Skill needs for today's television journalists: What Australia's TV news chiefs want most from the new generation

Much journalism research focuses on how new technologies will affect practice, suggesting employers will want a new breed of journalists with 21st century skills. This research asks news managers at free-to-air networks what traits they most desire in recruits and long-term employees. A theme emerges (especially in the commercial networks): they want 'hungry' journalists able to generate original stories and extract information from contacts. They are frustrated that most young people seeking jobs in their newsrooms do not have these characteristics. None of those interviewed raised fluency with newsroom technology as a criterion for recruitment. This low priority was also reflected in a quantitative survey piloted with many of the respondents asking them to rank skills for importance. These findings warrant further research to determine if Australia's news chiefs are making a mistake valuing traditional traits above new technology-driven ones. Testing the quantitative survey across all Sydney television journalists could highlight trends across profiles and any discrepancies between management and employee expectations.