Asia Pacific Media Educator
Abstract
Professional education does not stop at the college gate. The student then enters the organizational framework of a media institution, which provides its own lasting formative experience. By example of recently graduated journalists at an Australian metropolitan newspaper, the West Australian, this article traces the young journalists' induction process into the paper's newsroom workings and explores the adjustments they made after becoming part of an organisational unit. The qualitative interviews show that the newsroom is experienced as a very different eninronment from whatever simplified version may have encountered at journalism school. The newly afforded responsibility of writing for thousands of readers, working with unwilling sources and adjusting to strict deadlines were cited as the main learning experiences. These statements were backed up by senior staff. None of the young journalists said they had to undo what they had learned previously, nor did they feel their individuality subsumed by organizational constraints.
Recommended Citation
Josephi, B., From journalism school to newsroom: What rite of passage?, Asia Pacific Media Educator, 7, 1999, 74-85.Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/apme/vol1/iss7/5
