|
A Career in Journalism
I want to be a journalist, and I want a career where I can travel and write from all over the world. About everything.
What should I specialize in in college? Print journalism or digital?
What careers could I have in digital journalism?
Are there any non-profit organizations that do a lot of traveling to third world countries, helping people that maybe I could write for?
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
i think print journalism doesn't require much traveling compared to digital journalism.
the difference between print and digital journalism is that print journalism could be newspapers, magazines, books etc. digital is more like photography and cinema, like tv shows, movies, pictures for magazines.
photography is based on traveling because if, say you were doing an article on africa, your organization is writing an article on africa, they would most likely need pictures to go with that. But don't get me wrong, print journalism does require traveling too because how are you supposed to write an article on africa if you don't go there. so pretty much both of them could relate to travel, its just what you want to do more. you mentioned writing in your question, so you must be more interested in that. rather than taking pictures.
my personal opinion, writing/print is better because its unique. YOU wrote it. its your words that you put onto paper. photography is just basically taking pictures. point the camera and click. its just my personal opinion but i'd rather write and make it sound original than to take pictures that anyone could probably do.
if you wanted to go about this path, you'd have to get a degree in journalism. I'm not in college yet but you can get a major or minor in journalism. I'd also take communications too. That is pretty much the same as print journalism but it also has different communications like radio, tv, media, etc. then after you get a degree for them, try taking an internship to test out what you like. the great thing about internships is that its like a job shadow. if you don't like it, you can eliminate it from your job list categories. once you come down to a few on your job list categories, pick one, look for a job, and live life :)
and also, don't worry if you feel like you're not the best right away. it takes a while for someone to become a great worker/journalist in your case. don't expect it to come easy and have offers handed to you. you need to work for them. hard work pays off :)
]
When it comes to college and university programs for journalism you have to be careful. University teaches you a lot of theory which is important but a lot of people don't come out of university having written anything that was published or in position for the kind of things you want to do.
You NEED college first. What you have to do is find a program that focuses on print, online, photo, TV, radio journalism all in one and take that and then add university after if desired.
NEVER pick a stream as trust me you'll need to know every aspect of journalism to make it. What an all in one college program does is allow you to work on a newspaper, online publication for 2-3 years and get published from day one. It also hooks you up with paid and non-paid internships for what you want to specialize in.
Picking one discipline doesn't really help you in the end if you haven't acquired the other skills because there may be more open to you job wise if you have everything and not always just online jobs. The market is bad especially with digital right now.
I can say this as I'm in the field. More or less if you love travel or anything else for that matter and can pitch a story to a local or daily paper even or existing online publication now you can get published but may not travel the world.
It's best to volunteer with a local publication and build up a portfolio as all journalists have to, enter college and then really pursue that beat. If you work hard and write well, take photos well etc. you can get there but you need a hands-on all disciplines covered college program first as university isn't hands-on.
]
What do you want to write?
It's good to know you want to be a journalist and you want to travel, but what do you want to write about?
Do you want to write articles ABOUT travel and hotels? Do you want to write about politics or be a foreign correspondent dealing with war or disasters? Do you want to write profile pieces and do investigative journalism?
Those are sort of the bigger questions then print or digital (and frankly, any decent journalism program will give you a good grounding in both).
Lets me honest with you: Most non-for-profits don't hire journalists, or at least, don’t call them journalists. They hire Communications staff. For example, I am a Communication and Outreach associate in my position within a theatre company. Much of my work revolves around writing about plays and events and programs that have happened or will happen, putting together newsletters and conducting interviews with artists, but I am not a journalist. It’s unlikely a journalist would have been hired to do my job. There are many people with degrees in Communications Technology or Non for Profit marketing. They are generally the kinds of people who get those positions with Non-for-Profits. It’s a slightly different kind of education.
From what I know of journalists and the media, once you take one of those Public Relations type jobs as a communicator, it's very difficult to return to straight journalism.
Some of the best things you can do in the short run to maximize your ability to travel is start learning a second language and get fluent. If you want to volunteer with a non-for-profit and do good in the world, just go do that! And write about it!
Decide the types of things you want to explore with your writing, and look for opportunities to be exposed to those situations and stories, and pitch those stories to places that will take them.
You are probably going to have to focus on being very entrepreneurial and creating opportunities for yourself, rather than looking for a conventional job if that is what you want to do.
]
More Questions: |