The journalism industry is nothing short of fast-paced, competitive and ever-changing. In recent years, it’s evolved to focus on digital media and similar methods to produce the news. If you love writing and content creation, and are looking to pursue a career in journalism, here are five key skills you should know.
1. Interviewing the Right Way in Journalism
Interviewing has always been a part of journalism, but especially during the peak of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the way interviews are generally conducted has shifted.
Nowadays, phone calls and video calls are probably the most common ways a journalist would conduct an interview. However, virtual calls can often limit the feeling of comfort and connection between two people, so it’s important to do everything you can to make your subject comfortable.
Most of the time, the people you interview for a story are strangers and sometimes the story can revolve around sensitive topics. That’s why it’s essential to introduce yourself and get to know the person right off the bat.
Making the conversation sound more natural and less structured will also help eliminate any awkwardness. While it’s always a good idea to prepare for the interview with a set of questions, it’s okay to derail from what you’ve written and ask questions as the conversation flows.
2. Transcribing Interviews in Journalism
Once you’ve done your interview, you need to write the story. Transcribing an interview is a necessity and can get pretty time consuming. Luckily, there are some great tools available to help easily transcribe your interviews.
Rather than manually transcribing it from recorded audio, Otter.ai is a transcribing tool that will write out your interview as you conduct it. You can record it live or record your audio on a separate device and upload it into Otter’s interface. Otter, and other similar transcribing tools, are essential for this industry and save a lot of time. However, it’s always a good idea to record your interview in your voice memo app as a backup, just in case you run into technical difficulties with the transcription tool.
3. Time Management and Deadlines in Journalism
As mentioned earlier, the industry of Journalism is very fast-paced. While it can be fun and exhilarating to work in, it’s also easy to get overwhelmed. If you’re writing or creating for any publication, you will likely face lots of hard deadlines, and some that require you to turn in a story that same day.
The first thing to do is get emails out to sources! Waiting to hear back often takes the longest time, since you’re relying on other people to check their messages or pick up their phone. Ensure that you give yourself enough time to gather enough sources for your story.
Once you’ve conducted the interviews and get to the actual writing part, it’s important to give yourself time to think about how you want to write the story and your angle for the piece—if your deadline allows it.
Lastly, make sure you budget enough time for editing. You’d be surprised how many things you end up changing once you start reading over your piece a few times!
4. Making Connections in Journalism
There is a huge opportunity to make essential connections in the journalism industry. For instance, you’ll meet many people through the events and stories you write.
Whether it’s professors and fellow classmates from school, former sources for stories, and even PR contacts, keeping in touch with people through socials or just having their email is always useful.
Even reaching out to people via Twitter or LinkedIn can help build your network and can pave the way for future job opportunities!
5. Confidence in Journalism
It’s common to doubt the content you produce, especially when you get harsh feedback from an editor.
However, these criticisms aren’t personal and will make you a better writer at the end of the day.
Confidence in journalism isn’t even all about writing. It can be helpful when it comes to pitching ideas and reaching out for sources.
While interviewing people and speaking with strangers can be unfamiliar and scary territory for most people, approaching it with confidence will make you more approachable and reputable. Eventually, that confidence will become a natural part of you. Best of luck!