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I ran the internship/entry-level hire program at my large media company for about five years, so I'm familiar with recruiting journalism grads (I've been at Columbia's J-school job fair every year, actually). I will say that I, along with every other hiring manager I know in the industry, strongly strongly prefer job experience over a J-school degree. Journalism is one of those things where practical experience really trumps education. I recruit from top J-schools (Columbia, Mizzou, Medill, etc.) and have consistently found that J-school grads are significantly less prepared to enter the industry than people who interned/worked an entry-level job instead.
I feel strongly that an advanced degree in journalism is a waste of money. The people I know and mentor who went to J-school had an equally difficult time finding jobs as people with a bachelor's degree -- often MORE difficult because employers assume they will be more expensive -- and are heavily burdened with debt that they're unable to pay off. I'm not at all one of those people who think journalism is dead, but the fact remains that jobs can be hard to find and often don't pay well, or aren't full-time.
Take with a grain of salt -- I don't know much at all about photojournalism, and I went to the best state school I could attend for free and then swore I'd never step foot in a classroom again…but I think you'd be better off with practical work experience.
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