I wanna be a Print Journalist

lesserbeing

I wish to break into the field of journalism.

I live in a small Montana town and I am attending a state school up here. For the past few years I've been trying to get into the J-game. I currently write for the shitty school paper and have been reading a plethora of literature on the topic.

So far I've read the text, Getting the whole story: Reporting and Writing the News . Along with that I read William Blundel's Wall Street guide to style and Jon Franklin's How to write for feature. As sample text for analysis I use Ernest Hemingway's Byline collection and Hunter S. Thompson's Collective writings along with the various AP pieces that wiggle their way up to this town.

I occasionally surf the internet for sample stories, but rarely, due to the sketchy quality of writing and the fact that I can't properly mark up the pages. There's a J school a few hundred miles away but I've heard that those places have a tendency of raping style so I'm a bit ambivalent towards enlisting there (on top of having some excellent money where I currently live).

I am wondering if you folks here at the Illustrious PA forums can give me a few pointers as to what else I can do. (I am building a portfolio and have currently been working a small art/culture beat for a local small time doesn't-pay-me-shit rag). Any ideas for references or some words of warning would be much appreciated.

Wyvern998

I'm a journalism major, so I may be able to give you a few nuggets of wisdom.

1) The business is tough, no lie. Be prepared to work copy or rewrite at your first job, and for a less-than-ideal salary at best. It's highly competitive, so remember, if you think you're above a job you consider menial, there are probably at least two others itching to take your place.

2) You're still in school, so go for an internship. The experience is invaluable, it helps you make some industry contacts, and it looks good on a resume. Your school paper may be a rag, but keep writing for it. Experience is good. And save ALL of your clips.

3) Keep writing. Being able to write hard news well is absolutely key. You need to be able to get the most important information out there in the most concise way possible. Learning to write a nut 'graph, contrary to popular belief, takes a lot of practice. Being able to self-edit is sometimes the most difficult.

4) If you have trouble dealing with people, you're gonna have to get over that quick. Being able to interview, to get people to tell you what you want, is massively important. You may want to write feature articles or exposes in the future, but you're never gonna get the big stories on your first job.

5) Always carry a notebook/pad. News is everywhere.

6) AP Style. Know it. Love it. Live it.

7) Consider starting a blog. Not a personal blog, mind you. Make it about something that interests you. Politics are big, of course, but if you're a gamer or a film buff, a review corner isn't a bad place to start.

EDIT: Also, pretty much every journalist I've ever talked to has told me that, at this point in time, a BA in Journalism is required for job entry. Not an English degree, not a Writing degree, but a Journalism degree. This may not have been true in the past, but it is now. If your school doesn't have a Journalism BA, sucks to say, but you might need grad school. I consider myself lucky that I'm at one of the few New York schools outside of NYU that has a Journalism BA. Fuck you, Columbia.

If your school does have a Journalism major, make sure you pick a complementary minor. I'm minoring in film, because I hope to be a film critic one day. Having a base of study is a good sign of intent, but don't narrow yourself too much. For example, I also know how to write sports journalism pretty well, and I hate sports for the most part.

Zsetrek

We have a couple of print journalists in the Writer's Block. You could hunt them out and ask them for advice via PM. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

supabeast

Intern in the big cities over the summers. Washington, DC is infested with journalism interns every summer.

Specularity

Just want to make sure you take a good look at what Wyvern said -- I was in the J-School my Freshman year, and that all sounds like the universal truth. Imagine that I wasn't too lazy to lime his post for truth.

But also, as I suppose with any job, don't get discouraged if you don't break into the business right away. If it's something you really love, it's something you can work toward doing your entire life (as opposed to, say, the roller derby), so while you should definitely head down that path as soon as you can, don't bail on it if you aren't the new Diane Sawyer next year.

lesserbeing

Nice list, you got a school to go with that?

I'm in my junior year of a BFA and a writing minor. With a growing portfolio and an internship lined up for this summer I wonder what else I may need to look good for a J-school graduate program. Also, do you have any recommendations for schools and maybe some idea of the needed scholastic requirements for them?

Wyvern998

I go to the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University. Unfortunately, I haven't really looked into the requirements for a graduate school education, mostly because I don't plan on attending one myself. If I were to, however, I'd probably put Columbia as my #1, but that's in part due to its location (again, NYC).

Uncle Long

I'm the staff writer for the Wrangell Sentinel. What you're doing now is good. Keep writing and submitting and getting your by-lines and clippings. Be prepared to look anywhere and everywhere for a job. Try to advance as much as you can in the student run newspapers and work on summer internships. As with most jobs involving writing, it's all about who you know.

For the record, my degree is in English and the majority of my publication prior to starting out in Alaska were in poetry journals. Take that for what it's worth.