Alt-Weeklies: Uncool
Edward McClelland, former staff writer at our sister paper, the Chicago Reader, pens an interesting piece in the latest Columbia Journalism Review. At the end of a very long list of how the Reader was once cool and cutting-edge and how it is not anymore and how it's the fault of gentrification and 40-year-old readers who've abandoned the model, he asks:
The Reader’s in-depth pieces made it different from every other paper in the city. If there’s no longer a place for them, will there still be a place for the Reader?
That's a question I've been struggling with---that we've all be struggling with at CP--for some time and especially in the last few weeks. Last year, I went to a job fair at Columbia Journalism, not because we had any open jobs, but because we wanted to see who was out there and willing to come on for peanuts should something open up. The kids lined up to talk to me. A staff writer from the Philadelphia City Paper also had trouble coming up for air. For these grads---still---alt-weeklies were where it was at, primarily because they'd been to grad school (already that's a problem from my perspective, mainly because I went there, too) and they didn't want to have to slug it out at a podunk daily churning out cop briefs and obits. Yet, they were beaten down enough to know they're nowhere near ready for a magazine job. Thus the alt-weekly is the middle ground: the narrative option for the newbie journo, the place to cut chops before going for it with the magazines. It has always been thus. Until, perhaps, now.
I lament it, but, like McClelland, I've come to some realizations as well. The kids coming out of Columbia? I wouldn't hire any one of them based on their clips. If any of them could write a compelling long-form narrative---or even a short one---I saw no evidence. Two of them, though, have what I never got from Columbia: Web skills. They knew how to tell a story online with all the A/V that entails. I hope they were hired, but I realized then that it was not only the traditional alt-weekly model that's dying off. The talent willing to work long hours on long stories for peanuts? It's not exactly thriving, either. I hate to say it publicly, but the whole experience made me glad for Cherkis and the whole old-school-new-school he brings to our aging product. I probably won't outlast the changing of the guard, at least metaphorically, but he most likely will.
Hate away in the comments.
Comments
Leave a Reply
You can follow any responses to this entry through its comments RSS feed.
5:06 pm
I hate to think that long-form journalism is a quaint thing of the past and that the advent of the Inter-tubes is its main killer. But it is hard to find long-form anything these days. I mean it is at the point where USA Today's info-graphics are starting to seem meaty.
It is pretty depressing to think that the future of media is recycled blurbs vomited out on a minute-by-minute basis, but that may be the case. If it is, I blame people and the business weasels who think the lowest common denominator is good for the bottom line. They are the ones who are turning their backs on depth and thought and nuance. Stupid bastards.
5:08 pm
How about working long hours on short, mindless blog posts for peanuts? Step right up ...
5:09 pm
i'll take a long Cherkis article over 50 blog entries any day of the week...
6:01 pm
Hmmmm, peanuts...
6:03 pm
Mmmmm, peanuts!
6:57 pm
So if a j-degree from Columbia doesn't qualify you to be a CP staff writer, what does? What good is a j-degree then, aside from the thousands of dollars in debt? Is there any valid reason to go to j-school, in your opinion?
7:37 pm
Tough question. I think the only fathomable reason to go to a J-school is to learn something other than what you can learn by slugging it out at a daily. You're much better off getting an entry level job and learning the ropes while getting paid, instead of going into debt. Those are tougher and tougher to find, but they are for the debt-ridden J-schooler, too. For me, I learned how to produce radio stories and I initially worked in public radio when I got out of school, so I got a career option out of it. I think those who go in and learn a new skill that will get them hired, like new media, are better off. There's no point in going if you want to learn how to write. If you want to learn how to write: write. We're still looking for freelancers and we're still training them... and we're still paying them...peanuts. But at least they're not paying us for some meaningless degree.
8:07 pm
The simple answer is no, Dave. Did the Beatles go to a concervatory?... Same difference. All you need is love, talent and perspiration. There where there's none, there's none. Your j-degree will be in vain, futile, superfluous and ultmately worthless.
If only Jule Bumville could write like Jules Verne, that would be just like heaven.
9:58 pm
Ernests! I've missed you on my posts. Welcome back! Swing on over to the brunch discussion. I don't want you to miss out!
11:07 pm
I'm the author of the piece Jule Banville cites. I didn't go to J-school myself. I went to the track. I broke in at the Reader with a 10,000-word piece about learning to play the horses from a professional gambler. My advice to aspiring writers: do something worth writing about. I lost way less money on the races than I would have spent on a graduate degree. It's no wonder Jule didn't think the Columbia grads were worth hiring. They probably have nothing to write about yet.
Of course, as proud as I am of that 10,000-word piece, a story that long could never be published in an alt weekly today.
10:33 am
As someone who worked in the boonies before and after j-school, I’m going to disagree with the wisdom here. If you want to play music, you’ve got to learn chords and notes. For most of us, banging on a guitar in the bedroom isn’t going to go much further than Dust in the Wind. Same goes for the fabled reporter in the boonies. Inspiration only takes you so far. There are many ways to learn … from dissecting the work of your heroes, from other writers, from editors, and even from paid teachers. I learned things about structure in hours from Jon Franklin at Maryland that would have taken me years to figure out on my own. Learned a bunch from Wemple too, and I got paid a little in the process. Can’t regret my City Paper salary or the $140 a month I pay in student loans.
If you can turn yourself into Gary Smith while covering city hall in Saginaw, I envy you. If not, find your teachers where you will. Pay them if you have to. Ted’s advice about doing something worth writing about is good too, if you want to star in your own narrative. J-school, like any school, is worth it if you can find someone who will really take the time to teach you. The degree isn't going to mean shit, but the skills will sell.
11:05 am
Thanks SO much for all these posts. As you can probably surmise, I'm considering going to j-school but I'm terrified of winding up with a lapful of debt and a job that's not significantly better than my current one at a suburban weekly that will go unnamed here. You guys have been a huge, huge help. The CP blog probably isn't the best forum to get career advice, but please, keep it coming; I need all the advice I can get.
11:06 am
Also, Jule: so you used to work in public radio. Interesting. Did you like it? What brought you back to the world of print journalism?
12:36 pm
Apparently, Dave, Jule’s reportages had a soporific effect on the audience; people would fall asleep at the wheel causing accidents. It had to stop. Hence, "the world of print journalism".
1:11 pm
When I said, "I need all the advice I can get," what I really meant was "I need all the advice I can get from people not named Ernest."
1:44 pm
I'm going to argue with Eaton about J-school again, just because he made a comment that -- literally -- hit close to home. My very first magazine piece was published in the Utne Reader, the year after I graduated from Michigan State (with an English degree). It was about a crack dealer who was friends with my roommate. At the time I wrote it, I was a reporter for my hometown newspaper, the Lansing State Journal -- only 60 miles from Saginaw!
So, you can learn something in the boonies. At the very least, you can meet drug dealers who make interesting copy.
As for my advice about doing something you can write about, I wasn't doing coke, but my roommate sure was.
1:47 pm
Dave, I was accepted to Columbia's New Media program for fall '08, but turned it down because of the cost and the number of grads I've met who said they ended up competing for the same internships and jobs as people graduating with BA's in journalism (or people with related degrees and/or lots of undergraduate journalism experience). Because I had some pretty good internships leaving undergrad and because I'm comfortable with editing audio and using most new media apps, I was able to justify jumping into the pool without the Columbia degree. If you suck at new media (or are less than "conversational"), and if you can't land a job doing old media reporting (because even good web publications need skilled reporters), then j school might be your best bet for learning the "need to know" basics.
2:29 pm
Drugs and drug dealers? Interesting copy? Are you sure it’s really interesting because I don't find it interesting at all, Ted. I'm sorry.
Riggs... oh piss off you cancerous growth on the colon of print journalism. You are not worth the effort.
Since you ask, Dave, you seem to be the type whose true calling is kissing your supervisor’s butt. As they say. So my advise would be: keep on doing just that and you‘ll get somewhere. Ditto Eaton.
3:29 pm
No argument from me, Ted. You can learn a lot in the boonies, though Lansing and Saginaw probably don't qualify as such. I'm from Michigan too. Port Huron.
Ernest: Try to stop thinking about ass for a second.
5:00 pm
Ernest is sulking in his room. Says he has been grossly insulted on this blog and won't post further comments without an apology.
Say, Eaton, I know a girl in Port Huron. Her name is Eva Rosenbloom. How she did end up out there I know not. You know of her?
10:55 am
I challenge that there is nothing to be gained from J-School and nothing to learn from story structure that isn't better taught by the Onion... or reading a good book on the challenges of New Journalism in the 1960s. Journalism simply isn't hard which is why non-professional bloggers do such an adequate job. Read the Washington Post comments section for dozens of non-professionals pointing out journalistic errors in stories by professional journalists. The idea that in order to play music you have to learn chords and notes is almost quaint in a music culture dominated by DJs where learning ANY instrument is no longer a requirement for success, let alone understanding notes and chords. While I pine for a day where kids learned instruments, the culture moved beyond that 10 years ago. What I know to be true is that my friends who went into journalism and j-school ended up in Public Relations and my friends in music who dropped out ended up in journalism. Go figure that one out.
1:51 pm
I see Don takes my view of things. Simply put, schooling is good but not sufficient and yes, there’re vicissitudes of life to figure. As for “journalism isn’t hard“, there’s journalism and there’s Journalism, Don, as there’s music and there’s Music, and the so on. Real thing is never easy.
On the contrary, Bob, I was quite unperturbed by Eaton’s remark. There’s nothing to be offended by.
Now, if I understand the original piece correctly, a good deal of significance is attached to successful catering to “hipsters” as a prerequisite for alt-weekly success. I don’t see why. Nothing dates quicker than fads and fadists, nothing is more bourgeois, more philistine than this “hipster” business. It’s all about group mentality, really. Shouldn’t alt-weekly eschew trendy bunk in favor of focusing on the issues of substance, in an entertaining fashion, no doubt, but nevertheless? Okay, I have no quarrel with trends that are cool, jolly, informative or inspiring. More often than not, however, they are none of the above but tend to seem as if they are. Perniciously deceitful they are, those trends and therefore should be of no good alt-weekly’s good editor’s concern.
2:38 pm
I have to chime in here that it's certain Ernest is the go-to on good alt-weekly editors.
As to your other questions, Dave, my take is that if you decide to go to J-school, go to one that stresses teaching and practicality (Eaton went to U of M I believe and has written several great stories for us) over reputation, location, and alumni rolls (that's Columbia, in my opinion). I agree with commenters who think J-school is not necessary but if you go in with an idea of what you want out of it, it's not the worst idea. The worst idea is constantly commenting on a blog that you hate that is written by the staff of a paper you seem to hate more. But we all can't live the life of leisure of the Ernests of the world.
2:45 pm
As for “journalism isn’t hard“, there’s journalism and there’s Journalism, Don, as there’s music and there’s Music, and the so on. Real thing is never easy.
-------
You will have to admit that this sentence is word salad with no meaning behind it.
3:09 pm
It's okay, Don.
Yes, Ernest, why do you always scold? An idle hater you are.
5:58 pm
Thanks for all the advice, Jule, et. al..
What I'm hearing is that j-school is not a good for learning how to be a better writer but that it is a good for learning other platforms like broadcast or online stuff. It seems like gaining some skills outside of print journalism would be a really good idea in today's media climate. I actually would like to go to j-school, if only to learn more about my craft and become a better journalist. (Imagine that!)
But what's stopping me is that I'm sure there are cheaper ways of doing that than taking on several Ks of debt and not earning any income for a year. And I'm terrified of getting my masters degree, going out into the job market and getting a job I could have had without a degree. Or, even worse, not getting a job.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to graduate and then immediately feel like a sucker. But I guess that's a choice I'll have to make. Once again, thanks so much for all you guys' thoughts about this.
(Btw, by U of M, I'm assuming you mean Maryland and not Missouri?)
1:29 am
Dave:
I interned this summer at a magazine with a some J grad students (one of whom was from Columbia, actually, since that esteemed school seems to be all the buzz of this thread).
If an undergrad seeking a degree in philosophy can land the same internship as a J grad student at Columbia, well then, I think that serves as a testament to the usefulness of J school.
Still, like you, there was a point when I was grappling with the idea of J school, so I called around to a bunch of different programs and spoke with faculty. I remember a faculty head at NYU telling me that their J program will help me get clips, internships, and make me more marketable. But, wait, that's what I'm doing now ... She then said that NYU's J program is for professionals who want to change careers, or for aspiring journalists who have absolutely no experience. She agreed that the program is not tailored for students like me (i.e. any student who has had journalism internships and earned a few clips).
That said, if you can go to J school for free, totally do it. But I think connections with editors is more important than a J degree.