I hate to be a downer, but …

I’m sure it’s no news to any of you that the job market for journalism and mass comm. grads is very tough right now.

A recent AEJMC (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) survey of the job market, focusing on how 2008 grads have fared, found that “six in 10 of the graduates had full-time employment six to eight months after graduation” The article noted this is “the lowest level of full-time employment reported by graduates of the nation’s journalism and mass communication programs in the 23-year modern history of the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates.”

Here are some highlights of the report, titled Job Market Turns Much Worse:

• “In contrast to the experiences of graduates with a print journalism or a telecommunications preparatory track, those who had studied for entry into advertising and public relations had more success in 2008, and their level of full-time employment was closer to that of their 2007 counterparts.”
• “As in the past, female students (who disproportionately seek work in advertising and public relations) had more success in the job market than male students.”
• “…graduates have increasingly reported that the work they were doing involved various uses of the Internet…. Those graduates who found work with a daily newspaper actually were more likely in 2008 than in 2007 to do writing or editing for the web.”

Wish we had better news.

PR Day on Nov. 5

If you want to attend PR Day on Nov. 5, you’ll need to buy your ticket in advance … and the deadline to purchase advance tickets online is Monday, Nov. 2.

Tickets are $25, and that includes lunch, the keynote speaker, and a choice of afternoon panel sessions, and job/internship fair. Log on to brownpapertickets.com to buy tickets.

For more information, check out the PR Day web site.

Some good advice

In a recent blog post, JMC alum Ryan Sholin offers some good advice for J-school students. His basic concept — become an expert at one thing digital and at one thing analog — also makes sense for students majoring in public relations and advertising.

Sholin, who is now director of news innovation at Publish2, a collaborative journalism web site, graduated from JMC’s master’s program last spring. His thesis project was a journalism site called ReportingOn, which was funded by the Knight News Challenge. (Disclosure: I was one of Sholin’s thesis advisors.)

Word count spreadsheets

I’ve added a link to download the word count spreadsheets for 100W, s. 2,  to the Resources page of this blog.

The word count spreadsheet is a Microsoft Excel document. You must submit a completed copy of this document at the end of the semester to demonstrate that you’ve fulfilled the 8,000-word GE requirement for this class.

Here is the direct link to the spreadsheet: http://cynmccune.com/100w/wordcount-f09.xls

See a broadcast, earn extra credit

KTEH (Public Television 54) is broadcasting a town hall meeting on the mortgage crisis at 6 p.m. this Sunday, Aug. 30 … and JMC students are invited to join the studio audience.

“Facing the Mortgage Crisis,” a live program, will feature a panel of local mortgage and foreclosure experts answering questions about coping with the mortgage crisis.

By taking part in this broadcast, you’ll have the opportunity to see how a five-camera shoot is handled. Broadcast Prof. Diane Guerrazzi adds that the KTEH station manager will give students a tour of the control room after the broadcast.

To reserve a spot in the studio audience, please email KTEH (ljohnson@kteh.org). Include your name, telephone number, email address, and number of tickets you would like. If you have a question for the expert panel, please include it.

When: 5:45 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 30
Where: KTEH, Channel 54, 1585 Schallenberger Road, San Jose

P.S. If you write a blog post about this experience, you can also earn 10 points extra credit for 100W.

Broadcast internships

Sabrina Hughes, producer of KNTV’s Press:Here, is looking for some interns. She writes:

“I am looking for 2 interns that are interested in technology and business reporting to help me work on Tech Now and Press:Here.  I am now producing Press:Here, and we have become KNTV’s most successful show. It takes a lot of work and we could really use some help.

“The interns would be doing some writing, editing and web updating in the internship and also have the chance to go out to the Tech Museum for Tech Now shoots and get a tape together.”

If you’re interested, contact Hughes at sabrina.hughes@nbcuni.com.

P.S. Thank Bob Rucker for passing on this internship opportunity.

Doug gets enterprising

You can read Doug Cardozo’s enterprise article, Jadakiss is Back, on Universal Music’s The New Music Report blog, which is taglined as “an L.A. guide to new music releases and events from Universal Music.”

Now I don’t know bupkiss (consider this a “Word of the Week” from me) about Jadakiss — or about rap, for that matter — but I do know good writing, and I like Doug’s review.

So, way to go Doug! And I encourage the rest of you to get enterprising about getting something published this semester … whether it’s a letter to the editor or a short news article or news feature (150-250 words) for our own JMC Journal blog.

JMC scholarships

The JMC website has just been updated with information about the $20,000 in scholarships available to JMC students. You can download the application instructions and the list of scholarships as a Word doc. The application deadline is Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

I encourage you to look at the list of scholarships ― you might be surprised how many you are eligible for. And there’s no limit to how many you can apply for! Wouldn’t you like a piece of that cash?

Resume resources

Since you’re working on resumes and cover letters this week, I’ve added some resume-writing links to the Texts/Resources page of this blog. You’ll find them listed under the heading Samples & Examples.

Online students

If you’re new to 100W and enrolled in section 81 (the online section of this class), the first thing you’ll need to do is set up a blog and send your blog’s web address to Lecturer Cynthia McCune. (You can find my email address on the Instructors page of this blog).

If you’ve never blogged before, go the the Starting a Blog page (note the page tabs above, under this blog’s headline) for directions. Your first blog assignment is to write a blog post introducing yourself.

Once you’ve done that, be sure to click on the page links to this site’s pages to review the syllabus, class schedule, list of assignments and texts/resources … to get situated and get caught up.

Please note: We are encouraging students enrolled in the online section of 100w to attend one of the “on ground” sections taught by me or Dona Nichols, if at all possible. Our sections are Monday/Wednesday at 12 noon in DBH 224, 1:30 in DBH 222, and 3 p.m. in DBH 224. If you cannot attend any of these sections, please let me know ASAP so I can make arrangements to send you supplementary materials and in-class exercises.