Andrew Venegas, a journalism student at San Jose State University, asks in comments:
“How many skills do you think an online editor/reporter needs? Is HTML and CSS enough? Do you need to know Flash, Photoshop and Premiere Pro as well? How about Sound Studio? All in all, working for the paper you do today, how much are they asking of their new talent?”
Last question first: I can’t speak for the paper I work at, especially if we’re talking about hiring reporters.
That said, if I were in a position to hire a reporter, I’d be looking for a solid writer with Web skills.
- I would want someone who knows enough HTML to write their own Web update into a content management system without needing training.
- I would want someone who has no fear of a digital camera, a video camera, or an audio recorder.
- I would want someone interested in using databases, maps, and public records as source material.
- I would want someone who knows how to tell a story.
Now, let’s imagine that I were in a position to hire some sort of online news employee.
An applicant for the position would need to know HTML, understand how CSS works, use Photoshop for basic tasks all day long, and copy edit like he or she learned from Mack Lundstrom. Every candidate should better be able to get past that point.
Next, I’d be looking for one of the trinity: multimedia, interactivity, data.
- Can you code a Flash stage for chaptered Soundslides?
- Can you edit audio, photos, and video into a compelling multimedia presentation?
- Can you manage a community of users?
- Can you moderate comments and forums and reader-contributed stories and photos and video?
- Can you build a maps mashup that feeds itself with data scraped from public records?
- Can you design interactive graphics in Flash?
If the answer to any *one* of those questions is Yes, things are looking up, but just knowing that you should be able to answer Yes to some of these can get you hired these days.
There are still plenty of twenty-something j-school graduates out there walking around with plans to be the next Woodstein, and if you walk in wanting to be the next Holovaty or Curley or Willis or Waite or Hernandez, you’re a better job candidate than five Woodsteins as far as I’m concerned.
Which leads to the money quote, from Rob Curley: “Skillset is important. But mindset is most important.”
This part’s just for Andrew: Work on your videoblogging chops. Get it into iTunes. Start shooting and editing video often, and post it all. Post it to YouTube, also, just to illustrate your platform-agnosticism. Make that something you’re an expert at, and sell yourself as a guy who can shoot, edit, and code video, then build a community around it.
That’s pretty damn marketable right about now.
Ryan Sholin 
Comments
22 responses to “Further notes on the new journalism skillset”
[…] Further notes on the new journalism skillset. Ryan Shoalin lays out his idea of what just-starting-out journalists should know. If this gives the journalists-in-training pause, think of the shivers wee educators get as we try to figure out how to train them. […]
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THANK YOU!
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I was just wondering about this the other day. I really dont think you need to be able to create your own websites, videos, and podcasts – but you need to know how to edit and distribute the content. A knowledge of online writing techniques (such as SEO) are key as well.
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[…] Invisible Inkling: Further notes on the new journalism skillset Ryan Sholin: “If I were in a position to hire a reporter, I’d be looking for a solid writer with web skills … one of the trinity: multimedia, interactivity, data.” (tags: journalism education photoshop html css flash video mashups) […]
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[…] Ryan Sholin from the Santa Cruz Sentinel has some great advice for budding reporters. […]
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[…] Mi sembra interessante questo post di Ryan Sholin, giovane giornalista, che segnala alcune skills che dovrebbero avere i giovani giornalisti che si affacciano all’editor online: quali caratteristiche deve avere un reporter che lavora per un magazine online ? Mi farebbe piacere cosa ne pensi, puoi stilare magari un piccolo elenco delle web skills che ritieni siano necessarie: spero che i primi a rispondere siano Lele, Luca, Sergio, Antonio, Giuseppe, Marco, Massimo. Quando hai finito sono curioso di conoscere 5 cose che faresti senza connessione Internet. Tags: caratteristiche giornalista, online journalism, Pamphlet, reporters, skills journalist, Voice over Net web editorTechnorati: caratteristiche giornalista, online journalism, Pamphlet, reporters, skills journalist, Voice over Net, web editorShare and Enjoy on – Condividi su:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
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First, great post. As someone who was until very recently in the position of being able to hire a handful of online folks at a local paper, I’ll second Rob’s idea that it’s more about the attitude than the aptitude. Most of this web stuff isn’t rocket science and if you are working at a half-decent online operation they’ll have people who know how to do some of the more complicated stuff. Know how to tell a good story, know how to visualize that story as more than words on paper (or a screen) and you’ll be a strong candidate. Do it a few times and you’ll be a great candidate. Andrew, unless you are dead-set on working for the NYT fresh out of college, don’t sweat it, you’re already way ahead of most people in this business.
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[…] The idea of what skills a journalist needs is still a topic for discussion . Ryan Sholin makes some excellent, if slightly scary points, which make a good starting point (comments and all) to get in to the discussion. I’ve been following and will add my 2p worth when I get a mo. […]
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[…] Prima non significa “senza”, ma per intenderci continuo a credere che la telefonata alle proprie fonti, l’incontro con le persone, la presenza sui luoghi dove le cose accadono e vengono dette, sarà sempre più importante della ricerca su Google, quando si tratta di trovare, scoprire, capire. E credo che se qualcosa cambierà nell’editoria sarà per una questione di costi, non per la mancanza di efficacia della tattilità o per la fisicità di un supporto, che conserva un sostrato di realtà molto forte, incredibilemente vicino. Conta più il costo del lavoro e della carta in questa vicenda, più di qualsiasi teoria del revanchismo dei blog o della rapidità delle informazioni. E non mi convince per niente la centralità di talune competenze per lo svolgimento dei nuovi lavori. […]
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[…] Yeah, so it’s been a little slow here, but thanks to all the readers, commenters, and linkers who have kept that New Journalism Skillset post kicking all week, especially the Italians, who might not know that io posso parlare un po d’italiano, perche sono sposato con una bella donna che e mezza-italiana. […]
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[…] These strike me as a bit like Ryan Sholin’s requirements for new journalists looking for a job in this changing world – scary if they actually have to do all of them but even if they just know what you are on a bout they are a good indicator of the digital literacy […]
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[…] sounded off loudly and frequently about what I think J-School students should learn, so I won’t bore you with […]
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[…] McAdams, Ryan Sholin and Howard Owens, among many others, have blogged about the changing skill set of […]
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[…] Question! – Ask lots and lots of questions – of each other via listservs, and emails, and certainly of web.aan.org! A good read: Further Notes on the New Journalism Skillset […]
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[…] Non solo scrittura. I giornalisti possono fare molto di più. Il nuovo mondo ha bisogno di nuove competenze. Tu e il […]
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[…] Further notes on the new journalism skillset – Invisible Inkling “f I were in a position to hire a reporter, I’d be looking for a solid writer with Web skills… Next, I’d be looking for one of the trinity: multimedia, interactivity, data.” (tags: internet newspapers journalism newsrooms training) […]
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[…] reporting, as Derek Willis put it. They are also good examples of Ryan Sholin’s online journalism skills trinity — they are examples at the intersection of “data” and “interactivity”. […]
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[…] suo post sulle cinque caratteristiche del giornalista online. Che a sua volta rimanda a un post di Ryan Sholin sulle skill necessarie al nuovo giornalista. Devo dire che sono molto d’accordo con […]
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[…] suo post sulle cinque caratteristiche del giornalista online. Che a sua volta rimanda a un post di Ryan Sholin sulle skill necessarie al nuovo giornalista. Devo dire che sono molto d’accordo con […]
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[…] suo post sulle cinque caratteristiche del giornalista online. Che a sua volta rimanda a un post di Ryan Sholin sulle skill necessarie al nuovo giornalista. Devo dire che sono molto d’accordo con […]
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[…] talk a lot in the circles I run in about a new skillset for reporters and about how a wired journalist in 2008 should be keeping up with the technologies and communities […]
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[…] Ryan, at Invisible Inkling, talks a lot about the wave of change that is causing journalists and publishers to experience some […]
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