'Everyone needs to be a bit geeky'

Rebecca Burns jokes she can't even properly program her iPod but displays with her title as director of digital strategy for Emmis publishing that as future journalists, having an ability to embrace the evolution of journalism with diverse skill sets is what will give us an edge after graduation.

"The old jobs don't exist," said Burns. "You certainly don't find someone who is just a copy editor or just a features editor anymore."

Though the bulk of Burns' presentation on Tues., November 9 was not about being a competitive graduate, the few soon-t0-be-graduates in the room understandably centered their questions around asking questions that pertained to just that.

In answer to those questions, Burns' discussion helped to point out an important aspect of the future of journalism.

Perhaps the most important is that journalism is becoming more and more diverse and consequently calls for people who are okay with embracing and anticipating constant change.

As many journalists do, Burns began as a freelancer. Not without precious blood, sweat and tears, Burns landed her dream position as editor in chief of Atlanta magazine in 2002. Though Burns thought her position would be the end of her career road, she has since acquired the titles like author, interactive director, director of digital strategy and mom.

If the college seniors there, myself included, learned anything, it was to be journalistically diverse.

Here are a few things Burns suggested for those about to graduate:

• The old jobs aren’t out there-but new jobs are developing
• You have to be even more willing to juggle tasks and master a variety of skills
• Writers need to think about design-designers need to think about storytelling –everyone needs to be a bit geeky.