The journalism field prizes expertise. That gives you the ability to turn your passion into a career. You just have to start early and stay focused.
A photojournalist works a rock concert. (Illustration by News Decoder)
Journalism and activism can be powerful tools for change. Each week in our News Decoder Top Tips, we share advice for young people from reporters, editors, writers and master storytellers. In this Top Tip, News Decoder Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner explains why young people should consider what they really want to do when thinking about careers and how journalism can allow them to follow their passions.
Top Tips are part of our open access learning resources. You can find more of our learning resources here. And learn how you can incorporate our resources and services into your classroom or educational program or by forming a News Decoder Club in your school.
A great tragedy of life is that rarely are we successful at what we want to do.
If I could be anything, I would be a great guitar player but I was born with no sense of rhythm. My talent turned out to be writing. In journalism I found I was really good at parsing numbers and turning complicated subjects into compelling stories. That gave me a great career in financial journalism. I always had work and it was well paid.
But it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a political reporter or a movie reviewer (how fun would that have been!) and I might have been either had I followed my passions.
As a university professor I learned to ask this important question to all students: What is your dream job? Pie in the sky, what would you like to be doing 10 years from now?
I learned that great careers are possible if you make it your goal and start early.
Get a foothold in the career you want
Here is an example. A photojournalism student wanted to be a photographer for music magazine Rolling Stone. Well, yeah, who wouldn’t want to live in Los Angeles and hang out with celebrities for a living?
This is what he did. He figured that Rolling Stone had interns. But instead of trying to find and apply for an internship, he decided to find, through social media, someone who was already an intern at Rolling Stone. He found one and connected with him. That person told the student how he’d got the position and offered to introduce him to the person who hired him.
That student spent the next summer photographing rock concerts for Rolling Stone for $50 a pop plus free tickets and backstage passes. It gave him the opportunity to develop a killer portfolio.
Another student wanted to be an investigative reporter. Good luck on that, I thought. But while still in college, he took an easy-to-get internship with a local paper in a rural community. While there, he used the opportunity to pursue an investigative story on his own.
Using that experience, he convinced a state-wide nonprofit journalism organization to hire him for the summer on the basis that they would pay him per story, and not much at that. But he cranked out enough stories to support himself.
Those two opportunities got him into an investigative journalism program at Columbia University that only accepts 15 students a year and almost none of them straight out of undergraduate university. Now he is an award-winning investigative journalist.
What both students shared was a determination to follow their passion and ignore naysayers who told them they were dreaming.
Don’t be discouraged by a lack of privilege.
People do get dream jobs, some more easily than others if they have connections. But it is possible to develop the connections you need and to gain the experience that will convince those in hiring positions to give you a chance.
The great thing about journalism these days is that specialization and expertise are prized. There really isn’t much of a place for what used to be called general assignment reporters, who rush out following any and all stories, since there are citizen reporters everywhere with cameras and recording equipment who can jump on breaking news stories.
So people who hone their expertise in the subjects they love — video games, sports, food, science, politics, movies, the environment, music, even horses — can find outlets that need that expertise. Some people are able to generate income off their own blogs or podcasts.
Now, some fields are more competitive than others. There are many people who want to be sports reporters or food writers. So how do you set yourself apart from them in the beginning? Try developing a niche within the field — an expertise on a particular sector of football or gaming or the movie industry or the political scene.
That way you can know it better than almost anyone else. Blog about it regularly or create your own podcast stream or Tik Tok channel. Expertise commands respect. People seek out experts when they need that expertise. People who want information about your niche subject will find you if you have a proven track record for solid information.
And take any and all opportunities to connect with other people who share your passion.
You have to pour a lot of time and energy into building that level of knowledge. And that’s why it is important that the subject be something you are genuinely passionate about. Don’t choose an area because you think you can get ahead in it. Choose a subject because you really love digging into it and talking to other people about it.
It might take a while for you to get the connections or recognition you need. And that’s why it is important to start early. Give yourself 10 years. That seems a long time, right? But if you start at age 18, by 28 you’d have a foothold in an amazing career.
And that would be pretty impressive.
Three questions to consider:
- How can journalism provide an opportunity to create a career out of your passions?
- What is a good way to get started in a career you want to pursue?
- In what kind of career would you like to be ten years from now?