According to the inimitable Encyclopedia Britannica, “The learning of an art, craft, or trade under the tutelage of a master is called apprenticeship.” Most journalism and communications organizations still respect those who have undergone apprenticeships. After all, they reveal skills that were learned on the job, from the proverbial ground up.
Covering town meetings, school board conferences, and local community activities, I learned how to distill seemingly meaningless events and, via the alchemical employment of words, turn these happenings into something readable and important.
This takes endurance, perseverance, imagination, and attention to details. But it’s worth the time, the effort, and the below-subsistence-level remunerations.
As I have mention in my on campus classes, all my journalism-related jobs at daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, corporations, advertising and PR agancies were gained by perusal of my clips.
Sure, the academic credentials were important. But in all instances my BA in English, my MA in Journalism, and my 30 doctoral credits in Communications Studies were secondary to those evaluating my potential value as a writer.
The moral? It’s in the clips.
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