How to Be a Journalist (And Eventually Earn a Living)

Everything you need to successfully jumpstart a career in journalism

Co-authored by Gerald Posner and Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA

Last Updated: August 24, 2024 Approved

The field of journalism may be really competitive, but it's also important to society. If you've been bitten by the journalism bug, then you definitely want to do your best so that you can be successful in your field. With a bit of hard work and a great attitude, you can be a good journalist.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Improving Your Writing Skills

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1
Write every day. Journalism consists mostly of writing, whether it's an article or live-tweeting a story. You need to be a strong writer who has a voice, and the way to get there is practice.^{[1]
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Research source} Daily writing allows you to get your practice and helps build your confidence, which is key to succeeding as a writer.
- Keep a journal or log of your activities.
- Start a blog.
- Offer to help your friends and relatives by completing writing tasks to help them with work or self-promotion. For example, create a short newsletter for your club or church.
2
Build your grammar skills. You need to be able to proofread and edit your writing so that you can produce clean copy. Use a spellchecker to avoid misspellings, and proofread to make sure that you don’t have any typos. Make sure any revisions and edits are made to the article, but check to ensure that your word processor isn’t setup to show comments or changes.^{[2]
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- Double-check for homophones and often-confused words that might not show up on a spellcheck.
- Familiarize yourself with the Associated Press style guide.
- Use online resources like Purdue’s OWL and Grammar Bytes to improve your grammar.
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3
Use sample texts to help you develop new skills. Find articles that you like and try to write your own article in a similar way. This is called using a mentor text. Your mentor text serves as a model for how an article should be written.^{[3]
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- Choose a style to emulate, or experiment by writing the same story in different writing styles.
- Outline an article that you think is formatted well, and write your own article in the same format.
- Use sample texts to practice new ways of writing, but make sure that you don’t try to pass off someone’s writing or unique style as your own.
4
Be speedy and accurate. Journalists have a quick turn-around time between assignment and deadline. Think about how fast news is reported after it happens. To be a good journalist, you need to be able to meet your readers’ expectations by producing speedy and accurate work.
- Practice by setting a time limit for yourself to complete writing tasks. When your time is up, stop writing, even if you’re not finished. Assess your performance to see if you’re meeting your goals. Try to improve each time you do the exercise.
5
Get feedback on your writing. Ask people you trust to review your writing and offer their critiques. If you can get a teacher or tutor to help you, then take advantage of their knowledge base to help you improve your writing skills. While it might be hard to have your writing critiqued, it’s necessary if you want to grow as a writer.
- Join a writing group that does regular critiques. You’ll get help from people who know what they’re talking about and meet other writers. Look for a group on social media or http://www.meetup.com.
6
Take a writing class. Your best option for improving your writing is a class. Even accomplished writers still take classes to gain new skills or push themselves to try different forms of writing. Check with your school, find a workshop, or look for an online class.
- You can take a basic writing course or one that’s targeted to a specific area. You may want to take classes outside of journalism to help you build different skills.
- Try https://www.edx.org/ for free classes from elite colleges and universities.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Building Interpersonal Skills

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1
Form good relationships with others. Some of your best sources of information will be people you meet. Be open to meeting new people and hearing what they have to say. They may be a source, or they might give you a good idea about a story lead. The more people you’re connected to, the easier it will be to find a source for your story.^{[4]
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- Stay close to your mentors, teachers, and fellow students because you never know when that person could help you with a story or a job.
- Use social media, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, to stay connected to people.
- Talk to people you meet. For example, share small talk with people who are sitting at the same table as you are in a coffee shop, sharing your elevator, or waiting in the same line as you are. Say, “Is this your first time coming here?”
2
Network with other journalists. Learn new skills and find opportunities by reaching out to other journalists. Don’t just limit yourself to people you meet. Look up your journalist idols and reach out to them. You can network both in person and through correspondence, such as email or social media.^{[5]
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- When you contact your idol, explain that you are pursuing journalism and use their work as an example of good journalism. You could say, “As a developing journalist, I consider your work to be a model of the work I aspire to produce.”
- Tell your idol your purpose for contacting them so that they know that you aren’t just sending fanmail. You could say, “I hope that by following you and your work that I can reach the same levels of success that you have.”
3
Develop confidence. When you’re putting yourself out there - whether through your writing or when meeting new people - confidence is essential to helping you be successful. You need to be able to approach others and form relationships that help you, and you also need to project that you know your worth.
- Don’t compare yourself to others; instead, focus on being who you are and sharing that with the world.
- When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself, turn the thought around and make it positive. It’s normal to think bad thoughts about yourself sometimes, so don’t feel bad about it.
- Tell yourself, “I have important and interesting things to share with the world,” or “I’m just as valuable as anyone else.”

Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Being Resourceful and Committed

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1
Go above and beyond what’s required. Going above and beyond is about more than just doing what’s necessary to get a story. You need to be more than just a good writer in today’s journalism market. When you write a story, don’t stop at the minimum to get the job done. Think about what you’d want out of the article if you were a reader, and try to give them that.
- Make yourself more marketable by expanding your technical skills. Knowing how to use more programs, do basic coding, and use creative software will help you get your voice out there and will make you more marketable.
- If possible, beat your deadlines. While you don’t want to rush your work, you do want to provide your publisher with a speedy product so that your article will be timely.
2
Make sacrifices. You may have to give up your free time or miss out on fun events with friends in order to meet your journalism goals. Writing is usually a solitary activity, so it may be a sacrifice for you to miss out on that social time. You may also need to sacrifice earning potential or social connections if you write about polarizing issues.
- When you’re faced with sacrifices, ask yourself what’s more important to you. Ask, “Where do I want to be in five years? How will this sacrifice impact my five-year goal?”
Journalists get information from a variety of sources, so you’ll need to know how to gather, assess, and organize information on your own. Research consists of more than just doing a Google search. You need to be able to find the information you need in print sources, by talking to knowledgeable individuals, and by sorting through relevant materials, such as letters, memos, or file documents.^{[6]
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4
Expand your knowledge base. Being able to understand various topics, sniff out stories, and look at things from various perspectives are all necessary to be a good journalist.
- Consider getting a degree in something other than journalism to make you a more informed writer.
- If you want to cover world events, consider studying languages.
Anderson Cooper, Journalist & Political Correspondent

Carve out a niche by gravitating towards underreported stories. "I personally tend to be drawn to stories that aren't paid much attention to, or stories that aren't on people's radar."
Read or watch the news, and stay plugged in to politics, current events, and pop culture. Anything can be relevant from a journalistic standpoint, so keep yourself open and learn the current trends. You’ll produce better stories and get your readers what they want if you know what’s going on.^{[7]
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6
Verify your sources. Before reporting information that you find, make sure that it’s from a reliable source. When possible, try to find a second source that confirms the information. If you receive facts from a source, independently verify that those facts line up.
- For example, if someone tells you that they knew the subject of your story when they were in college, make sure they were really in college together.
7
Maintain independence from your sources and subjects. While you will likely build relationships with some of your sources or the people you write about, make sure those relationships don’t influence how you portray them in your work. For example, if your best friend works as a police officer, then getting your crime information from them will likely be biased toward your friend’s opinion.
- For example, don’t take payments from a source or a subject of an article. If you are writing an investigative article about a corporation, you’ll lose your independence if you allow them to hire you for freelance work during your investigation.
- If you have someone who gives you inside information about the local crime beat, keep a professional relationship with that person. If you start to get too personal, then you may unknowingly have a bias toward them.
- If you get too close to a source, you can always ask them to help you find a new one so that your information stays independent.

Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Gaining Experience

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Start a blog. Practice your journalistic abilities by running your own blog. In addition to being a great place for you to share your voice and flex your skills, it will also help you promote yourself to people who might hire you or may buy your stories.
Build a strong and clean social media presence across platforms. Make sure that you are posting meaningful information on a regular basis. You should be able to share your handles with potential employers, so be mindful about what you post.^{[8]
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3
Apply for internships. Both paid and unpaid internships are available in journalism. If you don’t need the money, then an unpaid internship might be a great way for you to get experience without as much competition. Paid internships are competitive, but you’ll be getting paid to do what you love.^{[9]
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- If you get turned down for an internship, contact the employer to ask if you can still submit a story or two for consideration.
If you’re in school, take any position that is available, even if it’s not what you really want to do. If you do a good job, you’ll likely get more and better opportunities.^{[10]
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Include your bio, interests, and examples of your work. If you build an online portfolio, include links to sites that feature your work, as well as links to your social media accounts.^{[11]
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How Do You Break Into Journalism?

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Question

What are some qualities of a good journalist?

Gerald Posner
Author & Journalist
Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.

Gerald Posner

Author & Journalist

Expert Answer

Persistence is key! The best reporters are the ones who stay at it and refuse to take "no" for an answer. They find a way to get the information they need so they can get their article done. Original research is another important element of a good journalist—calling someone up and getting fresh, firsthand information can make your article stand out. While you don't have to do this every time, a good journalist definitely shouldn't rely on secondary sources for all of their content.

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Is journalism a good career path?

Gerald Posner
Author & Journalist
Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.

Gerald Posner

Author & Journalist

Expert Answer

Absolutely—it's a great career path! While it isn't as lucrative as some careers, it's a very interesting job to have, as things are always changing. For anybody who likes investigating, journalism is a fantastic career, since you're getting paid by someone to do something you're passionate about.

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What can I do to be a good journalist at a young age?

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Practice writing as much as you can. Learn early how to do research and find good sources of information. Take any opportunity you can to get into journalistic work. Sign up for your school newspaper, take writing and journalism classes, and contact your local news stations to ask about kids' reporting programs.

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Tips

Because the journalism field is so competitive, being able to take and edit good photos in addition to writing well is essential for you to market yourself.^{[12]
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Be yourself. Don't try to be like other journalists.

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A good journalist should be open-minded and ready for anything.

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Warnings

Don't tell lies or blatant untruths. It can seriously discredit your reputation as a journalist.

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Take the proper precautions to stay safe abroad and during media frenzies.

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