All we want to know is if they have recommendations for shampoo, conditioners, and of course a stylist.

Ummm. There's a reason there are schools of journalism at the university level. The internet has made anyone with ability to type think they can set up a blog and be a "real journalist".

It takes more than reading quotes from Noam Chomsky and watching you tube "how to's" to report properly. Half the time the 'professionals' aren't up to snuff.

I still remember when a kotaku blogger complained that bloggers don't get a chance at journalism awards. With the amount of profanity, shameless narcissism and non-stories can you wonder why?

Also I can't think of how many times I read about a game but the article doesn't even reference what system it is for.

Currency. Accuracy. Authority. Relevance. Timeliness.

This is the test for good content.

Haha, I'm writing reviews old games and previews games for a Game Magazine in Vietnam. Maybe I should go to this university :D.

As the matter of fact, VG is a new kind of entertainment. It deserved to be reviewed just like how they review movies.

There are already too many journalists, just like there are already too many lawyers.

@Slorg: I can't see your eyes because you're holding your nose too high in the air.

I'm a journalist and I didn't get a degree at your precious university level. You know where I got started? The internet.

I've been part of New York Times bestsellers, I've been on national broadcasts, and I make good money. You know what those kids graduating from college with their cute little jouranlism degrees are doing these days? Many of them are asking ME for a job.

So don't act like there's only one way to learn how to do something. And please, PLEASE don't act like that way is college. It might work for you, but to me that's just a four-year adulthood delay and I took a pass on it.

You give your little test for good content, allow me to add Passion for the subject you are covering, and you might want to put it at the front of the line.

WTF is this. Did I go to college and write and edit for an actual paper when I could have just played these games???

@Slorg: Yeah, I pretty much agree with you. I don't think that bloggers are incapable of meeting professional standards, but I'll admit that it doesn't seem as though many of them have the inclination to do so.

@kingclip:

Can you hire me?

@kingclip: I agree with you too. I said above that most bloggers don't show the inclination to follow solid journalistic practices, but it doesn't mean there are bloggers out there who do.

As for me? I spent my college years in two Columbia Crown-winning newsrooms, and after I graduated, I didn't even know where to begin looking for a journo job. I'm an interactive designer now.

@thegetupkid: if you love baseball and want to get paid nothing and you're in college, I think we have some internships. Whee!

I was a Journalism major!
I don't know why. I hate the truth!

Kingclip, I applaud your success, I do, but you would be the exception to the rule. passion is vital yes, but not at expense of any of any of the criteria I mentioned.

If you can't reference or source your information then it is useless.

One can never learn applied knowledge in university without co-op as it it is all theory, however having a foundation in your art it vital as well.

Journalistic integrity and ethics -have- to be taught to the vast majority of people as well as proper research/investigative techniques.

Just look at all the media outlets that copy content from blogs or other crap sources, and then get slammed for posting content that is totally untrue/inaccurate.

A final note on passion, in many cases passion == bias. There will always be bias on media from the editors, to the journalists to the sources. It is important to at least keep this in some kind of perspective.

Though passion may make an article interesting, it's no substitute for accuracy. And if there's no references other than 'anonymous' or even worse 'internet' sources than what you are publishing is -opinion-.

The internet has taken traditional reporting and made the 'newspaper' 99% op-ed and 1% reporting.

If I remember correctly the -duty- of journalists is to Inform the public. That's inform, not opine, not preach, but inform people so they can make decisions -empowered- by the knowledge they get from the report.

And as far as I know, most people who graduate from school will at one point or another ask someone for a job, for most of us, highly successful careers don't just materialize from thin air.

@kingclip: I'm a and I didn't study it in college. Can I get a job?

Haha, seriously (or maybe i was already) I've been doing games journalism for the last year and a half with only the experience gained through writing online. And as a firm believer in the fact that school teaches you nothing, but rather forces you to learn things on your own, college is useless for those people with something called willpower. Maybe that's why there are so many people heading to college these days.

Though ironically, I no longer have the willpower to deal with school, but gladly work my two jobs.

I've written for both a newspaper and blog and I can say that both styles can be approached differently.
Slorg is right when he says blogging lacks original reporting, but the argument I hear a lot is whether to consider blogging "actual" journalism.

I personally believe blogging and other types of internet news coverage as newsworthy, but it may sometimes come at a price when the writer becomes objective. Here is where the line between news and editorial seems to bend a little.

Anyways, congrats on the luck Kingclip. Even though college didn't work for you, it may be beneficial to others. College can teach you a lot about the business - even get your foot in the door - but a journalist's greatest selling point will always be experience.

I guess one would have to agree on a definition of journalism. Like is "The National Enquirer" journalism, or what about "Slate" or "CNN".

I would say that it has a lot to do with reporting facts without interpretation. One could argue that generally speaking 85% of everyone is too stupid to interpret facts without help (according to standardized literacy rates), I suppose that's open to discussion.

If your "reporting" includes your personal opinion, your feelings, any information about your personal life, most kinds of "reviews" (that do not involve quantitative) then it's op-editorial and not journalism.

Why would anyone want to play this game. Journalism is going to the way of blogs and to internet users. Actual people with camera will be reporting, Journalism is a dead end job.

Just to clear it up, I'm pretty sure News University is meant more for on-the-job training as opposed to an actual "university". I'm a copy-editor at a small-town newspaper, and a few months on the job, they asked me to take a copy-editing course at this site to see if I could improve my skills at all. It took like an hour.

Also, something that slips through the cracks is that although big-city papers are hurting, small-town papers are doing pretty well right now because they provide news you can't get anywhere else. The circulation at the paper I work for actually increased the last two years.

I guess I'll get into this debate, even though it may have be dead by the time I get here.

I was first a blogger/podcaster before taking college classes in journalism. Though I may not work in a magazine or a newspaper. The tips and knowledge I learned will really help me out. I think that bloggers should check this out to better themselves and their journalistic skills. (Mark Cuban?)

I really wonder why the hate for journalists. Isn't Crecente a member of it? Do you hate Crecente? :-P

Also, you have to have some opinion on the subject or why did you write about it. The problem is when you make your readers assume things that are untrue.