Launching a Career with an Unclear Trajectory

The days of newly minted j-school grads all expecting to start their news media careers at a small-town operation or at the bottom rung of a big-city publication are gone. Whether you miss that era is a matter of opinion.

One thing can be said for the pay-your-dues-and-rise-up-the-ladder model: It was easy for college career counselors to advise students. Amass internships. Lay them out on your resume. Send mass mailings of said resume to any editor or station manager within a 100-mile radius of where you want to work. And let the offers roll in.

With many of the traditional companies that have long hired young journalists opting for hiring freezes, the traditional model has broken down. What does the new model look like? The answer -- as is the case for monetizing online journalism in general -- is that there is no one model.

You can still find some positions with the known commodities or new media players. There are surely upaid internships for the lucky ones who can afford it. Many of the most successful young journalists might launch their careers by proving to news organizations that they have already established a readership base on their own blog or news site.

In other words, they won't wait for a job to come around -- they will create their own niche, demonstrate their design skills or writing talents, become a proven asset rather than an unproven liability.

The future of journalism, as I now firmly believe, is entrepreneurial. There's a strong argument to be made that it's never been easier for talented young writers or broadcasters to make a name for themselves through their own endeavors -- and to eventually cash in on that exposure.

Let's be clear: It's still the Wild West out there. One talented early-career reporter can bounce from sinking publication to sinking publication and lose patience with the field, while another of equal talent can find the right spot and rise along with the fortunes of a successful new publication.

This makes it both an exciting and nerve-racking time to be starting a career in the news business. And while there certainly is every reason for college advisers to be telling students to consider starting off on their own, there have to be other starting options as well.

I would be thrilled to see more publications (existing or yet-to-launch) strive to become first destinations for young people hoping to begin a journalism career. I'm talking about established editors who hire young people who come with 21st-century talents but who are still a bit green and help them grow. In turn, the young people have a lot to offer -- fresh ideas, optimisim and all of this at a bargain price tag.

In this chaos that currently exists, helping to establish a new sort of pipeline would certainly be welcomed.