What Do Journalists Do?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog I am studying Journalism, with the end result hopefully being a feature writer. With that in mind I should probably know what it is a journalist does and what world I am hoping to enter.

To pinpoint exactly what a journalist does is no easy task, there are so many different types of journalism and journalists.

Researching stories, writing news and features, taking photographs, editing stories, checking facts and arranging layouts are just some of the job roles of a journalist. However, as the technological world is changing and evolving, so will the world of journalism.

A journalist now doesn’t need to just write good stories, take good pictures and edit good articles now, the job list is a lot longer with the birth of new news technologies. Being computer literate is a must for any budding journalist now and the ability to broadcast news on many different platforms is a necessary skill.

News is now more interactive than a newspaper and even for me, aiming to be a feature writer; I will need to be able to write on many different stages for many different audiences. News is now accessed on paper, on TV, on radio, on computers and on mobile devices so the people spreading the news needs to be able to work on them different levels.

Being a journalist is not just about the physical aspects of the job, a journalist is thought of to be someone who reports on current affairs whether they are local, national or global. There is a certain stigma that comes along with being a journalist; they have been seen of as rat’s right from the Wall Street journalism days.

As well as the digital age changing the role of a journalist it is also changing the thoughts and feelings towards journalists and reporters. Many reporters now use social media to broadcast their feelings both personal and professional making them more easily accessible to the public.

Read more about the role of being a journalist: http://www.journalismcareers.com/journalism_faq/what_does_a_journalist_do.shtml