|
Wanted: Career Advice
I recently had the privilege of appearing at a career fair at Franklin Academy in Wake Forest, where I met some amazingly ambitious, focused students. They had plenty of good questions about writing and how to make a living at it. I left feeling cheered about the future. Here are some questions that were sent to me afterward by a middle school student who wants to go into broadcast journalism. As you can see, she’s already got some interviewing skill:
How many years did you go to college and what types of degrees did you get?
I have a bachelor's degree in journalism. It's a 4-year degree, but I took 6 years to get it because I also had to work and support myself. Since then, I've taken classes in various subjects, including art, economics, literature and theater.
What kind of accomplishments would you need to achieve in order to become a journalist?
Journalism used to be considered a trade, like plumbing or bricklaying. You would learn enough basic skills to get you started, and then you would get a job and learn more advanced skills by working with experienced journalists, just like an apprentice or journeyman in any other trade. It's still a lot like that, except that you need to have a college degree to get a job.
In the meantime, you can take every opportunity to report on the news. If your school has a newspaper, TV station, or website where stories about students or the school are published/broadcast/posted, work for that. Learn how to take pictures or shoot video. Learn how to use the Internet to find information AND learn how to distinguish reliable information from unreliable misinformation.
If your main goal is to do TV journalism, what would be the best way to achieve it?
Research college and university journalism programs and find out which schools have a good program in broadcast journalism. Start with a Google or Yahoo search. I searched college broadcast journalism, and found this site that looks like an excellent place to start your research: www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/majors/09.0402.html.
What businesses allow internships and what age do you have to be to start the internships?
This has changed since I was in college. Also, the problems in the economy may force companies to cut down on internships. I believe, though, that many TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers and magazines, offer internships for college students.
When I was in college, you were expected to do an internship the summer before your senior year, and you did it for college credit but no pay. More recently, students have been doing several internships before getting an actual job, and they've been getting paid.
Your best source of current, accurate information will be your adviser in college. I believe it's standard for an internship of some kind to be required in just about any major, so the school will have a big part in helping you find that internship.
What advice would you give to an aspiring journalist?
Understand that journalism in real life isn't like you see it on TV or in the movies. You don't get to sneak around and trick people into telling you things, and you don't set out with a goal of hurting someone or promoting some personal cause. We have a saying: The job of a journalist is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Basically, that means you set out to find the truth and share it with the public, and that you care about justice.
It's not an accident that the news media (which used to be called "the press") are protected by the FIRST Amendment to our Constitution, right up there with freedom of religion. The Founders knew that a free press was and always would be absolutely necessary for a democracy to function.
A bit of practical advice: Keep up with technology, and learn how to use tech skills in communication and information gathering. News can be gathered and distributed in so many ways these days, and new ways are popping up all the time.
|
|
Rants, Raves, and Miscellaneous Musings Archive
Comments? E-mail me: eileenh (at) eileenheyes.com |
