Journalist, Correspondent, Anchor
Reporters collect and analyze facts about newsworthy events by interview, investigation, or observation. They reports and write stories for a newspaper, news magazine, radio, or television outlets.
- Diverse in what you get to see/learn and whom you meet.
- Experience things people can only dream of.
- No 2 days of work are exactly the same.
- You’re not sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer all day.
- Have a certain liberty to map out how you want your work to be perceived.
- Opportunity to help people: Media can do a lot of things to inform the public of injustice. You have the power to influence and impact.
“The benefits come in learning a different story each day, having the opportunity to inform the public, get the opportunity to entertain or educate the masses, being the first to discover or uncover a major story. It's a fantastic rush and when you hear from a complete stranger how a story you did made a difference in their life - there's hardly a better feeling in the world! It's also sweet when random people come up to you on the street and thank you for doing a good job.” – Cary Chow, ESPN
Daily Feature News
- Check the local wire service agenda (on the CNS wire, it's called the "Budget" and on the AP wire, the "Daybook") for any prearranged press conferences, protests…etc.
- Consult with the editor/producer to decide which stories to cover.
- Attend 3-4 different press conferences a day: ask questions, follow up one on one interviews and record sound bites.
- Write and record story and send to station, usually a fast turnaround time to be aired that day, even that hour.
- Includes shooting, earthquake, fire, prominent figure arrested…etc
- Track down people to interview who are related to the incident.
- Go live with news anchor or host of the show to talk about what’s happening and answer any questions.
- Find topic and find people willing to talk to you about the topic.
- Longer in length
- Usually takes multiple days
- Communication: writing, speaking
- Reading comprehension
- Being able to summarize and digest things in a clear, succinct, interesting and provocative way.
- World awareness
- Voice, diction: "practice makes perfect"
- Ability to work under pressure and within time constraints.
- Ability to do many tasks and be flexible.
- Ability to interact with all different walks of life.
- Ability to get people to trust and open up to you.
- Little pay at the beginning so need to be willing to supplement your job with another flexible job.
- Willingness to live in whatever city to start and move around a lot.
- For instance, you will probably not be able to control in which city you begin your career. It is rare to start and end your career in the same city.
- Cutthroat: People are extremely competitive.
- Willingness to do menial tasks at the beginning of your career.
- Most likely you won’t have holidays off in the beginning of your career.
- Willingness to be on-call.
- Getting more consolidated, companies are buying other companies.
- Less high-paying anchor jobs.
- Less traditional media jobs; however, growth on the internet makes way for journalist/bloggers and many one-man operations.
- Pretended they were a reporter in front of their mirror.
- Being inquisitive: Asked lots of questions to people they meet.
- Cared about what’s going on around them (locally, internationally).
- Wanted to share what they find out to other people (via conversations, on their Twitter feed, Facebook timeline).
- Read blogs, online magazines, newspaper.
- A 4 year college degree is not mandatory but highly recommended.
- Types of Degree: Broadcast Journalism, Communications, Political Science, or Economics.
- Active journalism program where you can learn with hands-on experience.
- Has a school news station or a close connection/interaction to the city’s local news station.
- Active alumni who will be willing to mentor you and potentially get you your first internship or job.
- Professors who have professional journalism experience.
- Good academic program.
- Some journalists major in Political Science, Government, Economics, Business and minor in journalism so that they can learn about how business and politics function which will help them become a better journalist and potentially specialize in the future (i.e. Political correspondent on CNN or Financial correspondent on MSNBC).
- Classes: drama, public speaking, debate, news editing, radio/TV writing, journalism
- Watch and follow the news: Notice what stories you like, which ones grab your attention.
- Do it!: Start your own YouTube channel of you interviewing people and producing full length features of stories that interest you.
- Keep a journal of everything you have learned and experienced.
- Debate: As a reporter, you have to be unbiased. Practice gathering evidence and facts from both sides so you can report without being biased.
- Work on your voice by listening to the best reporters on TV: Concentrate on projection, inflection and enunciation.
- Practice being detail-oriented.
- Figure out which medium you like the best: writing, speaking (are you okay in front of the camera?)
- Start a blog.
- Work for your school newspaper or intern at your local paper or news station.
- Ask other reporters in your city for an informational interview and ask to shadow them for a day.
- Pay attention to grammar and spelling when you write anything.
- Learn how to write for TV and radio.
- Create a resume reel.
- Feedback: Always ask for feedback on your voice and material.
- 3% with HS Diploma
- 3.9% with Associate’s
- 61.1% with Bachelor's
- 18.3% with Master's
- 2.8% with Doctoral
*% of employees aged 25 to 44 in the occupation whose highest level of educational attainment is
- In college, work at your college station or intern at a local news station. With the reel of your internship work, start applying to jobs at news stations. Ask your professors for recommendations for entry-level jobs.
- Your first job is not necessarily going to be on the air. Many start off as an intern or assistant doing various roles (transcribing, translating, producing…etc).
- At your first job, ask producers to take a look at your reel. Ask them for notes on your voice, content, and writing.
- Join the communications/news club on campus.
- Be proactive.
- Be bold.
The majority of people climb the market chain. There are 210 total TV markets in the country - #1 (largest) - NYC, #2 - LA. The smallest is somewhere in Montana. It doesn't really matter where you start - if your work is good, you can succeed. Click here for the list of markets.
- Endurance, flexibility, willing to put up with "not-so-great" assignments and giving 100% to each story.
- Detail-oriented: don’t miss things when you are sent to cover, do your homework!
- Ethics: don’t steal/use other people’s ideas.
- Curiosity: always open to learning new things, stay up to date with technology.
- Television: looks (stay in shape)
- Develop a competitive advantage “feature”: multi-lingual (Spanish, Chinese..etc), diversify your skill set (internet, entertainment…etc.), build your brand (i.e. the sustainability reporter).
- Slight ego
“In the first markets, you have to try to make yourself better -- that means taking more risks and failing more often. But the key to success is repetition. In WY, I was hired as weekend anchor, weekday reporter. Most of that reporting entailed shooting and editing my own video. Within the first year, I would end up producing, becoming their main anchor, doing sports, training for weather, and running my own franchise piece.” – Cary Chow, ESPN
Trade Sites and Associations
- High School Journalism Initiative
- National Association of Broadcasters
- Society of Professional Journalists
- Radio Television News Director Association
- Associated Press Television and Radio Association
- Fantastic training program called APTRA Academy
- Media Bistro
- All Access Music Group
- National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Native American Journalist Association, and Asian American Journalist Association
- Writing News: “Writing Broadcast News: Shorter Sharper Stronger.” By Mervin Block
- Networking Skills: “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, “Never Eat Alone” by Tahl Raz
Key transferable skills: writing for press, public speaking, interviewing skills, sound editing
Alternate Careers: Public relations manager, Corporate communications manager, Various jobs in factual entertainment, publicist.
- Intern or join one or more of the associations for networking and mentorship.
- Get another degree for backup or to help supplement your income. (i.e. double major)
- It’s a marathon. Nothing comes overnight.
- Be willing to risks: Might have to leave a steady salary for a riskier job that is more challenging.
- Be willing to take advice and criticism.
- Be patient.
- Be confident.