My son's chances?

Q: My son will be graduating this month with a business administration degree. He has an affinity for sports, not as an athlete, but as a spectator.  He has an exceptional memory of names and events.  He seems to possess some talent in expressing himself using the written word.

Without a journalism degree, how would you recommend he get his "foot in the door" into a sports journalism career?

Are on-line journalism degrees worth the time and money?

Will news organizations have any interest in an intern without a journalism degree?

Dad

A: It all depends on experience, at this point. He will have a hard time starting as a sportswriter if he hasn't done any.

Although I have taught some on-line journalism skills courses to professionals, I have not seen anyone come across my desk with an on-line journalism degree. I think one would be a difficult sell at this point. What he really needs is experience. He needs that to persuade a publication to hire him and to convince himself that this is a career path he'd like.

Few publications -- maybe some very small ones -- will be interested in taking on an intern who hasn't yet done the work that needs to be done. If he did a lot of writing for his college paper, that will help, but if he is just starting to get into journalism after college has ended, he will have a tough time breaking in.

(I'd have my son ask all these questions.)

Comments

[Brandy]

Good evening,

I just separated from the Air Force as a Public Affairs specialist and really fell in love with that job. I truly enjoy writing and taking photographs. Since separating in October 2006, I've had a hard time finding college classes on-line for journalism (we moved to an island in Maine, so no schools are nearby). Do you know of any colleges that offer a journalism degree on-line? If I can't find one, how much do you think my degree in, say, Business would affect me when I go up for interviews in PR/Journalism?
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Brandy