I also have to disagree
I’m biased on this but I think Jack clearly has the knowledge - both in journalism and just the basics of TV news reporting - to work at Nine (which is probably why he’s managed to get reporting roles in Darwin, Perth, Illawarra and now Sydney!)
The people who find success in their chosen profession without formal qualifications are the ones with the greatest passion and drive, usually they have worked a lot harder to get where they are so have much more experience and understand the nitty gritty far better than somebody who has had an “easier” ride.
You can buy knowledge, you cannot buy experience or perseverance.
If I was managing Nine I would have told him to come back when he has a degree and yes there are quality people in news without it. There are quality people in the industry I work im without a degree but they few and far between. I have a degree while not in Media in Computer Science most people who I work with directly have degrees as well so my view might be slanted but without a degree you are fighting people with similar views to me through out your career. Even in IT I would be hesitant to emply someone without a degree unless they interviewed particularly well or had very extensive experience. Yes the industry is different but I am not alone in that view.
But why would they want to wait for him to do a degree when they’ve got the chance to pick him up while he’s clearly very good right now?
a degree is just a piece of paper.
experience is worth much much more
Darren McDonald was 17 (!!!) when he started reading the news on 11am. (Though sadly he’s probably best known for pinging whilst reading TV3 news in NZ)
Yes he is good now but he would be even better with life experience and a degree. I general would be very reluctant to employ anyone straight out of school in a media reporting role regardless of how good they are. I probably sound old fashioned but I am in my late 30s. If they end up at a competitor so be it. There are plenty of people graduating who would be just as good but have the life experience they get by obtaining a degree in my view. Jack might be an exception but I would need to be convinced of that.
I disagree again.
I’m a Software Engineer by degree, but before that I was already writing software since I was 11 that was being used by other people. I was also looking after the IT systems at a business in my teens back in the late 90s before I was qualified. I advised a school on a strategy to deal with Y2K that saved them thousands of dollars, while a high school student. I had passion for it, and had a reputation for knowing what I was doing. I had experience.
Today, I work in the broadcast industry. I don’t have any qualifications in the industry, but I have experience that people in the industry around the world respect.
An extremely narrow-minded view. Talent and nous for a job don’t necessarily come from having a degree.
True but in my opinion someone just coming from high school year 12 does not have enough life experience to truly understand the issues a reporter on a metropolitan news bulletin would be exposed to. I would argue it would be even difficult for someone 21 years old graduating from a degree. Not saying they couldn’t learn but I would imagine it would require a bit of a learning curve to understand specific issues and would rely on more senior team members to get a deeper understanding of the issues. Where someone older would not need as much guidance. Being a news reporter is unique in that regard.
Literally how? A crime story, a state politics story, some human interest thing - I could cover that at a basic level when I was 11 lmao, and clearly TV networks don’t always hire someone straight out of school which shows how Jack actually knows what he’s talking about
There’s no right/wrong path as long as you’re a good and accurate storyteller. I tend to agree that the ability to relate to people’s lived experiences is important but I’m not sure journalism school/going to university counts as life experience.
Tbh I tend to think the whole journalism school thing is just an artificial barrier anyway. It’s just another way of filtering through people in such a competitive field. There are many excellent journos who don’t have degrees, and plenty of poor ones who do. That’s not to put down journalism courses - I just don’t think there’s much on said courses that can’t also be learned on the job.
To use a couple of Kiwi examples, Mike Hosking left school at 17 and he now hosts the most-listened to radio show in New Zealand. I don’t care much for his politics but he is good at what he does. And - I know he’s considered radioactive now for obvious reasons - at 18, Kamahl Santamaria was taken on for a week’s work experience at TV3, stayed there for three years, and eventually became a lead anchor on probably the top international news channel (Al Jazeera).
Many many senior/older journos did cadetships. You don’t need a degree to be a good journo, you need to listen, learn and tell a good story.
@jason120au if you did well at uni, you’d write in paragraphs and include critical reasoning to support your opinion. You’ve done neither.
‘A P may get you a degree’ (P = pass) but it doesn’t equate to a degree with quality knowledge.
I’m a big advocate for life experience to help grow and mature an individual. You need to be able to relate to a broader demographic.
We overvalue the importance of higher education in being “work ready”. It’s not all that long ago that a wide range of occupations that now require a university qualification were taught at places like technical colleges and on the job.
Our education system is geared around funneling as many people as possible into higher education straight from high school - it’s basically treated as a KPI. Alternate pathways are often downplayed or ignored because in large part they’re different.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting further education (in some sectors it’s not possible to work without it), but its prominence in choosing a pathway needs to be dropped to show there are other ways to get there. I got an opportunity to work and study before going to uni (well, full time work and part time uni - which I don’t necessarily recommend as a good time), by the time I had my degree I had nearly 10 years experience in my chosen field.
Glad you’re not my boss.
For anyone interested in our behind-the-scenes setup for our election coverage last night, this from Austin Pollock’s end: https://twitter.com/AustinPollock_6/status/1768998575466590281
Also enjoy our new election theme:
congrats on 5 years, @Leo_Puglisi6 and team! Such an accomplishment
