Journalism Careers

Are you outgoing? Do you have a flair for storytelling? Interested in current events? Then you may want to consider a career in journalism.

Journalists play vital roles in gathering, preparing and communicating information to the public through various media, including newspapers, magazines, trade publications, radio, television, news services and other publications. Journalists inform us on local, provincial, national or international issues.

“We’re journalists because we feel we’re called to be journalists,” says Brian Cleveland, a copy editor. “We do it because we believe we can make a difference with the product we create every day, whether it’s simply informing people of things they need or want to know, bringing attention to an issue that needs to be addressed or helping give a voice to the voiceless in our community.”

Check out these careers!

Copy editors
Do you have an eye for catching mistakes in written material? Then you may want to consider a career in copy editing. Copy editors check for grammatical and spelling errors, precise word usage and for factual accuracy. Copy editors work at magazines, journals, newspapers, book publishing companies, ad agencies and more. They are usually the last people to see a publication before it goes to the printer.

“I like copy editing because I have a lot of influence over the paper,” says Cleveland. “I edit or proof a lot of pages, and it’s rewarding to know that I’m helping keep mistakes out of the paper. After all, every mistake that a reader sees diminishes the credibility of the paper.”

Besides catching grammer errors, copy editors have other responsibilites as well.

“It’s great if you catch all style and grammar mistakes in a story, but if you let something libellous slip past, the other things you catch don’t really matter,” Cleveland says.

Copy editors have often received training as writers, too. To puruse a career as a copy editor, you need to have knowledge of current events and have a good vocabulary. You should also be able to write informative headlines and picture captions.

Columnists
Columnists write regular features in newspapers or magazines through which they share information, ideas and their opinions on a wide range of topics.

“Column writing is the form that allows the most freedom both in style and content,” says Antonia Zerbisias, a TV columnist for the Toronto Star. “You’re not bound by the traditional ‘five W’s,’ nor even by having to present the facts, although what you write must be timely and accurate.”

Columnists differ from news reporters in that columnists present their pieces through

expressing their opinions. Instead of remaining impartial when writing, like reporters are expected to do, every columnist expresses his or her own unique character in a column.

“You can mouth off within reason and with good reason,” says Zerbisias.

Zerbisias says that the positive and negative experiences for a columnist always come to the same source: reader reaction.

“Thanks to e-mail, you hear right away what people think about what you’ve written,” says Zerbisias. “The praise is nice, but it’s wise to have a thick skin.”

Zerbisias recommends that aspiring columnists “learn as much as you can, read everything you get your hands on, and write like crazy.”

Photojournalists
Do you have a passion for photography? Then you may want to consider becoming a photojournalist. Photojournalists take pictures of people, places and actions for newspapers, magazines and new-media outlets. It is their job to capture these images on location and to be able to capture a scene or event that is of significance. Today’s photojournalists must also be comfortable using digital cameras.

“I love meeting all the people I have met and getting to go to places I wouldn’t always be allowed,” says Maria Neels, a freelance photojournalist. “I love getting to really tell someone’s story and learning about their lives so much that it helps you in your own life.”With travel, however, comes the potential for risk.

“My most challenging experience was trying to shoot photos in a foreign country and make sure I was safe,” says Neels. “When I lived in Mexico, I would travel around and shoot a lot, but I always had to be aware of my surroundings.”

If you want to be a photojournalist, Neels says, “you have to love it. Photography and photojournalism are passions. They have to burn in your heart. If you don’t love it, you will be miserable because it doesn’t offer lucrative pay generally or wealth and power. But it offers something so much greater. It offers you a chance to be a part of someone else’s world, if only for a little while.”

Reporters
Reporters must gather and analyze facts of newsworthy events. They work for newspapers, magazines and television stations. They investigate leads and news tips, read documents, observe events and interview people. Television and radio reporters are often required to compose stories on the spot if they are reporting live from the scene of an event.

Reporters can either be employed by one specific organization or news media or work on a freelance basis, where they offer their stories to any media outlet. Reporters must present information accurately, logically and without bias.

Reporting is not limited to the context of only news events. Some reporters may specialize in entertainment or other areas.

Jacintha Wesselingh, an entertainment reporter for CFTO News, enjoys her job because she gets to meet new people and interview celebrities.

As for the criteria one needs to pursue a career in reporting, Wesselingh says that you should be open-minded, have a positive attitude, have confidence and be able to accept criticism.

Where to start
Experience is the key when looking to gain the skills need to pursue a career in journalism.

“Whatever part of journalism you want to get into, get as much experience as you can,” says Cleveland.

Volunteering at a local television station, writing for the local newspaper or the school newspaper or job shadowing are ways to get experience. Also, getting an internship is a way to develop contacts in journalism that could be helpful in your future.

“Internships are key to getting a job later, partly because the more people you know in the field the better,” Cleveland says.



Q&A with an art director
Aaron Morales, art director for The American Prospect magazine in Washington, D.C.

Q: What do you do in a typical day?
A: Lots of issue planning, cover meetings, art research, directing illustrators, and messing around in Photoshop and QuarkXpress.

Oh, and I drink lots of coffee.

Q: What did you study in college?
A: I started out on the editorial track of journalism, but after a few years, it started to feel tedious, and I began to question whether I’d made the right choice. I kinda had fallen into design at the student newspaper, and I realized that it didn’t really feel like work, it felt like fun, so I went with that.

Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: Designing the covers is particularly challenging, because it’s so important to newsstand sales and how the magazine is perceived. Typically, the staff has numerous meetings spanning many hours where we decide what piece to feature. We then devise the main coverline and a concept, and it’s my job to take these disparate pieces and form a cohesive unit. The difficulty is compounded if we decide to have an illustration, as I then must break down these conversations into a message to articulate to the artist, who then interprets it. Then begins the revision process…

Q: What advice do you have for high school students preparing for a similar career?
A: When you read your favorite magazine, take a minute to consider how it was designed. Effective design isn’t inherently noticeable, but really try to think about what works and what doesn’t and why. Also, I think it’s important for designers to have a broad journalism background, because you can then better understand where your editors are coming from. If you can understand them editorially, they won’t think of you as just an “artist” and will likely respect your opinion more.

Q: What’s the best part of your job?
A: Putting my own creative mark on the magazine and knowing that I had something to do with every single page that is printed.

I love getting the issue off the presses and just holding it in my hands and leafing through it. It’s a very tangible reminder of the work you’re doing. Also, I still get a huge thrill out of seeing the cover I designed at Borders or Barnes & Noble, next to all these magazines I’ve read all of my life.

Q: What kind of skills should someone in this position have?
A: Obviously, technical skills are essential, so it’s important to be well-versed in the relevant software. But those are just the tools; you still have to learn the rules of design and figure out how to best apply them to each situation. Patience is a must, as many people don’t really understand what designers actually do. There are a lot of people involved in magazine production, so it’s important to compromise, but make sure you fight for what you feel most strongly about.

Sheena Osman, 17, is from Markham, Ontario. She is in 12th grade at Markville Secondary School and an intern for The Next Step Magazine.

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