Everything You Need to Kow to Be a Print Journalist

About the Job

In today's society everyone knows everything. All you have to do is type in a few words into a search engine and there's today's most update to news. It's all completely available but the question is who put it there? For the most part it'd be Print Journalist. Print Journalist are the people who work for newspapers, magazines and create newsletters for schools, boards and organizations. They bring the new to the general public. They can cover anything from crime, politics, environmental issues, events in the community and so much more. But there are big differences between 'news' and 'stories'. Print Journalist tell you the news, their writing isn't as colourful and descriptive. It gets to the point, gives off the information but at the same time has a special way of making a story out of the facts. The best Print Journalist have a natural ability for writing, or else their articles would look more like reports. To go along with that they must have superb grammar. When they write an article they divide it up. The piece of information that will start it, the facts that will hold it together and the concluding fact. They take a certain point of the story which could be an issue or major fact within it, and write the story around that point. Meaning all their research and the actual story line centers around that angle.
Print Journalist have to have their stories cover the truth which means they go to any means possible. They do research, conduct interviews, record all information they gather along with the source and deliver the news completely unbiased to allow people to read what's going on and make their own judgements. Not to mention the deadlines are sever. You could be assigned a story at 8:00am that needs to be out in time for the 3:00pm online update. Or you could have multiple stories to cover. It also helps if the journalist has photography skills or is assigned one as many articles will pictorials to compliment them.
The job itself gets easier as time goes on as you could have a list of contacts and the chunk of time when you first start out where your name not known and you find yourself at a small newspaper or magazines or using freelance writing to get your name out is over. There are six main areas of print journalism a person can get into. There's general assignment reporters which is generally for people fresh come to the job where you basically take any random story your editor assigns. There's beat reporters and reporters who have their own columns, which are kind of similar as a beat reporter has a specific area of interest they work on. Then there are news journalist, investigative journalist and feature journalist who have more in depth articles.

Salary
With the two main classifications of print journalist, either a person who works permanently at one place or a freelance the working conditions vary. Either way it is an average forty to fifty hours a week and both jobs can bring the work home (this is more for freelance though) but there are changes. Permanent placement can offer anywhere from between twenty - five thousand (the usual beginning salary of someone newly come to the industry) to seventy thousand a year with an average salary of forty-three thousand.

Working Conditions
Freelance is where you can essentially create your own hours but without true talent or connections it's an iffy path where you might not always know where your next pay cheque comes from and a yearly income varies depending on two factors. One, the number of stories you sell and two, the price you get for them. But in both jobs the salary can depend on the amount of papers sold, popularity, the size of the business and your seniority in it. For print journalist that climb all the way to the top the salary can be up to ninety thousand if you play a leadership role in the industry. Out of the two categories both have the major stress of harsh deadlines but the lack of security in freelance reporting offers more stress then a permanent placement. Many print journalist work behind desks in an office scenario especially if they work at newspaper, magazines, trade journals or have their writing directly put somewhere on the world Internet. But at the same time this desk job could take you across the world depending where the assigned story is taking place. Not to mention you could be in tsunami destroyed village, a bombed city or a conference in the Amazon for the environment. So besides the obvious risk of carpal tunnel syndrome a quick typer or writer can develop, there are other possible physical challenges. Really the job has no limits. You can work with people or on your own it all depends on where you'd like to get placed.

What You Need to Be
An ideal print journalist would be a dedicated and rigorous worker. Someone who lives off of deadlines and knows the need of being on time. To enjoy the job though their has to be a love for writing and the need to know more. It also helps to have the physical ability to pour a lot of your life into your work especially if you travel and fully understand how erratic the long work hours can be. If your someone who can't sit still, has poor people skills as well as is the exact opposite of a record keeper this career just isn't for you. Patience but the ability to push until it's done has to be there. Journalism isn't a choice for the lazy or those who lack ambition.
To acquire the knowledge needed to into journalism there are several high school subjects you should take:

High School Courses
GRADE 9:
-English
-Mathematics
-Science
-Social Studies
-Creative Arts
-Business / Technology
-Health & Physical Education
-French

GRADE 10:
-English
-Mathematics
-Science
-Social Studies
-Creative Arts
-Business / Technology
-Personal & Career Development
-French / International Languages

GRADE 11:
-English
-Mathematics
-Science
-Social Studies
-Creative Arts
-Business / Technology
-History
-French / International Languages

GRADE 12:
-English
-Mathematics
-Science
-Social Studies
-History
-Business / Technology
-Law
-French / International Languages
-Communications & Media Studies
-Literature

College / University Courses
Regardless what school you go the programs and length will be very similar. Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario is a prime example of what is needed to enter into Print Journalism.
After a two year program, you will receive a diploma. During those two years there are many skills that are taught through classes. If your going through for print journalism you'll be put on the Sheridan Sun (the campus newspaper) as well as or possibly separately the online version. All programs are academic courses that utilize editing skills, online publications, images for print and of course programs in English. Sheridan's program uses a kinesthetic approach with hands-on learning. It even operates co-op placements.
The tuition would be $2,120.00 with a mandatory fee of $1,743. There will be necessary more expensive equipment needed like laptops and possibly other electronics.

Trends
Demographics:
With Print Journalism demography doesn't really have an effect. If you look closely it might be that with the baby boomer generation retiring, a large selection of people that might not have such a deep understanding of computer technology (they didn't grow up with it) have more time to read the morning paper. It could also lead to that the powerhouses in journalism are retiring. The writers that are renowned and earning the big money are at the age to settle down. This leave a gap for a whole new generation to take over the journalism field. It also means the people that have been around forever, aren't there to teach anyone the ropes they've been jump for thirty, forty years.

Technology
Technology assists print journalists in many ways from more high tech devices like lap tops, voice records, video tapes and so much more. The technology that has been developed caused a huge boom in the industry at one point, when suddenly minuscule details could be attached to the headliners within seconds. But in the same way technology has developed so much that people don't need to spend money to purchase newspapers or anything like that since it's all on the web and it's all for free.

Globalization
Globalization has been there for the betterment of journalism because suddenly it isn't just Canadian news, or continental news available. Everyone and everything in the world can now literally be affected and it is the duty of a print journalist to spread the news to each of these sources. More place to visit and more places to work for is very good. There may be a time when it becomes a problem, with to much to cover (though that part is doubted) or just to many people are saying the same news.

Information Age
Information is what a print journalist does. This is the era of delivering fast breaking news and there will never be a better chance for a print journalist to cover it all then now when people crave the relatively new realization they can know everything if they just look at a newspaper or online. Of course people wanting that information so fast and obviously cheap can harm the industry as the internet can solve all those problems with ease.

Environment
Environmental awareness could kill journalism. People see the internet as a way to save the environment. To be a print journalist the use of paper and tools is neccessary but also it's what the informations printed on. If you have 500,000 newspapers in circulation, how many trees are being cut down? People are becoming much more aware of the little things affecting the selling of the actual print part of journalism.

Overall the future of print journalism seems to fluxuate. It's basis is widely wanted, even more so at this day and age. But the means a print journalist uses, which in essence is what a print journalist is is being quickly replaced by sources like television and the internet. People don't want to pay, have the clutter or harm the environment the way that print journalism can. In the future theres the very real possibily print journalism will become extinct as already big news industries cut back on staff. It's still thriving on but by word of mouth (speaking to a local high school teacher) it is common knowledge that the journalism field has been packed with students applying to become one. With a field growing smaller and a rush of people to join it there won't be much room for more to go in, and it doesn't look like many will be needed in the next fifty years.

Connecting it To Me

Print Journalism is a complete mixture of work styles. It has some forms of interaction with people but also offers time working alone. It does put me in charge of what I do, and offers the future possibility of leading others. If your good you get articles published and slowly climb the chain of success getting your name spread. Which is something I really look for in a job because to have status in what I do makes me feel like I've truly accomplished something. You sell articles, you write well then you get asked to write bigger stories for better magazines. The recognition involved in the job makes me feel good about what I do. Add in the creativity it gives with how and what I write but accompanied with a structure frame,then I'm set. It's the freedom to be who I want and let it come through in my work. As well, I'm constantly learning whether it be large chunks or trivia. Another thing is my strongest intelligence is verbal and linguistic. The writing, reading, researching and interview is what print journalism is.

To improve on the necessary skills as well as increase my chances of actually entering into the field there are things I can do. Outside of school I can apply to work at my local newspaper part time and reading newspapers and magazines helps. It's simple things but very helpful. There are plenty of things my school offers that would help from joining yearbook as well as doing the newsletters or working on student council for the website and school postings. The obvious one is to take as many English classes as I can and take a co-op at my local newspaper. It's all about honing my skills and earning the credentials to make future employers and Post Secondary schools look twice.

All the success I need in life is to be happy and healthy. But there are things that will bring me to that point. I do want wealth, in the form of being able to provide for myself without worries as well as to lend a hand to others. This includes having everything I need like enough food to being able to treat myself. But at the end of the day, if I can make my families and my own appearance nice as well as my home I'm content. A big thing though is that I need to be able to have a large savings. I'll know I'm successful when my savings is enough that myself and my family can rely on it. I want to be able to help my parents as they get older as they helped me when I was younger. I don't need a huge gathering of friends but an intimate group who are loyal and I can trust is importnat. The family I make for me is to be with someone who can stand by me with support and care. Also, my idea of success is to excel at what I do. For my name to be known as a journalist and when I'm far older to be someone that a student going through for journalism looks up to. These are the things that mean success to me and I will do everything I can to get to these points.