Navigating the Media Field as a Student step by step

In Denmark, there are too many journalists compared to the available job positions. Journalists encounter this issue for the first time during their studies. In the fourth semester, they must apply for an internship, but not all students are fortunate enough to secure one. Around 23 percent of Danish journalism students do not get an internship. Additionally, “journalist” is not a protected title, which increases competition for jobs among students.

We spoke to Jana Rick, PhD student and researcher at the department of Media and Communication at Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, to learn more about the steps along the way and the choices you have to make.

Interviewer: Why did you choose to study communication?

Jana Rick: Maybe because of my German teacher in school. Because I always liked working with languages. Writing. Talking. Doing presentations. Holding presentations. Planning presentations. I think it was the idea of doing something with languages. With the German language.

Maybe you end up doing a PhD

Interviewer: When you started studying communication, did you ever think that you would do a PhD at the end?

Jana Rick: No. To be honest, I never thought about it.

During the master’s degree, the idea came up because I understood how it works in research. The professors then advised me to do a PhD. That was the first time this option came up.

But when I started my bachelor’s degree, I only had the idea in mind to just try and have a look. It was just a decision I didn’t make.

It was a very spontaneous decision. It was just, let’s try this.

I also thought about doing a gap year after school. But then I thought, no, let’s try directly going to university. And I enjoyed it. So I kept doing it.

Interviewer: When you started studying, what did you think you wanted to do with your studies afterwards? What did you want to become if it wasn’t PhD?

Jana Rick: I had no clear idea, to be honest.

I could imagine becoming a journalist, but I never thought about one exact position I could become. I just enjoyed studying.

Take things step by step

Interviewer: What about now? What do you want to do in your future?

Jana Rick: So the next step is finishing my PhD.

And then I would enjoy to keep up this mixture of this combination of teaching, research, and a bit of journalism. This would be my, not my vision, but my next career step. To start as a postdoc here at the LMU.

But I also think COVID has taught us not to plan too much in advance. So I always think step by step.

So my next step is finishing the PhD, planning for the winter semester, my seminars, and then I will see what happens.

Interviewer: What would you advise the people studying communication, like for example me to do. Should I be stressed out about finding a job position, or should I just take it as it comes?

Jana Rick: I think what helped me was thinking step by step and just don’t be afraid to just try something. Different internships, they helped me a lot.

Discussing different possibilities with other students also helped me a lot.

But maybe thinking step by step is one way, because I mean, you first have to finish your degree and then internships are a good opportunity to get insights into different practical workspaces.

For example, during the bachelor’s degree they have kind of a lecture where they invite people from Munich, especially from Germany,

from different communication science or media positions. Journalists, for example, but also social media manager, marketing managers, they’re inviting them to talk to the students and to present them their work. And I think events like this, they can help a lot to imagine different career possibilities.

Sometimes you just find a perfect fit. I mean sometimes it’s also just luck. I was lucky to have this position here because it was just a perfect fit. Sometimes it is like this.

And listen to your gut feeling. Because normally you know what you’re interested in. And you know what you’re attached to.

During my bachelor’s degree, I realized that I am more interested in journalism than other students. Others were more going the direction of social media, and I knew that this is the field I’m most interested in.

You might end up somewhere unexpected

Jana Rick never expected to do a PhD when she started studying, but now she is here, and very happy with it. She took her studies step by step and figured out along the way, what she was most interested in. Therefore things might not end up, the way you expected them to, but that is still okay, and the new way might even be better than your envisions.