Business Education
Recent grads join freelance journalist ranks
By Mitchell Brown
When her advisors warned Jade Bramwell that she may face some employment struggles after college, she wasn’t worried. A year later, that changed.
“The job I really wanted rejected me after I’d been interviewing with them for about two months,” 2025 Pennsylvania State University graduate Bramwell said of a digital news fellowship. “It put me in a major mental spiral, and I’m still dealing with it now.”
Recent journalism graduates’ fears about finding full-time employment come as, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs for news analysts and journalists is projected to drop 4% between 2024 and 2034. The Pew Research Center found that, in 2022, 34% of journalists surveyed worked freelance or were self-employed.
Some graduates are adjusting, including by enrolling in graduate school and joining that widening pool of freelancers.
“I didn’t really understand how bad things were until it’s slapping you in the face,” Bramwell said..
To stay afloat, Bramwell has been freelance writing for the Jersey Shore Girl.
Freelancing is a good way to start a career and build connections early, said Sylvan Solloway Carrera, career services director at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
“Saying, ‘Oh, it’s a tough job market and we need to be scared of it’ automatically sets up a bias that could negatively impact your job search,” Carrera said. “It’s not the end of everything; there are jobs. The question then is: How do you get those jobs that are available?”
To help improve her long-term chances for work, Kiera Baker started studying for a master’s degree, concentrating on sports media and society, at the University of Southern California in summer 2026.
“My decision to go was mainly about continuing to sharpen my skills as a journalist,” Baker said, adding that several veteran journalists suggested she go to grad school. “Being in school will give me more time to explore sports jobs and research what I want for my future.”
Despite their concerns about how healthy the news job market, some remain determined to tell stories.
“I know today’s job market will require a lot of patience, persistence and faith,” Baker said. “Things may not always go the way I want, but I trust that everything will work out.”