Finding one's way through a maze

Becoming a journalist in Germany is like trying to find one's way through a maze. "You never know, if you're on the right track", says 27-year-old Astrid Himberger. "All I've learned so far is that no one knows the 'best' way into journalism." Astrid has wanted to be a journalist all her life, so she decided to try to find her own way. After leaving school in 1991 she began to study German literature and media science in Berlin. "I don't consider these subjects to be particulary helpful on the way into journalism. I simply chose them, because they interested me."
Astrid's way is rather typical for German journalists. More than sixty percent of them have had a university education, but only a few went through a special journalism training at school or university. For most of the 54.000 German journalists, the way into the job has been similar to Astrid's: As a first step, prospective journalists study a special subject like history, politics, law or biology. After this most graduates apply for one of the professional traineeships offered by newspapers, radio and TV stations. The so-called "Volontariat" lasts for two years and provide both a systematic introduction into practical journalism and a "training-on-the-job". The conditions are defined within a general contract between journalist's unions and media associations.
In 1997 only 2.500 traineeships were available. 2.000 of them were offered by newspapers and magazines, the rest by radio and TV stations. Regarding the bulge of applicants, the number of offered jobs is much too small. The radio station "Deutsche Welle" is a good example for the misbalance mentioned above: In 1997 more than 600 applicants competed for only 16 places. The "Volontariate" are in great demand, because most media companies only give permanent jobs to journalists, who passed such a "Volontariat".
Besides those trainee-jobs, vocational journalism education is offered by eight journalism schools in Germany. On the whole, there are no more than 300 school-places available every year. The most important schools are the "Deutsche Journalistenschule" (DJS) in Munich (45 places) and the "Henri-Nannen-Schule" in Hamburg (36 places). Because of their high reputation, graduates from these schools probably have the best job prospects in Germany. Consequently, applicants have to undergo hard tests on their general knowledge and prove their practical skills. Every year, more than 1.000 young journalists send in samples of their work to the DJS in Munich, hoping to be picked out for the final selection tests.
Since the end of the 70s, academic journalism education has gained growing importance in Germany. But still these programs are not the "usual" way into journalism: Many doubt if it is possible to "teach" and "learn" journalism at university at all. Despite these doubts, some of the programs built up a rather high reputation, especially those who try to integrate theoretical and practical training. The "Institute of Journalism" at Dortmund University is an example. After the first two years, the students leave university and undergo a 12-month full-time traineeship in media companies. Then they finish their studies. Profiting from their work experience, many of them come back with changed opinions on their profession and their future. It is unique to the Dortmund model that graduates earn two degrees: the academic diploma and the professional title "editor", which is recognised by media companies.
Because of the wide choice of highly qualified candidates, the media companies tend to make high demands on the applicants. On the whole, the average expectations are continously rising. In fact, applicants are expected to be university graduates who have worked as freelancers for several years."Moreover, they should be talented, flexible and have useful additional knowledge like language or computer skills", says Uwe Vorkötter, chief editor of the Stuttgarter Zeitung, a German daily newspaper.
Astrid knew these expectations and tried to be prepared. During her studies in Berlin she gained work experience in different media. Astrid applied again and again for a trainee-job after she finished university last year. But in the end every company turned her down. Today, Astrid gave up looking for a place in one of the highly requested training programs, because she found an alternative: Last year she began to study journalism as a continuation course at Mainz university. This academic journalism training is meant for graduates only and lasts for two years. "I hope this additional training will improve my chances", Astrid says with a smile. "But still I can't map my future exactly. If you are walking in a maze, you never know what's waiting behind the next corner."
Torsten Holtz