How can I break into investigative journalism, would any particular degree help?

Question

I know that English is an advantage, but would there be anything else that would help, such as a criminology degree? Or do I even need a degree?

Answer 1

A hunch. Most investigative reporters follow hunches. Prime example is Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, they followed a hunch after reading a police report about a break in at the Watergate Hotel. There isn't that much demand for investigative journalism for the simple reason if the reporter's hunch is wrong, the newspaper could get sued "for a lot of money." Case in point is the Cincinnati newspaper which was sued about a reporter's story about the banana trade, also the San Jose Mercury was sued for a faulty investigative story. Now to answer your question, the best way to break in investigative journalism to to work for about 10 years as a general assignment and beat reporter. While you are covering you beat, you might get a hunch, follow through, and uncover some dirt. If you do without getting sued, you could move up the ladder to a big metropolitian daily newspaper, who have special investigative reporters on staff. For example, the Hartford newspaper earlier this year broke a big investigative story, also the San Francisco Chronicle broke the "steroids" in major league baseball story. Needless to say, unless you are gifted writer, researcher, and interviewer, you are going to need a college degree in English or Mass Communication/Journalism. Very, very, very competitive field with very, very, very few job openings. Yet those at the big city dailies make a good wage.

Answer 2

Obviously, a Journalism degree. Some other type of Writing degree. Criminology wouldn't be bad. Anything that might help you in doing research, as investigative journalism will require a lot of that. And, yes a degree would be a big plus.

Some kind of Internship would probably be a good way to get in.

Answer 3

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