The Regional Journalism Scholarships program will support five Charles Sturt University students and graduates from regional areas around the country to study journalism. 

Erin Archer is originally from Wagga and is completing her master’s degree, specialising in journalism, in Bathurst. 

The 25-year-old said the changing world of journalism should be seen as an “opportunity”, rather than being negative. 

“There’s always going to be news and the way journalism is evolving, it’s exciting, because there’s a lot of different avenues that journalism can go down,” Ms Archer said. 

“I love teaching and I get to teach university students about radio journalism and I love that, so in about five years I see myself as teaching future journalists.” 

Ms Archer works at the on-campus radio station, National Radio News, who provide the news bulletin for the community radio stations around the country. 

“We employ second and third year CSU students and teach them about radio journalism and it’s a good way for them to get industry experience that they don’t get in the classroom, without leaving the campus,” she said. 

Ms Archer said throughout her journalism degree, the emphasis has been on the wide range of skills required by journalists today. 

“I suppose the fact that journalism is changing has been emphasised and there are a lot of opportunities that journalists can transfer into, more than what a journalist’s role used to be,” she said.

“Rather than just working in a newspaper, journalists have to have all these different skills to be a top-notch journalist, with a broad set of skills to be able to excel in journalism.” 

The five journalism scholarships are worth a total of $200,000 and will cover course-related expenses, including tuition fees, accommodation and living costs. 

Course director in the School of Communication and Creative Industries Dr Travis Holland said the Bachelor of Communication degree had recently undergone an “extensive review”. 

“Students are exposed to industry best practices from day one of their study and our journalism students take subjects specifically dedicated to audio and video news production, as well as data journalism, and the time-honoured skills of news gathering and writing,” Dr Holland said. 

“They are also encouraged to undertake complementary minor subject strands such as radio, public relations or digital media. 

“Increasingly, newsrooms want journalists who can do everything and have expert knowledge of the fields upon which they report. 

“This could mean journalists need to take up additional study in law, politics, or science and we encourage and allow that within their course,” he said. 

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