Pass it On: “Dear Students: Even if You Don’t Read a Newspaper, You Should Still Work at One”

“Dear Students: Even if You Don’t Read a Newspaper, You Should Still Work at One”

This morning Michael Koretzky of the Huffington Post released an article arguing that even if students have no intention of becoming journalists they should still work for their university or college newspaper.

Koretzky lists a number of invaluable career reasons why you should try to take on student press responsibilities. For one, you produce more portfolio work than you will in any other extracurricular activity. You’ll also learn to manage and work with people, meet tight deadlines, and manage a small business.

I spent a few years at The Peak, the student newspaper for Simon Fraser University, followed by a year-long term as President of the Canadian University Press, and I couldn’t agree more.

But beyond learning life-skills the most valuable thing you’ll gain is perspective on how difficult it can be to put together news for your community. While those of us not practicing journalism and managing a newsroom can lament the poor quality of journalism and nit pick the most trivial shit there are people who, for the most part, are honestly trying to do a good job.

Having that newsroom experience can help citizens better understand how to meaningfully contribute to quality journalism in their region, and perhaps having the increased sympathy and ability to relate from the audience will allow journalists to feel more confident in getting deeper into stories.

Arguably this is also a quality reason for increased media education in high school classrooms.