Figuring out how and whether you want to get into journalism can be a challenge for students as they embark on their college education.
We had several questions around this topic in the first-year undergraduate course at UBC in new media and journalism that I teach with my colleague Candis Callison.
In particular, students wanted to know about promising, emerging journalists in Canada who they could look to as role models.
Our TA, UBC j-student Fabiola Carletti, took it upon herself to get in touch with a bunch of new journalists and publish their advice online.
The site is a treasure trove of gems, from take every opportunity to being relentless to living an interesting life.
Please take a look at So, you want to be a journalist?, recommend it to students or let us know who we should add.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alfred Hermida, Justin Yang, Amanda Ash, Journalism.co.uk, Duncan McCue and others. Duncan McCue said: RT @Hermida: So you want to be a journalist? Advice from Canada’s promising young journalists http://bit.ly/fhrmx3 #UBC #youngjourno [...]
I worked in the media industry for 7 years and I now work in communications.
My advice to aspiring journos is to do the following:
1. Be highly literate. I can’t tell you how many journalists I’ve come across who can’t string a sentence together properly. I won’t even get started on spelling and grammatical errors.
2. Study History.
3. Study culture, including pop culture. It’s awful to watch a broadcaster or writer who doesn’t know squat beyond what’s immediately before them.
4. Don’t seek fame.
Great advice from RBreezy above. But I would also say the same for many other professions. Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you have the know-how.