Journalism is about good writing, but good writing is less and less about print journalism.

More information Newhouse School of Public Communications Syracuse University (315) 443-2305

The internet, CD ROMs, video communication systems are redefining the word "journalist,'' says Samuel V. Kennedy III, a professor at Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Media technology is changing, and newspapers are following suit.

There is serious competition between traditional journalism and something like Microsoft's Sidewalk, says Ronald Weathersby, a public relations director for the Newspaper Association of America in Reston, Va.

Even though these new ways of delivering information don't use traditional machinery, Kennedy emphasizes they still have one thing in common: good writing.

Reporters and correspondents held about 59,000 jobs in 1994, according to the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook. About 70% of these worked for newspapers, 20% in radio and TV, and the rest for magazines and wire services.

As newspapers consolidate and national media attention shifts toward radio and television, the number of jobs for print journalists (reporters, correspondents and freelance journalists) continues to decline, according to the Handbook.

But both Kennedy and Weathersby say that the job market is not shrinking. It's simply changing, and new media forms are paving the way for new media jobs.

"Media jobs are there when the economy is good. And the economy is good,'' he says.

Media is not just newpapers, though. It includes all related professions of broadcast, magazine, advertising, photography and public relations.

Training for the reporting profession varies, and internship or campus paper experience can matter as much, if not more than, classroom education.

Some colleges offer undergraduate degrees in journalism, and some, like Syracuse University and Columbia University, offer graduate level programs in journalism.

Reporter salaries vary widely, depending on experience, as well as the size of the paper. In 1994 the median minimum salary was $443 a week, and reporters with 3 to 6 years of experience made $713 a week, according to the Handbook. Radio reporter salaries ranged from $18,600 for the smaller stations to $28,989 for the larger stations, according to the Handbook.