A journalist is someone whose profession is journalism. He collects, processes, discovers and disseminates news to a heterogeneous audience. Journalists are always on top of major events and can be seen on event grounds, live or on tape, looking for news. One can work at a radio station, television, print media, and online news outlets. To become a journalist, you must have enthusiasm, interest, motivation, and determination to succeed in the field.

Studying courses such as journalism, mass communication, or media studies allows you to earn a college degree/certificate upon graduation. It also allows you to learn the theoretical and practical jobs that are useful after you graduate.

You can take an internship at any media station to learn more, or get paid employment as a junior journalist with an entry-level position because you’re a recent graduate with no experience. Exposing one to the field comes later. You are attached to a senior journalist who will teach you how to conduct one-on-one or personality interviews, write interview questions, report events live from the event grounds, and write news following the station’s internal style. Interviews can be a phone interview or a physical interview. There are also observation sessions. This is when you look at what the lead journalist is doing and emulate it.

Writing news largely depends on the type of event you are covering, be it political, economic, educational, or health. 5W’s &H is an important feature of any news story. This is what, where, when, where, why and how. Your opening/lead paragraph is known to be the foundation/preamble that pushes your audience to listen, watch more, or read more. Your opening paragraph should contain 2 or more 5Ws & Hs. Objectivity is the watchword of journalism, don’t take sides while writing your story.

You are the eye of the media at the event, so you are expected to write details, be short and to the point, spell names and pronunciation correctly. Verify all collected data with reliable sources. Your source may be a person who witnesses an event firsthand. It is necessary to respect the rights of the source. If he/she does not want to be known, you must write anonymously. Their lives or their job may be in jeopardy when you mention the source’s name or work address.

Get Your Facts – Audio and Video News, identify facts that need further verification as this can serve as a scoop for such a story, be sure to attribute all information collected. Be sure to omit information when in doubt rather than writing the wrong story and misinforming your audience. This is to avoid criticizing your media team with libel, slander, or libel.

No man is an island of knowledge. After you’ve written his story, he reads it and reads it again before sending it off to the senior editor/reporter for verification. Final verification is important before sending.

Being in the field as a journalist allows you to see the world from an eyewitness perspective, especially in war-torn areas. In cases like this, safety comes first.