I am 21 years old and my dream job is to become a newspaper writer? How many years of practice will I need?

Answer 1

Consider starting out at a small newspaper, whether it's a paper in a small town or a community paper serving part of a large city.

That's how I got started.

Answer 2

You do not need a journalism degree to get started, as someone suggested. For that matter, you don't really need any degree to get into the business.

I have a B.A. in English that I used to write for a community paper. I started at a small weekly within three weeks of graduating, and I was the sports editor and primary reporter within the first six months.

While I left journalism after two years, I had two job offers from daily papers within the first year. If you have a knack for writing, editors will notice. They'll choose talent over training any day.

My suggestion for getting started: Work for a college paper if you're in college. Otherwise, contact the editor of a smaller paper (daily or weekly; it doesn't matter) and ask about doing freelance work.

The idea is to develop a portfolio with clips of your best writing. The better clips you have, the better offers you'll get.

Many states have press associations with job listings. For my state, it is http://www.ncpress.com.

Back to the college suggestion: Get a degree in what interests you. Many journalists have degrees in political science or business, for example, with only minors in English or journalism. I've actually sat in on seminars where editors have expressed a preference for non-journalism grads, saying they prefer good writers whom they don't have to "un-train."

Learn AP style. You can pick up the most current style book from Barnes & Noble for about $15. Develop good people skills, both face-to-face and over the telephone. Learn how to talk to people, because that's about 80 percent of what you do. The writing is the easy part.

If you're serious about becoming a journalist and you have any writing ability, you should be able to have a stable job fairly quickly, and you should be making decent money within 5 years at the latest.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Start at your Community College or University School Newspaper..take a newspaper writing class..and then perhaps persue a degree in magazine or newspapers . :)

And then see about getting an Internship at a Local Newspaper..

Newspapers are dying out..and are going Online..

You're better off with Magazines..

Just some advice from a Freelance TV reporter :)

Good Luck :)

Answer 4

Get a college degree in journalism in order to gain credibility.