For those of you know who haven’t been following the journalism industry for the past 10 years, I have some news for you: newspapers are dying and typical broadcast newscasts aren’t too far behind. As an aspiring journalist, it took me a couple years of denial before I came to terms with this information, but I finally accepted this information last May and decided to take some proactive steps to help my chances in landing a job in a field where jobs simply aren’t available.

I browse www.journalismjobs.com and www.mediabistro.com weekly to see what employers are looking for. I’ve noticed that employers are increasingly looking for journalists who know software and know technology. Lucky for me, the University of Missouri Division of Information Technology (DoIT) offers free classes to faculty and students, teaching the Adobe Creative Suite and Web languages. I enrolled in several of these classes over the summer (favorite one: five classes on Adobe Flash) to prepare myself for some newsroom work for this current year. I’ve started producing Flash graphics for www.KOMU.com (the local NBC affiliate) and it’s not been going as smoothly as I’d like. I research great information that works well with the stories that other reporters put together, but I struggle in how I deliver the information. I feel like my graphics aren’t as flashy or eye-catching as the graphics I see on other sites.

Take a look at this graphic I made Wednesday for a story about a Missouri state audit on the General Assembly and its use of lobbyist gift funds. The story can be found here. Check out the graphic here.




See how this graphic tells great information but seems to still be missing something? This brings me to my point: If journalism employers are only seeking those with technological and computer skills, is the industry going to be absent of those with reporting and storytelling skills? It’s another interesting struggle for myself in how I decide what skills I try to develop right now. I’d be interested in hearing what others think about this.