Become a Journalist: First Steps

Journalism, when I was a teenager, meant newspapers. Journalism in 2009 and beyond means not only newspapers (some of which are struggling) but the Internet, video production, TV, and even radio.

So you're curious as to how you "break in" to journalism. Check yourself to see if you have:

• a natural curiosity about what's going on around you
• the tendency to say "What made THAT happen?"
• the ability to observe what's going on around you--in detail--while keeping your mouth shut
• the ability to be fascinated with people's personalities and quirks (flashing eyes, a crooked smile, a football player walk that takes up lots of room on the sidewalk, a half-laugh, curly brown hair that resists a comb)
• enjoyment at telling a story to someone else
• a desire to be "the first to know" and "the first to tell everybody else"
• an enjoyment of words--the way they sound, the effects they have on people who read or hear them--and an interest in learning new words to give you more power in your expression. (Example: Instead of saying "The crowd left the theatre", you might say, "The crowd exploded out of the building."

If the New York Times or your local newspaper seem to be ignoring your talents, try writing your own newsletter. Decide on who your audience will be and what information would interest them. (It might be a club you belong to or your faith community, or your big, extended family.)

Let's say Aunt Matilda had a birthday party at her house last week, attended by 45 relatives and 45 friends. Write a story describing the event, lifting it above the usual "The family had cake and ice cream and sang 'Happy Birthday, Aunt Matilda' ".

Don't start the story with a dull, boring lead of "Aunt Matilda had her 62nd birthday last week. We all met at her house and had a wonderful time."

Try a new angle. "Aunt Matilda had no idea when she walked into her house last week of what would soon happen. Ninety people (some of them hidden in closets and under furniture) suddenly jumped out as she entered the living room where a bigger than life-sized picture of Elvis Presley was hanging from the ceiling."

"All of a sudden, Elvis' voice boomed out with "I'm All Shook Up". You see, Aunt Matilda had once shaken Elvis' hand at a concert in Atlanta when she was a teenager, and she never got over her crush on The King. So the party's theme, much to Aunt Matilda's joy, was all about Elvis and Matilda."

You go on from there to give details of what happened, right down to the gift-giving, where Matilda opened a box of six different I Love Elvis T-shirts.

A journalist finds the crux of the story, something to engage the reader. A journalist takes careful notes, paying attention to details. A journalist organizes the details, beginning with a "lead" (the opening, attention-getting statement) and continuing down to the least important details. (A true journalist always puts the best stuff first because an editor will cut the story from the bottom if there isn't enough room on the page to run the entire story.)

Become a journalist by writing and writing and writing. Let someone who is more experienced than you look over your work and critique it. (Tender egos need not apply for this job because there will ALWAYS be an editor in your life if you are a writer. In general, they serve to make your writing even better--although you may not always agree.

The journalists who make the Big Time (New York, LA, Washington, DC, the TV networks and cable stations) are a tiny percentage of all those people who give journalism a try. But you have to start somewhere, and you just might get discovered by one of the pros and find yourself higher up the ladder.

But if you don't make it to New York, look for a weekly newspaper or even try sending some samples of your articles to your local newspaper. You become a writer by writing, not by just dreaming about it. Actors wish each other good luck before going on stage by saying, "Break a leg." For you would-be journalists, let's just say "Break a preposition."