Today’s mainstream media increasingly work with government to get government messages out. Not just any government, but governments that envision a role for the media in telling the public what government thinks the public ought to know. Current mainstream media gladly retail any support for government-directed lifestyle change. That may include unchecked questionable information that is politically correct.
What can a degree in journalism really buy you today? When a major break-the-rules newspaper started up in my town some years ago, I talked to news figures at its helm. They made clear that they were not looking for degrees in journalism. They wanted degrees in science, technology, foreign affairs, and military studies.
Science? Foreign affairs? Yes, and we implicitly understood: It’s easy to teach an intelligent, educated person conventional news style, not easy to teach them university-level science or hard analysis.
Journalism school may give you a group of peers you can follow up with later for work. In other words, insider buddies and tips. … but… Maybe.