The winter wind rushes into the cobbled courtyard of the Graduate School of Journalism (ESJ) in Lille. Surrounded by typical northern red brick walls, this school has been the training ground for thousands of aspiring journalists. Big names have cut their teeth there, signed their first articles or spoken into a microphone for true-false duplexes. It is in this courtyard that passions are forged and talents are revealed. We prepare TV news, radio flashes, we learn the basics of fact-checking.
Journalism continues to appeal to young people. Each year, the Lille school receives approximately one thousand applications for sixty places. A breeding ground that does not dry up. At Sciences Po Paris, which opened a master’s degree in journalism in 2004, the number of applications is growing steadily, with eight hundred and fifty applications last year for around sixty places as well. “This job is often criticized and not always easy. But its appeal seems intact. In an age awash with fake news, many see journalism as useful,” answers Alice Antheaume, director of the school.
A “vocational” profession, meaningful for many of the students who are destined for it. “There is something that comes from passion, it is a choice that is made with the heart and with a sense of social responsibility”, believes Corinne Vanmerris, director of studies at the ESJ. Vocation: the word does not seem too strong for Lou, a student at ESJ. From as far back as she can remember, she has always wanted to embrace a career in information. She knew it from the age of 13. Stage of 3e on the Toulouse FM radio, bac ES, history degree, Sciences Po, ESJ: all the stages of his school career were chosen on purpose. “I feel like I’m going to be constantly learning and meeting lots of different people, hopes the student. For me, informing is a noble mission. »
Of optimism and desire
Niklas Mönch, a 26-year-old German student, draws his motivation from the certainty that he will get a job “necessary and legitimate”, even if he is wary of these words sometimes “overused”. He continues frankly and in accentless French: “I want to inform people, help open their minds. » Others, like Alexandre Portes, 22, tell of a passion fueled more intimately than politically. If the young man is studying in Lille this year, it is to follow in the footsteps of his father, a TV journalist who often took him with him on assignments. “I don’t feel invested with a particular role. I do not see myself as a knight of democracy. I just like to tell people’s stories. » Martin Chabal, 23, thinks that by doing a job like that, he won’t have “never the impression of working”.
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