J-schools should downplay anchor careers
Cory Bergman May 14th, 2008
If you work in local TV news, what percentage of your interns in the last couple years have said they want to become anchors? In my experience, the number is 50 percent or greater. But let’s look at the trends. News consumption is shifting fast to the “anchorless” internet. Stations are negotiating anchor salaries down and even moving some shows to a single news anchor format. Layoffs are growing increasingly common, and some TV stations are dropping news altogether. While I don’t like to shatter an intern’s anchor dreams, it’s time for a dose of reality. Journalism schools, as a public service, should strongly discourage students from pursuing an anchoring career. The emphasis should be on the “do-it-all” multimedia journalist who can produce, report, write, shoot and edit both on TV and the web. Flexibility is key. As we saw from NBC Local’s announcement a few days ago, even the definition of “producer” is changing, and who knows what we’ll see five years down the road. Don’t get me wrong — anchors are important — but I can venture this prediction: we’ll see fewer anchors in the years to come.
19 Comments Add your own
1. David Johnson | May 14th, 2008 at 9:37 am
thank you for saying this. i was recently introduced to a prospective student touring campus and mentioned much along these lines in terms of managing expectations. i think the kid’s dad wanted to kill me. but rather than the buzz kill, it is an empowerment message. we’re preparing you for the reality.
it is harder now to find kids who have seen the first dirty harry movie, the famous clip where richard roundtree is shot up on the ground and clint eastwood delivers his famous “do you feel lucky, punk?” speech.
when roundtree asks, “man, i gots to know” if there is a bullet left in the most powerful handgun in the world…. that’s where you see if you should pursue journalism.
not because of money, fame, camera time, byline, travel, or anything else.
you will succeed if “you gots to know.” your curiosity, passion to find the truth, and uncover the story drives you; your ability to tell that story in a way that holds your audience and conveys that passion will make you succeed.
oh, and producing is the coolest anyway.
2. Charles | May 14th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I’m a journalism student and *I* know this. I don’t even aspire to be an anchor. (Doesn’t help that I have a face for radio and a voice for print.) I’m fortunate to be going to a school this fall that has a combined print/multimedia curriculum. This way I’m not spoon fed that I’ll get a cushy anchor or reporter job on camera. I don’t even WANT that. Give me the web, and I’ll be completely happy.
Or, just getting a job in journalism, period. THAT would make me happy. There what, jobs for only 4 out of 10 graduates? And more and more journalism jobs are being cut? It’s a tough, tough industry. So if I can get a school that will teach me to be VERSATILE enough to weather the storms, then I’d be okay.
3. Hanson | May 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
When I left my job at NBC to pursue these new technologies in 2001, people thought I was crazy. When I took an entry-level job at CBC as a solo journalist (rather than the offered big city national correspondent position) to learn Avid and how to use a Sony PD-150, they began to see my trend in career suicide.
Although what Cory is advocating is inevitable as journalism’s traditional business model dies, I speak from experience when I say egos and wallets will also take a hit in this industry transition. There’s less profit, more emphasis on cost-reduction, and more available content.
So what are we left with? Hopefully exactly what David Johnson declares above: people choosing to become journalists because they have a passion to know, and a passion to tell stories. Because fame and Couric-like salaries will be harder to come by, they had better find motivation from within.
4. B | May 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Could point. Very late in my opinion. When I was in school back in the late 90’s I felt that professors built too many students up believing that they would become anchors.
I felt some professors flat out lied.
However, most professors embraced technology at a far more rapid rate then those in the local media. So it kind of goes both ways.
5. Joe | May 14th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The only reason to go for a journalism degree is to have access to internships. Journalism degrees are becoming as worthless as ones for basket weaving.
6. Seth Keever | May 14th, 2008 at 10:14 am
When I was in school, I worked on the production side of the newsroom. But I had been there long enough that other students would ask about career choices and how their work stacked up.
You wouldn’t imagine how many students just wanted to know about their anchoring skills. They didn’t care about the quality of their reporting or writing (which in most cases needed more than a little help), they just wanted to know if they “read the words all pretty-like.”
I admit that when I first got to college, I wanted to be an anchor. That was until I discovered the many other ways one can contribute to the news product (many of which are more creative).
I agree with David, most students need a quick reality check. Pretty much every college student wants to be on TV, and if that’s their life plan, they need to know that it might not work out at graduation time. Their TCOM and Broadcast Journalism degrees could be worth nothing.
7. Terry Heaton | May 14th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Great post, Cory. This is one of the factors in why I left the biz in 1998 (or perhaps it left me). My contemporaries all got into the business because we felt it was a way for a single person to make a difference. Towards the end of my life as a news director, 95% of the newbies I interviewed said they wanted to get into the biz “after the local anchor came and talked to my high school. THEN, I knew that’s what I wanted to be.”
Yeah, right.
8. Roseville Pottery | May 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Anchor jobs are the equivalent of acting jobs in the movie industry. Everyone wants one and it looks easy, but the fact is that most aspiring actors or anchors are going to end up behind the scenes. At least with a journalism degree you are less likely to be working as a waiter in LA.
9. John P. Wise | May 14th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Whatever is a 20-something to do? Fewer on-air jobs when our young culture’s collective pursuit of attention and celebrity are at an all-time high?
Seriously, how many reporters do you know who are 30 or younger come to work every day excited to report a good story? Most I know got into the business because they just want to be on TV so they can get free drinks or lots of dates.
Unfortunately, the business too has changed in such a way that the pretties can and do often get away with it. Seasoned sports reporters are doomed … unless they’re hot and own some tight shirts.
10. oakling | May 14th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Maybe we need to sit these kids down in front of some Murphy Brown reruns. They’d see it as hard work and all investigative, but on the other hand, we’d have to spend even longer explaining reality to them…
11. Charles | May 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
oakling,
Anchors are hard-working? ‘Ya mean they aren’t all Ted Baxters?
12. Erik Sandoval | May 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Great thoughts!
I just spoke to a journalism class at UW a few weeks back, and a manjority of them were looking to be on-air. At the same time, the remaining students were challenging what local media is doing to stay competitive with online, and what local media is doing to attract YOUNGER viewers. They see the two media converging (as many of us do in some way or shape), and don’t see FACES being the future.
The conclusion was: there will always be journalists
13. Dan Ray | May 14th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Amen!
I’m the editor at an online content site, and my hiring scorecard for the past year shows:
– All-around multimedia journalists, 7.
– Anchors, 0.
And at good salaries, too. It’s nice to report that sometimes, substance trumps fluff.
14. aidian | May 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
True story: guest speaker in my j-school class (ep of entertainment tonight — don’t ask) starts to ask a couple kids what they want to do. Girl says “I want to be an anchor,” and when she’s asked why the reply “well my dad says I’m photogenic.”
15. John P. Wise | May 15th, 2008 at 3:16 am
I bet her boyfriend says the same thing.
Sincerely,
YouTube
16. Annie | May 15th, 2008 at 6:12 am
During my 20 years as a photographer I was constantly assigned interns to carry stuff and see what it was like in the field. Invariably, the only thing they carried for me was the mic. I always asked what their goals were and every one of them said “anchor”! Never, did one of them ask to learn how to use the camera or what I was doing. I did get asked a lot to shoot their standups and edit their resume tapes (repacks of the reporter’s pkgs) so they could get their first on air job. This VJ trend is really going to mess with their heads. I had one student tell me, “Oh, I can’t possibly work out in the field since my hair gets frizzy. I need to be an anchor.” I’m not making this up!!!!!!
17. Pete Liebengood | May 15th, 2008 at 8:01 am
The truth hurts. Following my recent RTNDA session on “Going Solo” a young man came up to me and asked, “what advice do you have for someone who wants to be a sports anchor?” My response surprised me. I spent 25 years in TV news as a sports anchor/reporter and I didn’t know what to tell him because I believe local sports anchors will be irrelevent in 7-to-10 years. Sports guys will either become journalists, capable of “soloing” stories for TV and the web, or they will become extinct. If a sports fan wants news, he/she goes to the Internet. Info on demand rules. There will always be a place for local sports (high school, college and amateur sports) but who will need a studio “hair hat” to run through the day’s MLB highlights when ESPN and ESPN.com posted them hours before.
18. Katie | May 15th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I’m finishing my journalism now, and out of all my graduating classmates, only two of us are aspiring producers. The curriculum is all convergence, yet the focus in broadcast remains on becoming on-air talent. A news director recently visited to meet with some of the seniors. She told me there’s always a need for producers. When my classmates mentioned they’re looking for reporting and anchoring jobs, she said, “start praying.”
19. Marc | May 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I started out as a TV reporter (with occasional studio presenting), and it was cool but, yes, superficial. The perceived glamour of the profession was certainly a buzz, but the lack of substance in the resulting stories was frustrating. No regrets though, it was part of the dream/goal/ambition thing that I think has to be done. If you don’t reach for a dream, how can you hope to capture those rare moments in real life that are, well, slightly unreal but very newsworthy? Subsequently doing text journalism around the world was very rewarding, intellectually and in terms of experience. Now, with the move to a visual Internet, it’s time to marry the two sides. Writing and solo video journalism is definitely a viable path now.
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