Career Advice?

Question

Career advice?
My stepdaughter has been seriously considering going into journalism. Is anyone here like a newspaper journalist, an international/war journalist, or involved with some type of indepedent journalism network like current tv? How do you see the risks versus the benefits? What skills would someone, especially someone her age, need to develop to enter this field? How many reasonable opportunites are there? Thanks for your advice and your cooperation with such a long question! =)

Answer 1

I have been a journalist for more than 20 years in the United States at small and large newspapers. I can tell you the industry is in a terrific state of flux, as are all advertising-driven media (TV, magazines, etc.)

The biggest risk to going into this profession is that it may not exist in another 10, 15 years -- certainly not in the form it is today. People simply do not read the way they used to. More and go to the Web for information -- and there they expect to get it for free. So more and more newspapers are shifting their resources into online products and into weekly free papers for young funseekers. They are staffed by less experienced, lower paid people who earn less money than traditional journalists at the same career stage.

Presumably, there will always be a market for smart, talented people to go out and collect information, but there will be many fewer good jobs. Right now, experienced newspeople in most locations can expect to earn about what experienced teachers are paid in the same region. Not a fortune, but enough for a comfortable life. In the future, it is likely that most news outlets will use a high proportion of part-timers, beginners and stringers as newsgatherers and very few full time professionals. Most of the money-paying jobs will be in management (i.e., editing and supervising online content.)

Most of the job growth right now is on the technical side, so online skills are indispensible. To get hired anywhere, pretty soon a young journalist will have to be fully fluent in Web page-building, shooting and posting video online and similar skills.

For a shot at international news, a really dedicated young journalist with top-notch skills will have a shot at landing a job at one of the shrinking pool of serious news organizations, but competition will be fierce. You can improve your odds by specializing in an area like international affairs, becoming fluent in a badly needed language like Arabic, and gaining as much freelance experience as possible during college. Then the key is to focus on those newspapers and TV outlets that actually send people overseas. Very few do so; many newspapers closed their foreign bureaus in recent years and rely on large newspapers like the New York Times and news services like Reuters and Associated Press for international coverage.

Learning how to collect information, get the facts straight and write extremely well are the core skills that will be needed in any news job at any level. Luckily, there are a lot of chances for students to freelance -- for student publications, small papers, specialty magazines and Web sites -- and gain some real experience while still in school.

To get a sense of what kind of jobs are out there, particularly entry-level jobs, your stepdaughter should read www.journalismjobs.com every week for several months. That may help her get a realistic sense of what opportunities await her when she graduates.

Answer 2

Why do you not go along to Learn Direct - they will open a whole field of opportunities for you. I say this because you do not say what your specialized field is. Also as you have children how about teachers support assistant - then you can have the holidays free if that needs to be the case. I took on a whole new career in my thirties doing Home Help full time - really enjoyed this work and moved up the ladder in no time. Just an option at this stage, whatever decission you make I hope it works out for you and yours. One last bit of advice - stay away from scams I dont expect I need to tell you that they are not all what they seem.

Answer 3

I was going to say "marry rich." I was actually a journalist and worked at it five years before I went totally insane. I mean you could be 90 and your daughter 60? She needs to be able to read and write well. If she don't got these skills then she will need to learn them. You would need to get some job (easier through a school with a good journalism dept. ) You don't start out at the top; albeit, girls get some breaks boys don't I had to do copy boy's work for a long time while learning the ropes. I am falling asleep.

Answer 4

I was a journalist for a town newspaper a couple of years ago, but I didn't go to school for it or anything. It wasn't really professional or anything. I don't get what you mean by the risks versus the benefits. What are the risks? I'm assuming you're meaning the risks of being a war journalist? I don't know that answer. I think she should develop people skills. She should know how to get information from people to write a story without making them feel used or useless. She should be able to talk to people openly, but not cause conflicts. She needs to know when to share her opinion and when to keep it to herself. I think journalism needs happy people! Deadline gets stressful. I was also in yearbook in high school, so I had more than one deadline to go by! I don't know about opportunities though.

Really though, I don't know if you're asking these questions or if your daughter asked you to, but I think you shouldn't be so worried about it. With schooling, she'll sort of develop the skills she needs. And if it's really what she wants to do, the number of opportunities and the risks wont matter.

Answer 5

You might wanna take interviews with specfic people. Like email anderson cooper or a news caster theyll help