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I have been helping interview for an opening at my job. We posted a position for a web producer/developer a few months ago. What we were looking for is someone with a journalism degree who is also a decent coder who could do HTML, CSS learn our CMS code and maybe a little JavaScript.

What we got were resumes from recent J-school grads who could do all sorts of cool stuff in Flash but got this somewhat blank look on their faces when you started talking about HTML, CSS and dynamic pages.

Why are the J-schools with online programs turning out students who can do all sorts of cool Flash stuff but can't code a page of HTML with CSS from scratch?

I don't know of any newspaper or television sites that are pure Flash, correct me if I am wrong, so why are the people who would be producers for these sites coming out with only Flash skills.

I am not knocking Flash I think it is a great tool to add to your skill set, I am working on it myself right now, but I think you really need to master basic code before delving into Flash.

The problem we have is that we are looking for a more technical person than a Flash designer so that makes the current dilemma to hire the person with the journalism degree and little coding skills or to hire a coder without the journalism background.

It isn't just my office that is running into this problem we have 3 openings at other properties in the group and they can't find journalists who can code.

The entry level producer job at a newspaper needs to be able to code, edit and write a little. Where are we going to find these people if the journalism schools are not producing them?