A journalist is someone whose profession is journalism. It gathers, processes, discovers and disseminates news to a diverse audience. Journalists are always up-to-date on important events and are seen on site, live or recorded, for news. You can work in a radio station, television, print and online media. To become a journalist, you must have zeal, interest, motivation, and determination to be successful in the field.
Studying courses like journalism, mass communication, or media studies earns you a college degree / certificate upon graduation. It also allows you to learn the theoretical and practical works that you find useful after graduation.
You can intern at any media station to learn more or get paid employment as a junior journalist with an entry position because you are a recent graduate with no experience. The next thing is to expose one to the field. You are linked to a senior journalist who will teach you how to conduct individual or personality interviews, write interview questions, report on events live from the event venue, and write news in the station’s in-house style. Interviews can be a telephone interview or a physical interview. There are also observation sessions. This is when you watch what the senior journalist is doing and emulate it.
News writing is highly dependent on the type of event being covered, be it political, economic, educational, or healthcare. 5W’s & H is an important feature of any news story. This is what, where, when, where, why and how. Your opening / main paragraph is known to be the foundation / preamble that drives your audience to listen, see more, or read more. Your opening paragraph should contain 2 or more 5Ws and H. Objectivity is the watchword of journalism, don’t take sides when writing your story.
You are the media eye on the event, so you are expected to write in details, be short and concise, names and pronunciation correctly spelled. Check all the collected data with reliable sources. Your source may be a person who is a first-hand witness to an event. You must respect the rights of the source. If you do not want to be known, you must write anonymously. Their lives or their work may be at risk when you mention the name of the source or the address of the work.
Get Your Facts – Audio and Video Current Events, point out the facts that need further verification, as this can serve as a first for such a story, be sure to attribute all the information collected. Make sure to omit information when in doubt that you write bad news and misinform your audience. This is to avoid criticizing your media team with slander, libel or defamation.
No man is an island of knowledge. Once you’ve written your story, read it and reread it before submitting it to the editor / lead reporter for investigation. Final verification is important before shipping.
Being in the field as a journalist allows you to see the world from an eyewitness perspective, especially in war-torn areas. In cases like this, safety comes first.
