| Skill | 1980 and earlier graduates | 1981-95 graduates | 1996-2005 graduates | 2006-15 graduates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing | 52.7% | 58.2% | 55.8% | 46.7% |
| Newsgathering / reporting / interviewing | 43.4% | 36.9% | 33.9% | 30.5% |
| Editing | 43.8% | 40.7% | 34.0% | 31.1% |
| Marketing, advertising and PR | 12.7% | 18.3% | 15.3% | 13.6% |
| Media ethics | 14.5% | 13.4% | 16.6% | 14.8% |
| Media law | 10.5% | 11.5% | 10.3% | 7.5% |
| Investigative reporting | 11.6% | 8.6% | 6.3% | 4.5% |
| Video production | 4.0% | 7.1% | 8.7% | 9.8% |
| Video storytelling | 3.2% | 5.0% | 7.9% | 10.3% |
| Audience / consumer research | 1.8% | 2.3% | 2.1% | 3.0% |
| Business management | 3.9% | 3.9% | 3.3% | 1.8% |
| Audio storytelling | 3.2% | 4.5% | 3.9% | 4.0% |
| Career development / job-seeking | 1.4% | 2.5% | 5.5% | 7.0% |
| Data visualization and chart-making | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 1.2% |
| Understanding audience data | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| Fluency with numbers and data | 1.4% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 1.7% |
| Entrepreneurial skills | 3.1% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 1.4% |
| General social media | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 7.8% |
| Graphics and web design | 0.6% | 1.5% | 4.5% | 4.2% |
| Theory of the web and computer science | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Fluency with the business of news | 2.2% | 2.6% | 2.2% | 3.1% |
| Opinion writing | 5.5% | 3.0% | 2.4% | 2.7% |
| HTML | 0.0% | 0.1% | 1.3% | 1.1% |
| Other computer languages | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Preparing me for continuing learning | 3.4% | 3.0% | 2.6% | 1.8% |
| Still photography | 7.0% | 5.3% | 3.1% | 4.4% |
| Subject matter expertise | 2.1% | 2.7% | 3.2% | 2.7% |
| Using social media in reporting and storytelling | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 2.5% |
| Web literacy and search | 0.2% | 0.2% | 2.7% | 3.2% |
JOURNO51: What skills people in media feel best prepared for, by graduation date
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About the Author: Jeff Sonderman
Jeff Sonderman is the former deputy executive director of the American Press Institute.
Before joining the American Press Institute in 2013, he was the digital media fellow of The Poynter Institute. His earlier journalism background includes digital news — helping to launch TBD.com, a local digital news startup in Washington, D.C. — and various roles in newspapers, as an award-winning reporter, online editor and metro editor of The Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pa. He was the architect and developer of API's Metrics for News analytics software that reinvents how publishers use data to inform content strategy. He also edited API's Need to Know newsletter, and designed API's Strategy Studies research format for in-depth strategic guidance. And he consulted with publishers on a range of issues related to content strategy, organizational transformation, audience development, newsroom structure and workflows and product management. He graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism.
