Conventional wisdom would have you believe that veteran journalists are screwed when it comes to multimedia and online journalism.

Recent grads and students will begin taking over all the jobs, and veteran journalists, with outdated skills, will be left out. That makes sense, but it is wrong.

In a perverse and often baffling set of circumstances, most j-schools are not teaching students online skills that journalism needs to transition to a more modern profession (and few journalism professors are qualified to teach online journalism). Many people consider recent graduates to often be the employees most resistant to change. Far too many students still romanticize1970s-style investigative reporting (it was a great era in journalism, but that’s not what we are facing today).

This is not good news for journalism, but it is good news for veteran journalists. It means veteran journalists have similar skill sets to most j-students and recent grads, and they have a lot more experience. Experience is worth a lot when it comes to journalism.

Now, this in no, way, shape or form means that veteran journalists can rest on their laurels. Hardly. Veteran journalists who don’t take the time to learn new skills will find themselves unemployed within the next few years.

Journalism can’t survive with journalists like that. But this is still good news for veteran journalists who are willing to learn new skills, study at Borders University and Barnes and Noble College, attend seminars and sign up for classes. Enterprising and inquisitive journalists have a bright future.

Here is a great place for veteran journalists who want to know which skills to learn and how to start learning them. Howard Owens has a checklist that every non-online journalist should complete. I’m always willing to recommend books to check out at Borders (I learned many of my Web skills through Borders U).

I also strongly encourage people to just spend time on the Web, play around and learn new things. Become a Web native. Anyone can.

Few of the people who attended Poynter’s seminar on online storytelling with audio and images this January were Web natives before the seminar started. Many are now trying to learn everything they can about multimedia and online journalism.

The AP’s Paula Froke has started a blog about her adventures in multimedia. She has quickly built an impressive blog that allows her to experiment with a wide-array of multimedia. Everyday she is adding more skills that will make her an even better more valuable asset to journalism.

Veteran journalists who see the changes in journalism as an opportunity will find themselves in more demand then ever.

Get started today on learning new skills.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm and is filed under State of journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.