Questions for a journalist

Hi, I have chosen to major in journalism (I am a freshman at Kent State), preferably a sports journalism. Since I want to be a journalist, I would like to interview people who are journalists already. If anyone who is already a journalist, could you please answer the following questions:

What are the goods and bads of your profession?
What are the education requirements?
What is the difficulty level of your profession?
Do you enjoy your profession?
What background experience is needed for your profession?
How many hours do you work?
What influenced you to be a journalist?
What are the basic work requirements of your job?
What do you primarily write about or report (obviously sports)?
How did you get to where you are now? (How did you get your current job position?)

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers these questions.

 

Be gentle, friends. If not for him/her, for me. Thanks.

 

All right, I'll do it.

Want my advice?

RUN!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!! GO FIND ANOTHER BUSINESS -- ANY OTHER BUSINESS -- TO GET INTO!!!!!! RUN NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!!!

There. I've done my duty.

 

um ... I ... hmm ...
english second language, maybe?
otherwise ... nm. too tired to type out the obvious ... and don't want to take the joy away from others. have at it, SportsJournalists.commers.

 

What he said.

 

Ridiculously long hours, shitty pay, no respect and the layoffs are becoming an epidemic.
What more do you want to know?

 

Change your major. And not for the reasons these people are mentioning (although, those are valid points), but because you'll be better off with experience at a daily with a J minor, and you'll have something to fall back on when this professions -30-s on us.

 

I would advise you to pick something else that you can make a career out of. Become and English teacher and teach journalism, get a business or economics degree. You can always work on the school paper and get clips and make it a back up plan. And who knows, you may get lucky and make a career out if it.

The main point is, most people know that journalism isn't a well paying field. But now it is worse. There is no job security- there is even less money. It's not a good idea. It'd be like trying to become a real estate agent right now. There are too many houses that can't be sold. Just not a solid decision.

And I know what you are thinking over there as you read this, believe me. Because when people told me it wasn't I wise move I told them they were wrong and that I was going to get a job writing for ESPN. Well guess what, I'm still a great writer but I'm not writing for ESPN and my first job out of college wa for $19,000. You can barely afford to get a cable package and watch ESPN on that salary.

So re-evaluate. See where you can use your skills elsewhere.

 

Might sound cynical, kid, but this ain't no great time to be no journalist.
No one here is being flip -- at least not with the core message -- because when it gets in your blood it stays there.
But it's not a pretty place to be right now. If you're dead-set on becoming one of the great numbers in a ledger, at least get a double major so you have something to fall back on.

 

Take heed to the above posts.

Major in something else or, if you major in journalism, get a double-minor in something like Business or English. Have a fallback plan and never let it get out of your head because you will need it.

If you pursue journalism be prepared to write, blog, shoot videos and possibly do radio or podcasts. It's not a time for prima donnas. Be prepared for what DemoChristian posted.

It's good to see some fire in the belly, though. Good luck.

 

Everything on here is good advice, and not a hint of snark so far... I didn't know you had it in you, SportsJournalists.com


Prevailing point, which I will echo... Do something else. Take journalism as a minor and work for the school paper and cover events and all that, but do the teaching thing instead.

I hope that didn't come off snarky.

 

This is a great time to be a journalist.

At least that's what my executive editor said.