What mark will you make on the media?
Today, at universities all across Australia there will be thousands of young Australians making important decisions about their futures. Across the many media, journalism, PR and communications courses run each year there will be a significant number of young Australians who have decided that communication skills will be their key to a happy, fulfilling and challenging career and lifestyle. As they begin their exploration into communication I would like each of them to ponder this question:
What mark will you make on the media?
I ask this question, because the media industry (no shock to anyone) is in a period of serious transition. The media just doesn’t operate in the same way it used to and is finding its feet in the digital world. Many of my recent interactions with students and young people wanting to make it into “the industry” have involved them lamenting the fact that there are no jobs left – Lamenting the state of “the industry” and concerned that they’ve missed “the golden era” of the media.
Change is certainly a scary time. Human nature dictates that we will have some fear attached to our notions of the changing media landscape, but with change comes great opportunity. For young people willing to be creative, resourceful and willing to question the structures that have been in place for so long, right now is one of the best opportunities to make their mark – To be leaders of an industry now crying out for new ideas and new perspectives on how to communicate and how to adapt.
The young people pondering their futures at universities all across the country right now need to reframe this fear and think how they can make an impact. Of anyone else they are in the best position to rethink how we currently communicate and how we can do it better. Learn from the past, understand the theories that have worked (and not worked) for so long and tells us, or even show us how we can do better.
So if you’re one of the thousands of young people considering their next step – what mark will you make on the media?
– Jonathan Brown
Jonathan is the Creative Director of We Matter Media. You can follow him @JB_AU
Image from Dunedin NZ
Indeed this industry has formed a perception where it maybe hard to break into.
But It is not such a fear I have for not getting a job or the change in platforms.
I think the key to get into what you want to do is to keep producing content which you are proud of. In the creative mind you’re never happy with what you’ve produce after 3 weeks, well that’s in my case.
Anyways, what I don’t see enough of in media student these days is that they aren’t proactive enough to do practical things outside of what they are told in uni. That’s kinda a general statement but what I see it’s not until 2nd-3rd year students actually feel the hunger to get involved. And it takes longer than a work placement to actually realise how it all operates.
My mark in media? I’d really like to make a reality tv show that actually shows the reality part.
– JB good post, I have a lot to say about these types of things.
Hey Susan,
The whole pride thing is tricky isn’t it? Especially when so much media production is based on PR material and online content is becoming increasingly focused on click bait (Maybe I should do more posts about One Direction on this site? :P)
My fear is that young media/journo/comms students and graduates are coming into an industry where churnalism is the standard. It’s scary and I’d love to see more young people create their own ventures, innovate – show an enterprising spirit and challenge traditional structures.
Thankfully, I think there are lots of exciting examples of people doing this, I’d just like to see more 🙂
-JB
Communication Skills are SO important, and sadly…there are millions of young people in the United States who do not have very good communication skills. They are shy, timid, and afraid to “speak up.” They mumble, they speak too softly, and they are afraid to “voice their opinions.” Bravo for your blog!
HEy hey that’s pretty amazing article, well done, well i am in between of writing an ebook which will go for sale on amazon, i was wondering if i could use article with proper credits ofcourse, only if you allow