My chief question is: does one truly need a journalism degree to ask questions and read the news on radio or tv? If that is the case, I weep for the continual reliance of the blue staters on NPR, for example, and I cheer that we are making a difference by expressing ourselves and exposing what journalists are not.
No, you don't need a journalism degree, but you should have some sense of how news is organized, as in writing a lead sentence, constructing the facts in an interesting and factual manner and answering the who, what, when, where, why and how, within the first few paragraphs. It also helps to speak clearly and to not be unsightly. Any one of us can find the facts, but we need to be able to convey those facts in a concise and clear manner.