Hiring/J-degree: Houston Chronicle

Part of a series in which professionals answer the question that students often ask me: Do you need a journalism degree to get hired in the field?

Many thanks to Paul McGrath '78, Assistant News Editor at the Houston Chronicle, for his answers:

Well, for the Chron, you have to have a degree of some kind for sure -- or you have to be in the process of getting one. The company has been good about giving folks time to finish their degrees and about providing financial assistance to those getting degrees (even advanced degrees).

The company also pushes a variety of "ongoing" educations programs, both on-campus and off.

Those with journalism majors are preferred, but it's not absolutely required. Applicable experience in the business is certainly not discounted. A journalism background is considered extremely important even for artists, photographers and online staff. We have a few folks here with specialized majors outside of journalism (like Latin American studies), but nearly all of those in that group have journalism courses in their background.

So is a journalism major a must? No. But you better have the requisite journalism experience to make up for it, and it's getting harder to earn that experience without a journalism education.