How to be a Journalist
Journalism is a career that can literally take you anywhere around the world. As a journalist, the world is your reporting playground because a story can be written about anything. When men and women study journalism at a post-secondary institution, they probably hope to launch their careers in the big leagues of journalism soon after they graduate. Dreaming about working for CNN or for your city’s largest and most reputable newspaper will not get you the journalism job that you crave. Neither will your earning the highest marks in your classes. Journalism is a career field where you MUST gain experience, build a reputation and develop a good portfolio in order to break in to the industry.
If you are considering becoming a journalist, your verbal and written communication skills must be strong. Journalists are responsible for alerting the local and global communities about information that they need and want to know. The formula for writing a newspaper article is different compared to the formula for writing an essay. Journalists should be skilled in mastering the different writing styles needed for print journalism and for broadcast journalism. Broadcast journalism writing needs to be formatted in present tense. Print journalism stories should be written in past tense. There are other rules for writing news stories and it is a good idea for aspiring journalists to study journalism at a post-secondary school in order to learn everything there is to know about journalism.
Journalists should be active readers and keen observers and should regularly read and watch journalism stories by other journalists. A news story could happen at any moment and a journalist should always be prepared to cover it if need be. Aspiring journalists should carry their cameras with them at all times along with a notepad, pen, and digital voice recorder. Breaking in to the journalism field is much easier to do if you initiate and cover your own stories. If there is a cultural event happening in your community, go to the event and write about how the event went. If you are an aspiring videographer, take your camcorder to events and record what is happening. Starting a blog is easy to do with the help from websites like WordPress.com and BlogSpot.com. Blogs help aspiring journalists to attract readers who may end up following the blogger’s future journalism career.
Aspiring journalists should ideally have experience and intimate knowledge in the stories that they are covering. If you are considering a career in journalism, keep reading, watching, and learning anything that will help you to craft stories you are interested in covering. Journalists can cover literally any topic because every industry has supporters and a fan following. Examine your interests to help you determine which news beats you would like to focus on. If you have a passion for the arts, consider reporting on artistic stories. If you are a sports enthusiast, consider reporting on sports stories and events. If you enjoy politics, consider becoming a political reporter.
Applying for jobs within the journalism field can help you get your foot in the door. Media companies are looking to hire reporters who have experience, so be sure to build a portfolio of stories you have reported on before applying for a journalism job. If you don’t have any experience, many media companies offer paid or unpaid internships to people who want to learn about the industry. Journalism careers can also lead to related careers such as broadcast news producing, public relations and communications. Journalism careers are vast, exciting and endless. Journalism is also a career in which you are constantly learning something new.
