Malcolm Gladwell’s advice to young journalists. From a Q & A with TIME:
“The issue is not writing. It’s what you write about. One of my favorite columnists is Jonathan Weil, who writes for Bloomberg. He broke the Enron story, and he broke it because he’s one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who really knows how to read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job, and will always be read, and will always have something interesting to say. He’s unique. Most accountants don’t write articles, and most journalists don’t know anything about accounting. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master’s in statistics, and maybe do a bunch of accounting courses and then write from that perspective. I think that’s the way to survive. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.”
That must be hard to people who went to J-School to hear. Or agree with.
Stay in School, Put in the Work, Make your Teachers and Parents Proud! Always question authority and take some illegal drugs along the way! Don’t forget to create a psedonym. Get the best job you can and work harder than anyone else. It’s far more valuable then writing for Bloomberg or bloggin’ about the death of Journalism as we know it!
Count me as one who agrees.