Alaysia
What is the Journalism Career like?
I am interested in Journalism and I would like to know how does this whole career pan out for some people? Is it a beneficial career choice or no? #career #career-path #journalism #news-writing
3 answers
Ken Dilanian
Ken’s Answer
Alaysia,
Journalism is changing so much right now that old farts like us may not be able to answer your question in a way that is meaningful for you. But here's what probably will remain true: A career in journalism means giving up some good things in favor of other good things. What you give up is the opportunity to make the sort of money you could earn in other professional endeavors like law or business. What you get if you succeed is an incredibly rewarding career filled with opportunities to tell stories, right wrongs, travel the world, witness history, see things up close that others could never see. You have to be willing to work long hours at crappy, low-paying jobs at first, because it's a craft you really have to learn while doing. It helps if you love to write, are curious and enjoy dealing with all sorts of people. So yeah, it's a great career choice for some people -- you just have to figure out if you are one of those people. It's also true that many people start in journalism and move on to something else they learned about while practicing journalism, like public relations, government or business.
Thank you Ken for answering my question! I really appreciate it. I'd love to go into the journalism major and eventually have a journalism career, I'm just a little nervous on how my experience would be. But your answer definitely clears things up for me.
Alaysia
Thank You for this Information
Dominique
Lore Croghan
Lore’s Answer
In the United States, it’s risky in the financial sense.
For the past decade, thousands of journalist jobs here have been eliminated. During the pandemic, many thousands more jobs were wiped out. For those who are lucky enough to land jobs, journalism is a low-paid profession compared with most other types of white-collar employment.
In many parts of the world, journalism is risky in the most literal sense of the world.
Frightening numbers of Latin American journalists who covered drug trafficking have been murdered. The high-profile assassinations of Jamal Khashoggi and Daniel Pearl are dreadful reminders of the dangers faced by journalists around the world. If you don’t remember these valiant professionals, you should refresh your memory:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45812399
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961485215/pakistans-top-court-orders-release-for-killer-of-wall-street-journal-reporter
American newsrooms can be mortally dangerous, too – just consider the horrifying 2018 deaths of five journalists who were shot in cold blood at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports the confirmed deaths of 1,427 journalists in the line of work since 1992. Everyone who is considering this line of work should know all about this group:
https://cpj.org/
So. Journalism is a vocation to which you must deeply want to devote your life. The best way to make your career choice worthwhile is to become an investigative journalist.
ProPublica is the gold standard of investigative journalism:
https://www.propublica.org/
Materials from the Global Investigative Journalism Network can help you understand the important role investigative journalists play in modern society. Here is the group's website:
https://gijn.org/about/investigative-journalism-defining-the-craft/
This consortium offers a list of places to study investigative journalism:
https://ijec.org/north-america-programs/
Haolong Jia
Haolong’s Answer
If you are a photojournalist, you need to keep taking photos, using photos to tell the story.
I have a experience about tap water project. I need to interview on campus, out campus and people from government. This is not easy.
So, good luck.