It’s an exciting career option if you have the drive and energy to obtain, analyze and deliver the news as it is to the world, even in these times when newspapers are closing and the media is becoming more active on the Internet. Journalism graduates are still in demand, especially with television media still holding sway and more and more people looking for a career in web journalism. If you have a degree in journalism or a related subject, you could choose to work in newspaper offices, as part of an Internet news gathering and reporting operation, or with the television media. In all three options, you could seek work as a:
- Reporter: This involves a fair bit of traveling as you’re required to visit places where news happens and gather information and facts. You have to be willing to follow leads, talk to people and most important of all, report the news as it is without embellishment or exaggeration. Most reporters work certain areas or go to places where they are asked to report from.
- Photojournalist: This is probably the more glamorous version of being a reporter in that you get to have your own byline and travel to places where the news is happening. There may be an element of danger involved if you’re reporting from war-torn locations or places where natural disasters have occurred. Even so, many journalism majors are interested in photojournalism. It’s a hard field to break into, but once you’ve earned a fair bit of acclaim, it’s easy to keep going.
- News analyst: You will be working behind the scenes, analyzing and dissecting the news so that editors are able to grasp how the news media should be presented to the public. Analysts decide the responsibility of the paper or television channel in that they set the policies that determine how much of sensationalism is allowed to creep into the news. They go by public and social trends in making their analysis.
- Editor: Editors are responsible for the overall appearance of the news; they decide the daily headlines and they oversee the quality of the news and the veracity of the content. They are also responsible for coordinating with all other departments like advertising and management and ensuring that reporters and sub editors do their work. Editors and analysts are senior members of any journalistic organization.
- Sub editor: This is an entry-level job that you can get if you have good language skills and are capable of writing and editing news copy. Most journalists begin their career as either a reporter or a sub editor who is responsible for shaping the reporter’s copy and editing grammatical and spelling errors.
- Newscaster (television): This is the visible part of journalism, one that most people want to get into but which only those who have the looks and the pizzazz to carry it off succeed at. You may have to work in the industry for a while and prove yourself before you can become a newscaster who is responsible for reporting news on the television, either live or recorded.
- Program director (television): This is similar to an editor’s job in the newspaper industry. A program director decides which news segments go into each newscast, which visuals should be used, how much air time each news item should get, and so on. It involves working behind the scenes in television.
There are various other jobs in the journalism industry besides these common ones listed above, so if you have a degree under your belt, all you need to do is find your passion and work at getting a job in the industry of your choice.
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This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of accelerated online degree . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com .
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