Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Journalist Job Description & Career Opportunities

Today’s popular media is known to focus heavily on pure entertainment. On the other hand, journalism is finding and researching what is happening around the world and making people aware of it and how it affects their lives. Journalism is basically a collection and dissemination of news that includes the building public opinion. Aspirants should know every aspect of the journalist job description in order for them to come up with the necessary qualifications for this job type.

The main area of journalism lies between production and reporting. There are specific roles that are being conducted in each area wherein technology should go hand in hand in order to disperse the news. As a whole, journalism is being classified broadly as:

    Print Journalism. This kind of reporting includes journals, magazines and of course, newspapers. One can work as reporter, editor, columnist, correspondents and other field related work.
    Electronic Journalism. This may sound a little bit odd to some beginners. This form of journalism includes in working for television, radio and online through the internet. In using the web to scatter the news, there are also the so-called web editors that are synonymous to the work of common newspaper and magazine editors. Electronic journalism includes writer, reporter, researcher, editor, anchor and correspondent.

There are actually different levels of journalist as some work as junior reporters for newspaper or magazines and while others cover international news and sports activities for television and radio stations as well as the major newspaper companies. Most people who are hooked in the field of journalism spend a lot of time looking for possible news stories that will be informational and interesting enough to be heard by all. This includes talking to various people with different backgrounds, occupations, and lifestyles. A journalist job description includes having a wide range of knowledgeable functions that starts with developing uncovered stories to writing and getting it published in newspapers, magazines, online or through television or radio.

One should be able to get accurate facts in real time and the reporter or writer should seek fresh stories and precisely convey the information to the public.  In order for one to fit in the journalist job description, he should be well equipped with knowledge on how to gather reliable sources, attend press conferences and council meetings, interviewing people using questions that are most relevant to the topic being discussed, analyzing the gathered input and reporting the story in a unique manner.

Journalists don’t have fixed schedules as there will be unpredictable events or stories that can rise at any time of the day. No matter how busy their schedule might be, the journalist should be able to meet the deadlines in terms of creating a story that will be featured in either print or electronic journals. The main goal of a journalist is to create a balanced and unbiased story and wannabes should keep in mind that a journalism career requires one to abide the rules of the land and not to make allegations that are not factual and unfounded as this will only put his job in jeopardy.