Hi. I'm Spencer Israel, a sophomore journalism major here at the University of Maryland. The biggest problem faced by today's young journalists I feel is the competition. Look at it this way. Guys like Walter Cronkite and Howard Cosell were really good at what they did, but they also got lucky. They hopped on the journalism bandwagon before it really got popular. Even print journalists had an easier path back in the day. With newspapers being so successful, and there was always going to be a job waiting for you at a third rate paper, whether you wanted it or not.
But today, that's not the case. The lines between print and broadcast have been blurred, and now, journalists are expected to have a wide variety of skills-- such as still photography, multimedia, and audio. And with newspapers going down by the wayside, jobs at premium websites, networks, and stations are at a premium. The result is veterans competing with college graduates for the same jobs, and there just aren't enough. And that, is what I feel the biggest problem faced by today's young journalists.
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