Careers in News Media—Panel Discussion Looks at Opportunities in Changing Industry

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With more and more major newspapers in the United States downsizing their print operations and moving toward publishing online, the future of the news media industry is uncertain.

To educate students about the types of jobs and skills needed as the industry shifts focus, Rochester Institute of Technology will host, “News Media Today: A Look at Emerging Career Opportunities,” 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in the Gosnell Building, Van Peursem auditorium. The panel discussion is the next installment of the Paul and Louise Miller Lecture Series sponsored by RIT’s School of Print Media. The event is free and open to the public.

The featured panelists are Patricia Albanese, Gannett Distinguished Professor, RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences; Brian Ambor, vice president of operations, Democrat and Chronicle; Rudy Pugliese, professor, RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, and Virgil Smith, vice president of Talent Management, Gannett Co. Inc. Twyla Cummings, Paul and Louise Miller Distinguished Professor in RIT’s School of Print Media serves as moderator. There will be a question and answer segment.

“I hope students and others will leave with a sense that this is a viable industry, but a different industry,” says Cummings. “We are hearing a great deal of gloom and doom relative to the demise of many major newspapers, but news is still a product that needs to be and will be distributed, just differently and different skills sets will be needed to make that happen in the future.”

In the fall, RIT launched a new bachelor’s degree in journalism. The program offers a combination of coursework in reporting, writing and editing along with graphic and digital design, audio and video editing and writing for the Web.