Extra Credit Ethics Critique

Tough economic times have affected job markets across the country and journalism is no exception. However, college students taking work from those in the field with degrees may be more unique to the profession. As the article J-Schools to the Rescue? points out, the industry has started “to have journalism students, who will work for course credit, fill the gaps left by the pros whom the news outlets could no longer afford to pay.” This creates some ethical issues for all involved. How should students feel about taking positions from their future peers? Will they be able to find jobs once they do graduate or should they be concerned that college students will continue to fill these positions? Should editors feel guilty about casting aside professionals for inexperienced college students? And should they be concerned about sacrificing quality?

The article points out that the New York Times cut 200 newsroom jobs the past year. This is clearly not easy for the ones losing their jobs, but one must realize how difficult it also is for the managers and editors making the decisions. Incidents like this have lead to students from universities like New York University, Indiana University, the University of California Berkley and others to fill the pages of professional newspapers “in the name of experiential learning” according to the article. However if students continue to fill these jobs, then what are students gaining experience for? If the journalism job market is as bleak as this article on jobspage.com suggest, then while being able to put this experience on a resume really be beneficial? If so, then, for good or bad, these few universities who have these relationships with newspapers will become the only schools with successful journalism graduates. The article also points out that “Some believe journalism schools are exploiting students by maintaining high enrollment levels despite the contraction of the market for professional journalists — a system that guarantees a large population of out-of-work, debt-addled graduates.” This leads to the question, is this the schools responsibility? If students want to pursue a journalism degree, regardless of the difficulty in finding work, why should the schools turn them away? However the schools should certainly be upfront about the difficulty in succeeding in this field.

Journalism schools should be focused on both their own success and the success of their graduates. News organizations need them to be producing talented reporters and in this capacity they are succeeding. However, they are doing this at a rate that causes these news organizations to out the old experienced and expensive journalists for young, inexperienced and cheap (even free) journalists. In this sense they are not fulfilling their obligation to their graduates. They are facilitating a system that displaces former graduates for more recent ones or ones who have not yet graduated. In this sense they are loyal to their current students and very recent graduates but this loyalty does not extend past a few years.
However, if the article is accurate when it addresses the potential that allowing these current students to cover local issues is akin to making the decision “to cover local issues with journalism students or at all” the we have a different issue. In this case the journalism students are not at fault. They are simply meeting a need that would not otherwise be met. Also this free labor could be important in keeping local governing bodies accountable as they would not otherwise be reported on. This is a very crucial role.

The issue of content is not truly an ethical one. It is really a matter of keeping the reputation of both the university and the news organization in good standing. Clearly both will be interested in keeping good reputations to they will both monitor the quality of the free reporting. From the standpoint of the student, I would be thrilled to be given the opportunity those at NYU have received. However, this can still be done through internships. Most importantly though, students do not go into journalism for economic reasons. As this article demonstrates, the average salary for individuals with graduate degrees in journalism is only $40,000. Nicholas Lemann the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism points out that "[He’s] never met a single person in 35 years who went into journalism out of pure economic reason." It really boils down to the individuals involved. It makes monetary sense for organizations to use free labor and initially it makes sense for students to take the opportunity. Each person must decide if it makes sense for them personally, professionally, and ethically.