There Is More to Know About Journalism Than I Thought
Posted by in Journalism on July 20, 2011
When I decided to make freelance writing a career, I found that the best market was newspaper writing. I did not major in journalism in college, and really didn’t understand Associated Press style as well as I probably should have. What I soon found out was that there was a lot more to know about journalism than I originally thought.
One of the first lessons that I learned is that numbers are not written out as numerals unless they are 10 or higher. I remember getting calls about this very issue, because I was writing sports at first and many of the numbers were single digits. My sports editor had to remind me a couple of times that I was to spell out the numbers one through nine.
Another big thing for me to learn about journalism was when to use “more than” versus “over.” I was in the habit of writing that something was over $100 or over 500 people showed up for a particular event. It was soon explained to me that it was always “more than a number.”
I also had a difficult time learning where to put quote marks and how to properly punctuate them when I first got going. It was kind of frustrating, because I had all these ideas inside of me that were just waiting to get out, but I could not express them.
One other big issue that I had when I first started writing AP style was writing in the second person. I had one editor in particular who really raked me over the coals about that. She said that if I wanted to write for a newspaper, I would have to make sure that I did not make these kinds of mistakes, and even suggested a web site for me that explained some elementary journalism principles – you talk about a humbling experience!
I finally had an editor sit me down and tell me to take my time. She said there was a lot to learn about journalism and it just took time and practice. I followed her advice, and within a month or so I had most of the important things down.
Even after several years of writing, I am still learning things about journalism, and I suppose that will never really go away. I hear my editors talking sometimes and they say they are still learning after decades of being in the journalism field. I just think that anybody going into journalism should prepare themselves for the fact that it is not as easy as one may think, but with work, it is very rewarding.
By Meggan_Boggs
How Journalism College Prepares You for the Real World
Posted by in Journalism on July 20, 2011
Journalism college isn’t for anyone who expects an easy time. It’s all about trying desperately hard everyday for a way that make an impression on your teachers, hunting around for a good story, finding access where there is none, and putting together an impressive portfolio before you’re done. What you learn at journalism college is a liberal arts degree. There is no math of course, but you have your pick of a number of electives. The entire time that you spend at journalism college is usually about getting one’s work published. The more published clippings one has in one’s portfolio, the better one’s chances of success finding a job after graduation. Of course, getting those pieces published in the college paper or anywhere else is done for free at first. You’ll probably have to hang on your professors sleeve for a chance to work for free all the time. You’ll probably need dozens of clips in your portfolio by the time you are ready to try out for a job after graduation.
Journalism college if anything, is tough. At the very least, you will be asked to read the two major national newspapers, a couple of national magazines like Time, and a couple of local papers. If it seems like a tough assignment keeping the top of all the news all the time, some people just like to watch the late-night shows to be tipped off about the biggest stories doing the rounds at the time. With news mining skills of this kind and with a job on the college paper as at least assistant editor, you should quickly be able to get enough stories published to start building a portfolio. Let’s look at what some of the courses at journalism college look like.
Courses in newswriting and feature writing are two of the most basic subjects you’ll get to pick in journalism college. In newswriting class, you’ll learn about the basics of how a new story gets put together. You’ll get basic assignments and often, you’ll be given a beat to cover – which means you’ll be sent out to cover stories. You’ll learn about how you need to establish contacts to get your interviews, to find where the stories are so on. You’ll have to learn to do all of this to a deadline and you’ll also be asked to critique the work of your fellow students.
Feature writing class is rather more advanced. Features aren’t serious stories; they cover some of the lighter sides of the current news. You’ll be doing profiles of people, public interest stories and the like. You’ll receive exercises where you show your ability to describe things in an interesting way. You are sent out to talk to people on the street, to come back with the opinions that you can put into a story. One of the most difficult courses to take in journalism college has to do with the media law. No matter what kind of journalism specialization you ask for, media law is usually a mandatory course. You’ll be taught expertise in areas like copyright, privacy laws, journalism ethics and also libel. Read the rest of this entry »