Journalist Careers Information
Broadly speaking, a journalist is anyone who gathers and reports information important to a community. This information, or news, may be something as simple as the events of the past day or as incendiary as an expose of government corruption. A popular journalist may be allowed to express about his or her own personal views of the world in a recurring opinion column. Journalists may be employed for a steady salary at a news organization or may work freelance, selling individual articles to a variety of publications.
Journalist Careers & Degrees
A journalist may follow any number of career paths. Besides filling writing positions in the print media–newspapers, magazines–one can work as a news broadcaster. At the main desk as a news anchor, in the field as a general correspondent, or specializing in a specific area of the news, such as sports or weather, newscasters give a face to the news on television.
In recent years some journalists have found a home in internet blogs; though they often pay little if anything, some blogs have grown to have as much influence as more traditional media.
Journalist Careers Path
Most journalists have a Bachelor’s degree in journalism or mass communications. Because experience is important for most employers, most look for hires to have experience with school newspapers or news broadcasts and/or internships with news organizations.
It is also good for journalists to be proficient with the various technologies of journalism, including photography, video editing, and multimedia web design.
Journalist Careers: Compatible Personality Traits
Outgoing, commitment to objectivity, eye for detail, self-starter, excellent communicator, good under pressure, willing to work odd hours, flexible.
Journalist Careers: Salary Expectations
The average salary for a journalist is $33,470 with the middle fifty percent earning between $24,370 and $51,700 a year. For broadcast journalists, the average salary is $46,710, with the middle fifty percent earning between $30,080 and $83,370 a year. For freelance journalists, income is wholly dependent on the number of articles published, the rates paid by publishers, and the demand for that journalist’s writing.
Journalist Careers: Job Outlook
As newspaper circulations fall and news organizations shut down bureaus and streamline operations, competition for traditional journalistic jobs will continue becoming sharper in the coming years, especially in larger metropolitan areas. Journalists with subspecialties, such as politics or economics, as well as those who are adept in the new multimedia forms found on the internet will have the best chance of landing a job.
Although they offer little pay and no long term employment guarantees, independent online news sites are fast becoming a new frontier of journalism and may one day provide for more steady employment opportunities, though that prospect is uncertain.
Slightly off the Footpath
Source: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos088.htm
