By Lekan Otufodunrin
Based on what their lecturer had told them about print journalism, students of a Polytechnic who recently visited The Nation Newspapers on a study tour were not expecting to see anything glamourous at the company’s office.
The students had been told that print journalists are not well paid like those in Advertising, Public Relations and Broadcasting which are the other options they chose from to specialize in their final year.
It was therefore a surprise for the students to find an array of, to use their words, ‘sophisticated cars’ that made them think they were in a motor company when they arrived our premises.
Perhaps to be sure that the cars were not parked in our premises by staff of some better paid professionals in a nearby company, one of the students asked that I respond to the claim by their lecturer since our staff did not appear as poor as they had been made to believe.
That was not the first time Mass Communication students would tell me they prefer not to sentence themselves to poverty by choosing the print journalism option based on what they have heard from their lecturers.
Consequently what we find in a typical Mass Communication class is the situation where in most cases, less than 30 percent specialize in print journalism. Most opt for Advertising and Public Relations believed to be more lucrative.
Despite the generally average, I won’t say poor pay of print journalists who work in some print media houses, I think it is wrong for lecturers to discourage their students from taking the print option which I dare say prepares Mass Communication graduates better to work in the industry.
I am not unaware that some Mass Communication students prefer the other options for fear of the more tasking writing component of the print journalism curriculum. Ability to write well, which is a core component of the print option, is critical to success in any media work.
Depending on the print media organization one works, salaries and prospects varies and are not as bad compared with what broadcasters, PR and advertising practitioners earn as the lecturers will want their students to believe.
There are non-print journalists who are not better paid than print journalists. More importantly, media and non-media organisations are not too particular about areas of specialization while recruiting fresh Mass Communication graduates. Non Mass Communication graduates are even hired as long as they are able to pass employment tests and many of them do.
Who says a print major cannot end up in PR, Advertising and Broadcasting? , the supposedly more lucrative media specialization options. A good number of public relations, media advisers, advertising and communication specialists are former print journalists and others who studied non-media related courses.
There is nothing wrong with Mass Communication graduates specializing in one major option or the other and really know what the job entails. What I think is wrong is that lecturers should be misleading their students to make their choice based on which specialization is more lucrative.
