Career In Journalism

A Beginner's Guide to Becoming a Journalist

A great many people who want to be writers say that they want to have a career in journalism.  They may envision themselves going to exotic locales to cover stories.  While these things do happen to journalists, it takes a long time to make your bones before you are sent on any interesting assignments. 

A journalist is someone who reports on timely events.  Timing is everything to a journalist.  Whether you write for a periodical or a newspaper, you need to make sure that your articles are timely.  Your purpose is to keep the public as up to date as possible when it comes to news and events that may affect them.  This is the basic concept of being a journalist. 

As a journalist, it is your job to reveal information to the public.  This should be impartial, timely and truthful.  To get into the computer system of the first journalism job that I had, the password was “truth.”  You have to write the truth of what you see and hear and let the public form an opinion.  You need to always quote sources when you are writing a journalism piece as you should not attribute anything to your own knowledge.  Your articles should be written from a third person point of view and from the outside looking in. 

As you continue in your career, you will find your voice when it comes to your writing.  Do not be surprised if your first articles are rewritten by your editor.  Another rule that you need to learn when you are starting a career as a journalist is to not fall in love with your own work.  Do not feel hurt if an editor does not like a phrase in your article, or makes some changes.  They are only doing their job.  You will soon get to know the editor and they will get to know your style of writing.  

A journalist usually gets a job as a news reporter, and both news reporting and journalism are careers that are interchangeable.  While many people think of journalists as writing on top stories or features all over the world, the education that you need to become a newspaper reporter and to be a writer for a magazine is the same - a degree in journalism.  Anyone who writes an impartial article, be it news or feature stories, is practicing journalism.  If you choose to have a career in journalism, you will most likely get many different assignments in your career.  The basic rules of journalism apply to everything that you write. 

Many people feel that newspaper reporters only report the news and give more credit to journalists as they investigate the news - this is not true.  Most newspaper reporters do a fair share of investigation into their stories, or should.  Those who report on crimes in the area and court actions are usually editors who have done their fair share of investigating in their stories.  You will quickly learn, when you are embarking on a career in journalism, which the more you look into a story, the better the story will be.  Sometimes you have time to do this, other times you are working on a tight deadline.

You should be able to work on a tight deadline when you are a journalist.  Not only is this important if you are writing news stories, but it is also great training for any writer.  The more you write, the more concise your work will become and the better quality you will be able to churn out in record time. 

If you are interested in being a journalist, sit back and start reading.  This book will tell you everything you need to know about becoming a journalist and making a living writing - both online and off line.