Can Photojournalists Write For Newspapers?

Question

I'm currently a double major in Film & Journalism at the college I'm attending. I main reason I took up Journalism is to have a fallback if film doesn't take off right away and also because I really want to have some writing cred, and I'd like to hone up on my writing abilities. Reporting just excites me all around. I'm taking a news editorial sequence for the degree.

I've been thinking a lot about how much I love photography lately. Photography and Film do have close relation to one another, but regardless, I want the degree in Film and Journalism. My school offers a Photojournalism sequence for the degree so in theory, I could switch from my news editorial sequence.

I guess my main concern is, I would love to learn more about the art of photography and how to apply it to journalism but I do want to do what it takes to get into writing for the mass media. My question is, if I switch tracks and start taking photojournalism, would I still have hope to get into writing for a newspaper?

Photojournalists still have the same basic foundation classes that News editorial Journalist majors do so writing classes are heavily involved but upon graduation, would a newspaper consider a photojournalist major for writing for a paper or is that just not in the cards?

Answer 1

When it comes to getting the writing gig, it's all about what you can prove you can do - your talent.

The photojournalism major should be sufficient to provide the foundation training you need to write well as well as shoot well. When it's time to apply for jobs, they want to see what your work looks like in print. That's all. So make sure you have some publication outlet - school paper, a local weekly, news magazine, something... The degree and the major are very secondary to what you have in print. Keep copies of everything you do that goes to print.