careernav.

General Description

This is an ideal career for an intuitive thinker. Journalists write and edit news reports, commentaries and feature articles for newspapers, magazines and radio or television stations. As a journalist you tend to specialise in either broadcast journalism on television and radio, or print journalism for newspapers and magazines, though many journalists have done both.

Career Advice - Broadcast Journalist Career

As a broadcast journalist, you are responsible for investigating, collecting and reporting on news and current affairs. You present this information in news bulletins, documentaries, and other programs which are broadcast on the radio, television, or online. Broadcast journalists can take on a number of roles in the media, such as reporter, editor, presenter/news anchor, correspondent or producer.

What you do every day

Journalists must research, validate and report on events, statistics and trends. You are always working to deadlines without letting the time constraint affect the quality of your reporting. You uncover facts and develop a story for viewers or readers and although you may be tempted to include your personal opinions, they should generally be put to one side. Reporting news may take you outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis. Journalists also have other constraints to consider, such as operating within time limits.

In your daily work, you will undertake a range of tasks, including generating ideas, following leads, pitching your ideas to superiors, researching and collating information. You may also use your editorial judgement to decide on the most appropriate locations, pictures and sounds for broadcast, while possibly managing the technical crew at shoots. It’s common for you brief interviewees, preparing them with interview questions. Also preparing the timing for individual news items, monitoring the broadcasts, and deciding the running order for bulletins are also regular tasks for a broadcast journalist.

Personality that best fit this career

Communication is crucial, you must write and speak well and know how to ask the right questions. The quality of the questions asked is important, as is your general knowledge and interest in current events. Your interpersonal skills need to be sharp, you need to be courageous and brave to tackle topics outside your comfort zone and report the facts in an objective manner. The ability to take shorthand notes helps enormously, and touch typing is a real advantage. You also need to be inquisitive, be an ituitive thinker, have a nose for a story and be resilient as not all stories are handed to you.

Best thing about this career

The best part of journalism is reporting pertinent information to the public and knowing that it has helped someone. Often you are the voice for your community which means your job is to accurately inform the public. You also speak to people you don’t know, meet a huge cross section of interesting people even people in power such a corporate leaders, politicians and prominent community leaders.

Worst thing about this career

The drudgery of interviewing and doing research can take a toll. People, organizations and institutions may be unco-operative or slow to deliver information because they don’t feel or understand the pressures of your job. Not to mention deadlines, deadlines...