journalism?

Question

lm a 16 year old who is hoping for career in journalism. to make sure that this is the career that l really want to do l need work experience. l have applied for work experience at the bbc but they take a while before they give you feedback. do any of you guys have any advice on how and where l can get work expirence. plus some advice on how to make it into the industry would be highly appriciated. thank you

Answer 1

why don't you write for your school paper?

Answer 2

You may want to start a little lower than the big old BBC. Get in touch with your local paper and say you would like some work experience with them. Maybe you can shadow some of their reporters for a day or two, then maybe even write some small pieces of your own. To help your application, include a few story ideas, i.e. things that you could see yourself writing about for them. There, too, the idea is to get started with something simple. Don't write about the conflict between Israels and Palestinians, rather, think about something local that affects the lives of you and your friends. Maybe there is a local initiative that you are part of, some charity whose work you think should get more attention, or something around your school not going the way it should. This sounds very obvious at first, but once you get a few people to tell you their point of view on the issue you cover, you've got the material for your first article.

As has been said above, work on your language and your general knowledge. I assume you are from the UK, so make it a habit to read quality ppers like The Guardian, The Independent or The Times. Take a single article every no and then and sit down and analyse it: How does the writer put forward the case, how is the argument conucted, what is the sentence structure like, how are direct quotes used etc.

Watch the news on tv and do the same. Compare different news programmes - which issues do they consider so important that they start their broadcast with them? Which are considered less important and come at the end?

I think the recommendation above about applying to Reuters is something you should save for whn you have some experience under your belt, just like the BBC. Once you can send in some articles you have written for your local paper, you can go the next step and apply to a bigger paper, or a radio station etc. Just work your way up step by step.

Good luck!

Answer 3

School newspapers are a good start. Look at some youth magazines and try writing for one or two of them. Apply to Reuters to do some work either in their wire service offices or their TV syndication service (writing stories to go with the images).

You need very good English to start with. Your studies in High School and University should include politics, economics, other languages (if you want to go into foreign correspondant work), law and legal studies (for writing in "Police Rounds" and "Courts reporting"), and it is good if you have a broad knowledge of History (both local and international).