How to Become a Journalist

how to become a journalist
There is no one way to become a journalist but get writing. Start on a small scale and start as early as you can. Write for your local media, volunteer to help out, get to know journalists, who the staff are and what journalism they do. Or something the media don’t do that you can supply.

Analyse what journalists offer and give them something in pictures or in words, preferably both. It could be a sports report of a local match, a news or colour piece about a charitable event, an article about something controversial, for example, a plan to create a wind farm.

journalist media

If you don’t have easy access to local media then the internet is your ‘local’. Write, blog, vlog, podcast, take photographs and share them on your news site. Better still set up a site with a few like-minded people using free online sites. Curate news content, share interesting news stories on your social media….show you want to be a journalist.

Journalists are people who gather, write (print or online), broadcast (radio, television and online) or take photographs and report on things. In essence they are gossips! Interesting gossips but ones who can tell a good story. Reporters are the ones who find out things before others do. Good reporters tell others things they don’t already know. Press people are nosey people. Editors talk about journalists who have a good ‘nose’ for news! That’s what it takes to become a journalist. Have a nose for news!

Journalist university
The next step is college. Today a university-level education to Bachelor’s, and even a Masters, is a must if you want to be in journalism. You can study for a media/communications degree at undergraduate level and then specialise at Masters. Or you can study for any undergraduate-level degree you want – arts, science, technology, computer science, languages, history, philosophy or business – and then do a Masters level digital/media/communications degree.

Most universities will want to see evidence you intend to become a journalist so here’s where your portfolio of articles or blogs will get you a place on that prestigious course. Because you can demonstrate you wanted to do journalism. By doing it!

Author: Mary O’Carroll

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