Moving Away from 'Big Media': Students, Jobs and Long-tail Theory

Abstract

This article identifies and discusses deficiencies in established and continuing approaches to journalism education and graduate work placement in Australia, the US state of Wisconsin and Sweden. It strongly suggests that university journalism schools which direct their students to corporate 'Big Media' for employment, without fully apprising them of other emerging journalism opportunities, serve those students badly in both the short and long terms. Using a mixed-methods approach of broad-spectrum data analysis, case studies and targeted interviews, the article demonstrates that the so-called 'Long Tail' of small-to-medium- sized (SME) journalism enterprises in the three sampled regions offers a greater number of employment opportunities for graduates and mid-career professionals, as well as more secure employment. These results appear to be robust in diverse environments: the strategic sample of the free-market, competitive US, and the mixed market of publicly funded and competitive publications evident in Australia. In Sweden the pattern diverges, which partly can be explained by press subsidies and strong public service media. Sweden is not alone in this practice: newspaper subsidies are evident in all Nordic countries as well as in Austria and Germany. Implications are discussed for changes to curricula and approaches.