognise. It's not a movie I'd watch again and again, as it was quite long and heavy at times, but it's definitely worth at least one look.