How to become a journalist?

Question

I am 12 nearly 13 and our school doesn't have a newspaper.. I live in a small village near Glasgow. What should i do?

Answer 1

If you read YA on a regular basis you will know that most of us consider reporters to be pariahs.

You must be a master of lies, exaggeration, fantasy and inference, you must be able to take facts and twist them out of all recognition, you must be cold and callous in order to take someone's character and completely annihilate it.

You must be able to talk to someone who has suffered tragedy and somehow, throughout all their pain, you must dig up some dirt or scandal on them.

And you must have a tough skin because you will never be popular, just someone to be avoided.

Still want to be a journalist?

Answer 2

Try and get a job at your local newspaper.  Like, if you're a good writer, even just submitting your work and getting it published for free is a start.

Then, once you are old enough, get an internship at a larger newspaper.  Then study journalism at a university.  Then get a job at a major newspaper.

Answer 3

Watch old episodes of "Press Gang".

Find several more friends, it needs input from people with different interests, eg sports, hobbies.

It would be very difficult to maintain it on your own.  This is your "network" of news sources.

A sympathetic teacher would be very useful.

You could create a web format version rather than a printer

copy.

Look at how other clubs produce literature, like neighbourhood watch groups. Your local library will probably have posters up promoting events. You can see the style they use for laying out documents, making it fun to read.

Theres nothing stoping you creating this with your PC now, even if theres no one else to read it - you would be training yourself.  But if you involve others its great to test out ideas and see if they make sense. Sharing the load is useful too.

Good luck to you.