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February 26, 2008

Want to get into journalism? Don’t do media studies

By Patrick

Anyone with hopes of breaking into journalism should avoid media studies degrees and take heavy-weight traditional subjects, according to Andreas Whittam Smith, one of the founders of The Independent.

Writing in the Indy today, he says that if was still an editor he wouldn’t employ someone with a media studies qualification and that people across the media find it hard to take seriously.

He complains that in some media studies exams students were asked to analyse an advert for a Jamie Oliver programme for more than one hour.

Whittam Smith studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford as did various cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers, and he suggests that reporters of the future should be versed in “one of the older disciplines” rather than media studies.

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