How to Get Into Journalism
According to me
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Every few weeks, someone in college or occasionally in a different industry emails me to ask how to get into journalism. I often want to tell them that no one should want to get into a line of work that’s this low-paid and this rapidly dwindling. (Journalism is now so unfamiliar to people that my therapist, who I have had for five years, during which I’ve had the exact same job, calls it “journaling.” As in, “last time you mentioned that you have a stressful job in journaling.” Lol. Lmao.)
But then I remember that the low pay and the precarity are what my parents pointed out to me back when I said I wanted to get into journalism. And it didn’t work to dissuade me then, so it probably won’t work to dissuade anyone now.
I have less time for emails these days, so I thought I would just write up my best advice, such as it is, for whoever is asking. The caveat of course is that nothing in journalism seems to work twice, so this advice almost certainly won’t work. Instead, whoever reads this will probably go super vi on some social-media platform I’ve never even heard of, dancing to an explainer about the FEC. Then before long they’ll be put in charge of the last remaining news site on earth, and I’ll be asking them for advice on how to get hired. Would love any insights you might have!
The point here is that caveat extremely emptor when it comes to advice-givers in media.
In the meantime, here goes my advice:
Get an internship at a newspaper: I realize this is probably the decliningest segment of this declining profession. I recommend doing this at the intern stage because there are not that many jobs left in newspapers, and the Akron Beacon Journal → Boston Globe → New York Times career track is less straightforward these days. However, nothing beats a newspaper for teaching you how to report. You just can’t learn how government works, how to get documents, how to work sources, or how to interview “real people” by aggregating content at whatever has replaced Buzzfeed. If not a newspaper, at least intern at a place that will let you report.
Post a lot on a Substack, LinkedIn or similar platform: I’m not talking about quips on X or BlueSky. These need to be thought-out, 1,000-ish word posts about … something. The something could be whatever you’re “passionate about,” or, failing that, whatever you want your beat to be, at least initially. Tech stuff? The aforementioned FEC? The Middle East? Just pick a thing and write about it pretty regularly so that potential bosses know you have an interest area and some internal motivation. Delia Cai did this to great success.
Read a lot: You thought you were getting into journalism as a way to avoid grad school, but here you are, in the permanent grad school of reading all the time. Before I had a baby, I read a ton, and it was still not enough. Every day you should try to get through at least one long article, plus a bunch of shorter stuff, plus a few pages of a literary novel or work of nonfiction. If this sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. Cancel Netflix, join a book club if you have to. Whatever you do, don’t have a baby, because you’ll never read again.
Become more conscientious: Aha! The plug for my book that we all knew was coming. Conscientiousness is the number-one thing that has allowed me, a random girl from Texas who did not go to a Good School and who did not ever read enough, to become a working journalist. I actually wasn’t very conscientious until I started trying to become a journalist, and then I quickly realized that there was no way to be good at this job without being extremely punctual, detail-oriented, organized, and diligent. (More about this transformation in my book!) A lot of the job is fun and creative, but a lot of it is about reading through stacks of boring documents, calling yet another person when you don’t really want to, and keeping track of dozens of pages of notes. It’s also about getting places on time and remembering extra batteries.
There’s this stereotype of the spastic journalist who gets crushing writer’s block and loses all his notebooks and drinks all day, but to the extent that this person ever existed, I think that’s becoming much less common as the industry contracts. (I actually don’t know anyone like this.) Most of us are really hardworking and the hard work is what contributes to our success, such as it is.
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still laughing about your job in 'journaling.' But I would be a bit worried that this person isn't paying sufficient attention!