“Journalism is dead.” “Newspapers are dying.” “Magazines are shutting down.” All of these statements are lies. The news and journalists have never been more important, nor have they had as much possibility as they do right now. The only part that is dying is the old paradigm—newsprint is dead, paper is out. Transitioning to a digital world and adapting to the way that people want, and need, to consume news is the only way forward.
If you can adjust your approach you can certainly enjoy a thriving career in journalism. To truly succeed like this, however, you need to diversify, and most importantly you need to be on top of your own reputation.
With the power of social media and the ability to create and manage a news brand all on your own, it is imperative that you work to create an audience of your own. Bringing in multiple revenue streams is the best way to enjoy high wages and, most importantly, how you will be ready to weather any storm.
Setting yourself apart in journalism means capturing your audience where they want to find news. It means trying out different mediums, working on both an ongoing, and project-by-project basis.
While this is a lot of work, you won’t ever be bored. You will also have greater freedom this way to focus on the content and stories that you are passionate about, even if you also need to write fluffy pieces and take on other content jobs to pay the bills in-between.
The Expanding Journalism Career Track
The journalism career path is diversifying and expanding, and this means more voices, more opinions, and more options than ever before. You can be a traditional journalist and aim to work for an established news organization. You can become a podcast host. There is investigative journalism, sports journalism, fashion journalism, staff writing, content writing, news editing, producing, photojournalism, and so much more.
There are many, many cogs to the wheel of journalism, and so many stories to tell. Setting yourself apart is a matter of understanding your interests, defining a niche, and of course building a brand. This will help you excel through your career at every stage, from the start to when you have finally “made it,” and you’ll have a thriving audience and a career you enjoy.
While having a niche or two is a great way to define yourself, you should never limit yourself to just one medium—try them all out. You don’t need to commit to one or another forever, but having short-term projects that allow you to touch on different formats is a great way to introduce yourself to new viewers and grow your audience that way. You never know, either, trying out a podcast might be a runaway success, or that special documentary you were part of might kickstart your career in a whole new direction.
How to Set Yourself Apart in Journalism
Every journey is going to look different. Journalism is for the go-getters; for the ones who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. It takes a certain type of person to truly make it in journalism and not, for example, historical writing. You need to be a people person, you need to be the one who is first in line to ask the hard questions, and you need to have the energy to go above and beyond to get the story. Journalism and news is a cut-throat industry where you are going to be the bad guy most of the time—even if you are a hero to those reading, listening, or watching.
You can work next to the news, of course, or work as an editor, a producer, and so on. In these cases you will work in news media, which requires a different skillset than working as a journalist. To help you set yourself as a journalist specifically, use these tips and tricks:
1. Choose the Right Master’s Program
A great way to kickstart your career in journalism is with a journalism master’s degree. These master’s programs provide you with a lot of insider and industry know-how that you would otherwise need years to learn. They can also be a great way to help you understand your interests, define your voice, and get a foundation on the many different news mediums out there. The best part of any journalism degree, however, is the networking opportunities. You will want to stay in touch with your peers, and you will also want to get in touch with your alumni network once you graduate. These networks can be a great way to get advice, look for career opportunities, and are where you can make opportunities happen yourself.
2. Define Your Interests
There are many, many different genres and points of interest in journalism. If you want to report on international news, for example, you will either want to look into broadcast journalism, photojournalism, or, of course, specialize in a specific area. Being a Middle East expert, a Ukraine–Russia expert, and so on will help define your career. You can always adjust and move into different conflicts as you progress through your career, but defining yourself as someone who specializes in a specific topic will help you rise through the ranks and gain the necessary notoriety faster.
When it comes to journalism, field work is essential. This applies for every type of journalist. If you aren’t out there reporting on the ground then you are only ever writing hearsay or retroactively. If you are a fashion journalist you are going to want to attend the fashion events and have in-depth interviews with brands. If you are a tech journalist you are going to want to stay up to date with the relevant conferences and conventions.
Life moves fast, and the best way to get the best story is by first, specializing and then being there as much as possible.
3. Build Your Brand
Every journalist should at least consider how they can build their brand. Some journalists don’t need to do anything extra. They will have the notoriety and the prestige because of who they work for and what jobs they have been sent on. This is industry branding, and it can only come by working your way up in journalism and impressing those you directly work with.
Technically speaking, every journalist needs to aim to become notorious and build a reputation within the journalism sector itself. This is essential for any media-based career, where who you know truly matters.
Today, of course, it can be hard to do that solely through good work. Today, you will find it is far more beneficial to also work at building up a social media following and readership of your own. This way, you can advertise yourself and the stories that you specifically want to tell, even if a professional publication doesn’t know you well enough to publish your work just yet.
4. Expand the Formats You Use
You will want to expand and try out different formats and different mediums, especially on your own personal channels. With video being so popular, but only in short-form bits, workshopping and trying out different ways to convey the essential information that you want to say can truly help you stand out.
It is important to remember that, when it comes to journalism, every effort that you make personally can translate professionally. If you work to create a fashion journalism social media following and try out a variety of different posts and methods to offer a unique viewing experience alongside your more professional written reports, then you can use that content to bring in a large audience and showcase your work to the magazines and news agencies that you want to work for.
5. Sell your Stories
You don’t need to work as a staff writer in order to get your content published. You can work for short projects and of course can sell your stories, photos, and videos to news agencies and magazines as well.
To sell your content, having a thriving audience and a unique voice that people connect with is a great place to start. You will also want to save your most premium content for the biggest news agencies, and to have all your information fact checked and ready to be published.
From there it is about submitting pitches to the various editors. Make sure that you get your pitch in to the right people, and avoid sending in the pitches to the wrong departments, or you will never hear back.
You can sell pitch ideas as well, especially if you want to sell your own story to the press. What you need to do will be slightly different. Oftentimes, when you see links that encourage you to sell your story, they mean your life story, and not a story that you have written and researched yourself.
Don’t just make pitches; let news agencies come to you, too. By letting news agencies and editors know that you are happy to work freelance and will sell content to them, you can create an ongoing relationship that lasts longer than just one publication.
6. Earn Your Own Subscriptions
Patreon (and other similar services) allows fans to donate to their favorite content creators so that they can continue to do the work that they do. This is how many small and super-niche journalists make a living, and it can be an excellent way for you to prop up your income with some extra cash.
The model of Patreon is that by donating (especially if it is a subscription donation), people gain special perks. Access to high-quality articles, early access to content, and so on are often part of the perks that donators receive when they subscribe to you.
7. Consider Writing a Book
Getting your work published in the news is a short-term high. A great way to better immortalize yourself, earn a passive income, and even open up your future to movie deal potential, is to translate your work into a book. Journalism non-fiction is a very popular genre, and there are many editors out there who will be happy to work with someone with a large audience. These editors often help you translate your journalism into a novel format, which is a slightly different beast than writing an in-depth, investigative piece.
Many journalists, especially field journalists, write books that outline the story on the ground and frame it around their own experience. Alternatively, you can put the entire story down on paper, and write a book that explains a certain conflict or story in great detail.
Many great movies and shows are based on books or articles that journalists have written. They feel more real and true because they are based on the truth. There is no guarantee that you will be published, or a that movie deal will come your way—but with a large audience and a topical subject you have a much better chance than most.
8. Consider Other Revenue Streams
Creating a digital workshop for other aspiring journalists, mentoring others, hosting talks, teaching at universities and colleges—there are many other ways that you can bring in extra money while simultaneously improving your reputation and brand. Everyone in the media industry works diversely. Very rarely will you find someone who does not work on different projects.
The media industry is fast-paced. It is also working directly in an attention deficit, which makes reporting and journalism difficult, even on a good day. Diversifying your revenue, especially with passive income streams, is a smart way to secure your future and keep your options open.
As a journalist, it’s incredibly important that you don’t become irrelevant. Just as famous people and even events can become irrelevant over time, so too can journalists. You need to continually push yourself to try new ideas and approaches, and work on new projects so that you can eventually work your way to your next white whale story. Be creative, have fun, and change up your way or working. Just as history moves quickly, so should you.
