Who is a Journalist?
A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information to the public. A journalist's work is called journalism.
educate the public about events and issues and how they affect their lives. They spend much of their time interviewing expert sources, searching public records and other sources for information, and sometimes visiting the scene where a crime or other newsworthy occurrence took place.
What does a Journalist do?
Journalists are storytellers. They write and report news stories about everything, from social issues and politics to sports and entertainment. A journalist presents information so folks can form opinions and make prudent decisions. “Journalists educate and inform the public about events and issues and how they affect their lives,” says Rebecca Briscoe, Houston Style Magazine national features reporter.
But getting to the story takes some legwork. A journalist spends time perusing press releases and developing story ideas; verifying facts; researching and investigating a single topic (sometimes for years!) for in-depth, long-form pieces; cultivating sources and relationships; and interviewing subjects.
And depending on where the journalist works, the job may entail anchoring a newscast, on-the-spot reporting, taking photos and producing content, including videos, for social media platforms.
Journalism is a broad career with many opportunities. Within different areas of media (television, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.), there are specialized tasks for journalists. Depending on the size of an organization, a journalist may work one or many of these tasks:
Reporters:-
are directly involved in the gathering of information. They conduct interviews, find sources, and pull together all the information needed to write a well-rounded news story. Reporters also present the information in a written or spoken form in news stories, documentaries, or feature articles. General reporters cover all kinds of news stories, but some may specialize in certain areas such as sports, politics, or lifestyle. Some reporters may work on staff for large news organizations, or as freelance writers, writing stories for whomever is paying them.
Sub-editor :-
take stories written by reporters and put them into a form that suits the special needs of their particular newspaper, magazine, or website. Sub-editors do not gather the information themselves but rather they concentrate on how existing stories can be better tailored to match a specific audience.
Photojournalist:-
use photography as a way of reporting the news. They may cover events with a reporter, taking photographs to represent a written story or attend news events on their own, doing both jobs. A photojournalist must carry photographic equipment with them, and must make decisions instantly in order to capture important events at the time they take place. At times, they may be exposed to physical danger, crowds, or harsh weather.
The editor :-
is in charge of deciding what goes in a newspaper, magazine, or news bulletin. He or she is responsible for the content that is to be written by the journalists and makes all final decisions.
The news editor:-
is the person in charge of all news journalists. They make all the decisions about what stories to cover and who will do the work. In large news organizations, the news editor may have a deputy, often referred to as the chief of staff, whose job is to assign reporters to selected stories.
Feature writers:-
write longer stories, which give more background to a news story. This type of writing involves a lot more in-depth research to give readers a lengthy and informative article.
Types of Journalist
1. Investigative Journalism
Investigative journalism requires journalists to embrace the detective inside of them. This genre of journalism reveals secrets in every sector of life–political corruption, allegations of fraud, you name it– and invites the readers to think more about the facts that are presented.
Investigative journalism can be used in any field, because you can make anyone not only interested, but also very curious.
This type of journalism depends heavily on the facts, the captivation factor, and the reader’s curiosity.
In my opinion, the most important element in investigative journalism is the headline. After all, it’s the main captivator in writing.
2. News Journalism
News journalism is probably the type of journalism that is most closely aligned with older iterations of the profession.
Ideally succinct and to the point, articles in this genre simply convey a piece of news. No sugarcoating, no interjecting opinions, nothing.
They may contain a little bit of euphemism because some news is too hard to handle, but nothing more or less than the truth.
At the core of this type of journalism is the news itself, and how you convey it.
3. Reviews
Reviews are the harmonious medley of opinions and facts.
Simply put, a review says: here are the facts about this place or product that we can neither change nor debate, but here’s what I think of this place or product.
In reviews, writers introduce a product or place, describe it to the readers, and eventually conclude with whether or not they would recommend it and why.
Reviews are tricky, because there’s a super-fine line between being personal and being objective, and a review should be in between.
It shouldn’t sound like a news report, but nor should it read like a paid endorsement.
The key in a good review is maintaining that balance, and a well-timed review is a review gone viral.
4. Columns
A column is like a personal blog in the modern world. A writer claims a column in a newspaper–which could be as small as a box or as big as a full page–and writes anything he or she would like in it.
The column is fully dedicated to the author, who sometimes even chooses the name for it. It’s the columnist’s own space to share his or her ideas or thoughts in a newspaper or magazine.
A column’s main focus is the personality of the writer; what they like, what they do, and what they write about, basically.
Examples of famous writers who were/are also columnists include Charles Bukowski, Stephen King, and Mitch Albom.
Many writers eventually move on to other formats, while others do a column to preserve their presence and fame.
A column is sometimes the first stop on the road for building a loyal readership.
5. Feature Writing
Last but certainly not least (at least in word count), feature writing is basically taking a topic and magnifying the focus on it to capture every single detail.
A feature article opens the gates of ingenuity inside the journalist’s mind; they unleash their creative monster onto the papers to really get into the depths of whatever topic they’re covering.
Feature articles aim to give you the full 4-1-1 on a topic, not sparing a single detail nor saving any words.
In fact, a feature article is the longest of the previously discussed types of articles.
Feature articles’ secret sauce is the creativity, the way the writer approaches the topic, and the topic itself.
What is the workplace of a Journalist like?
Depending on the type of article being written, a journalist works anywhere they need to in order to produce the story. The workplace may vary, whether it's attending functions and big events or knocking on people's doors. Writing the article after all the information is gathered may be done in a hotel room, a coffee shop, an office or from home.
Knowledge areas that need to be acquired
Freedom of Information requests
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a powerful tool in trained hands. Learning to navigate the exemptions and rejections is essential for anyone seeking to obtain information through FOI requests, and there are many options available for those looking to increase their knowledge.
Sites like What Do They Know offer help and advice to their users, thousands of example requests and maintain an exhaustive database of all the bodies to which FOI requests can be made. Since the Government's own FOIA page is sprawling and complicated, books like Heather Brooke's 'Your Right to Know' can also help you understand why a request has been denied and how best to appeal.
Shorthand
Learning shorthand is a process that requires a lot of practice and patience but ultimately is well worth the effort: taking swift, accurate notation during an interview enables you to create interesting pieces with the transcription and significantly lowers the chances of accidental libel.
Creating video and audio stories
As video and audio editing technology becomes more streamlined, it is always worth keeping up to date with new options and techniques it offers.
Advice on choosing appropriate equipment can be found on many amateur sites, and purchasing extras, like tripod stands, allows you to make notes about possible highlights or edit points while you record. Editing the recording down to an appropriate length and removing any unnecessary digressions is by far the most time-consuming part of the process, and one that you can only learn through practice.
Skills
No journalism course is all-encompassing and there will always be new things to learn, so here are some skills to consider picking up in your free time
Some lessons learned on a journalism course this year might be out-of-date by the next, and a course that teaches you one essential skill might not necessarily teach you another.
Constantly learning new skills is important to succeeding in the fast-paced world of digital journalism today.
Here, then, is a crowdsourced list of the most useful skills current journalists believe you should learn for yourself.
Freedom of Information requests
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a powerful tool in trained hands. Learning to navigate the exemptions and rejections is essential for anyone seeking to obtain information through FOI requests, and there are many options available for those looking to increase their knowledge.
Sites like What Do They Know offer help and advice to their users, thousands of example requests and maintain an exhaustive database of all the bodies to which FOI requests can be made. Since the Government's own FOIA page is sprawling and complicated, books like Heather Brooke's 'Your Right to Know' can also help you understand why a request has been denied and how best to appeal.
Shorthand
Learning shorthand is a process that requires a lot of practice and patience but ultimately is well worth the effort: taking swift, accurate notation during an interview enables you to create interesting pieces with the transcription and significantly lowers the chances of accidental libel.
Creating video and audio stories
As video and audio editing technology becomes more streamlined, it is always worth keeping up to date with new options and techniques it offers.
Advice on choosing appropriate equipment can be found on many amateur sites, and purchasing extras, like tripod stands, allows you to make notes about possible highlights or edit points while you record. Editing the recording down to an appropriate length and removing any unnecessary digressions is by far the most time-consuming part of the process, and one that you can only learn through practice.
Not every story will necessarily need a video or audio component, however. Deciding which stories would most benefit from one is another essential skill for a modern journalist.
Mobile journalism
The smartphone in your pocket can be an incredibly useful newsgathering and storytelling tool. You can take photos, film, record audio and edit using only your mobile phone and a few additional pieces of kit (don't forget a microphone!), so spend time learning how to make the most of your phone's features.
Mobile journalism is a cost-effective way of producing more videos and multimedia stories, embraced by online news outlets and broadcasters alike. Here's a list of mobile journalism experts and practitioners to follow on Twitter.
Crowdsourcing
Social media is an immensely powerful tool for discovering and curating stories, but the process can be fraught with the dangers of copyright law. Reading up on how best to engage with online communities to source stories is a great way to learn the theory, but identifying superusers and community nodes is a skill that requires practical experience.
Social media newsgathering
Eyewitness media sourced from social networks is becoming a key part of many news reports, and newsrooms are increasingly alerted to stories by Twitter or Facebook posts from eyewitnesses to the scene.
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Being able to source reliable information from social media, as well as verify photos and videos from eyewitnesses is a skill all online journalists should be aiming to master.
Basic coding
A journalist who can write both engaging copy and working code has significant value in a modern newsroom.
Basic knowledge of how to edit HTML and CSS means a journalist can make their story look slick and is almost always required for subbing copy online.
Beyond that, knowledge of other advanced programming languages allow a journalist to create infographics which are very different from those created using old standards like Infogr.am or Datawrapper.
Content management and search engine optimization (SEO)
There is no use in publishing to a void; attracting readers to an article through effective use of content management systems and search engine optimization (SEO) are vital skills in a modern newsroom and one that is often neglected by journalism courses.
Statistics and data
Data stories are increasingly making the front pages as more information is stored electronically and made readily accessible.
Interpreting the regular releases of data and creating a story from them is a skill in itself, but cleaning and organizing huge spreadsheets into easily comparable segments is well within the capabilities of a modern journalist.
Statisticians seem especially keen to pass on their knowledge, so books that teach you how to interpret data aren't hard to come by.
Scraping
For when data isn't readily available, or is spread over a variety of locations, learning to 'scrape' that information from relevant sources is an especially useful tool for a data journalist.
Sometimes called web harvesting, the process involves creating a formula that grabs the relevant information from each source you specify.
Data visualization
It's one thing to have discovered a story in a data release and quite another to effectively communicate that story. Great data visualizations immediately communicate the facts of the story in a way that plain text could not.
Gaining and maintaining contacts
Less of an academic endeavour but just as important, gaining contacts within the industry is paramount for an ambitious journalist.
Technology skills
Creating multimedia
Video and video editing
Audio
Photography and photo editing
HTML
Use of content management systems
Photoshop
Blogs
Social networking
Social booking and media sharing
Sound slides
RSS
Podcasting
Flash
Twitter
Remote transmission
Abilities
Ethics and Integrity
A solid ethical core characterizes a good journalist. Fairness, objectivity and honesty matter when reporting everything from local referendums and proposed state tax increases to presidential elections. Professional journalists abhor fake news based on rumor, innuendo and unverifiable anonymous tips. Reporters should only share opinions in newspaper editorial pieces. They step aside if covering that story would be a conflict of interest, such as writing a feature article about a family member’s new bistro.
Courage and Boldness
Good journalists push themselves to dig deeper and ask tough questions. They put personal feelings aside to boldly unearth the truth about newsworthy people, places and events. Courage is vital to investigating what is happening at the scene. They are not satisfied making phone calls from a comfortable desk in the newsroom when covering major happenings. For example, newspaper journalists may travel to the scene of dangerous floodwaters in their community and talk to volunteers who are helping sandbag a faltering dam.
Expert Communication Skills
Along with impeccable character, newspaper journalists must be skilled communicators to interview sources and write in-depth stories. Unlike radio, television or online journalists, they go far beyond sound bites and superficial coverage of a situation. Newspaper journalists include background information and needed detail to give context to a more nuanced understanding of the issue by the reader. Typically, journalists have a bachelor’s degree in communication or journalism and relevant undergraduate experience, such as writing for their college newspaper. You must be highly proficient in English grammar, technical writing and proper attribution of sources to be a good newspaper journalist and not lose your job.
Knowledge of Technology
As part of their job, newspaper journalists follow and use social media appropriately to provide immediate and transparent coverage of happening events. They know how to use the internet to research stories and access public records when engaging in investigative journalism. Technology, such as Facebook and LinkedIn help them contact potential sources to request information or an interview. They also maximize use of technology to instantly inform the public about matters that may directly affect their health and safety, such as a food recall.
Investigative Skills
Good newspaper journalists have an analytical mind and base stories on evidence and facts, not emotion. They are astute observers and instinctively sense when there is much more to a story than what is being shared at a news conference, for example. Critical thinking skills are crucial when weighing conflicting accounts of an incident and assessing the credibility of sources. They exercise sound judgment when blogging or writing yet unverified information on the newspaper’s website during a breaking story. Even when faced with looming deadlines, good newspaper journalists take time to get a balanced accounting of the subject
Personality
Honest: Few things rival honesty as the primary characteristic of a respectable journalist. Your readers and viewers must trust you, and dishonesty is the surest way to violate that trust.
Tireless: Luck seldom replaces tenacity. If you know there's a story to be had, tracking down the right sources (not just the convenient ones), convincing them to speak to you, crosschecking information, and spending hours researching are critical—and exhausting. The successful journalist embraces caffeine and soldiers on until the job is done, because quitting half way or half-assign the legwork translates directly into an inferior or inaccurate story.
Bold: Fortune favors those who take risks, ask uncomfortable questions, and get down and dirty when the job demands it.
Courteous: If you want people to speak to you about a sensitive subject, a little courtesy—a "please" or "I'd really appreciate it"—goes miles to easing their reticence.
Compassionate: You won't spend your career writing only fun, lighthearted pieces. Hard news is hard because it often involves pain or loss. A reporter who understands the human element and sympathizes with their subject or source will not only produce a story that resonates with readers, but will be able to rest easy at night knowing they didn't hurt anyone for the sake of that story.
Humble, yet proud: Recognizing that you're only one voice in a world filled with would-be journalists will keep your ego in check. That's not to say you shouldn't be proud to see your name in each article's byline, but recognize that your name is inextricably linked to every word in that article—even if those words end up being untrue or misleading.
Curious: The world is vast and beautiful, filled with more information than we could possibly absorb in multiple lifetimes. Maintaining a hunger for information and a healthy curiosity for all things around us helps to make us the best journalists we can be, and keeps us in the game longer.
Creative: The most memorable stories are those told in a fresh, creative fashion. The successful journo doesn't just recite what happened, they craft the story and wield their words like the tools of an artisan. Most readers and viewers know what to expect in the average story; make them blink and lean forward in their seats.
Shrewd: Even if you're honest, you must recognize that others are not. You will encounter sources that lie, bend the truth, or misremember. Maintaining a high level of skepticism doesn't make you a pessimist, it makes you a realist, and a better reporter. As President Reagan once said, "Trust, but verify."
Jack of all trades, master of none: Perhaps a byproduct of writing about an endless, perpetually changing stream of subject matter, accomplished journalists often possess a wide, if shallow, breadth of knowledge. That's okay; while you may not be writing academic papers, you'll always be equipped to have a conversation with anyone, strangers included, on just about any topic.
Job Outlook
The journalism job outlook: what does the future hold?
Of course, there will always be demand for reporter and journalist jobs. And the industry may yet find a business model to make it easier to operate during the current period of turmoil.
For now, however, it is undeniable that the economics of the profession make it difficult for highly skilled, highly trained professionals to sustain a career. In the meantime, better-paid alternative careers for journalists that rely upon the same skill set—such as content marketing—will continue to tempt people away from traditional journalist positions.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to become a Journalist?
A four year- Bachelor’s Degree is the typical education track followed by the majority of aspiring journalists. As journalists progress in their profession, some choose to complete further studies. The level of graduate degree selected generally depends on their specific career objective and/or position. To earn a Master’s in journalism takes an additional one to two years. Ph.D. programs in journalism usually last five years.
Should I become a Journalist?
It has been said that journalism is the backbone of the media industry and is critical to a high functioning society. It follows, then, that journalists must have a passion for truth, honesty, and integrity. And they must have the guts to go out and get the story.
Of course, there is much more to the role. Anyone planning to enter the field needs to understand the skills it calls for and the demands that it makes.
People who have successful careers in journalism tend to have a few things in common
They are well-read. They are interested in current events and developments.
They have a knack for thinking of or recognizing interesting stories.
They have good instincts. They read people well.
They love meeting people. They maintain strong interpersonal relationships.
They have inquiring minds. They love asking questions. They love ‘digging.’
They maintain a healthy degree of skepticism.
They are brave enough to report the unbiased truth.
They have thick skin. They can take criticism.
They are critical thinkers who can access, synthesize, and retain factual information logically and systematically.
They are motivated and persistent in their efforts to get the best available or obtainable version of the truth, and then to verify those facts.
They are effective communicators who have an intuitive understanding of storytelling and the non-fiction narrative devices that create drama, tension, and suspense.
They are adept at working with evolving technologies, databases, and social media that are the modern tools of journalism.
They give up the notion of a regular work week. They embrace the pace of their work, are cool under pressure, and ‘go’ when and where the story calls.
Steps to becoming a Journalist
The educational track to becoming a journalist is rather clear-cut: earn a Bachelor’s Degree, potentially, a Master’s, and participate in related internships. The less defined part of the path to this profession lies in the options that exist for specialization.
What are Journalists like?
Based on our pool of users, journalists tend to be predominately artistic people. Their next two strongest archetypes are investigative and social. The combination of these three characteristics describes – not coincidentally – the quintessential journalist: an individual who has a natural creative skill, who is intensively inquisitive, and who is willing to talk and engage with other people.