To ask if anyone can advise my DS on the best ways into journalism/how to become a journalist?

[Soulshinesbright]

He’s 18 and looking to get into Journalism/become a journalist but he’s just not sure how to and what is best to do at university to help with this? What’s the best routes into journalism? Is anyone here a journalist and would be willing to answer some questions he has? Thank you to everyone in advance

I'm not a journalist but I did the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) course when I I thought I wanted to be one!!

There's lots of media studies / print undergraduate and post grad type courses.

It's very competitive!!

I think the key question is what sort of journalist? If he's talking print, then for the national papers he needs to do a solid degree and then gain experience. This can be done at university by working for the university papers. But it's all experience based. Most people in print journalism I know did internships, and then got other jobs (hence the 'good degree'). I know one who was teaching and one an archivist. They wrote freelance on the side. It was a slog, but they're both now senior journalists for different papers, and after 20 years, they're both earning very good salaries (£150,000+). There is an expectation that they will both work full time, at awkward hours, and also get books published. This needs to happen to keep their names out there.

Contrary to popular opinion, neither of them had connections on papers, and were from middle class families. Internships were very short, so not expected to work for free for longer than a fortnight.

I think most of their work friends went to Oxford or Cambridge too.

A solid academic degree, good internships in the holidays and then a post graduate in journalism.

Does he write? Contribute to the school magazine? What are his interests? If he watches a lot of tv does he write a blog? He has to be prepared to ‘earn his spurs’. A friend’s daughter read sociology and got her first job on Plumber’s Weekly or something similar. DH became a journalist writing about pharmacy - he was a qualified pharmacist who had written newsletters for the local branch of the Pharmaceutical Journal and reports for the local newspaper.

As others have said, depends on the type of journalism but if it's print, get a good degree (like English, as an example) and then heap up as much work experience as possible in the holidays. At the bare minimum he'll have to be a great writer and be hot on grammar.

Using that as a qualification, not quite sure how the journalists at the DM got their jobs, but that's another story...

My brother is a journalist. The pay is absolutely dreadful. It’s very, very hard to break into higher paid journalism roles.

Hi all, he was looking at print but travel journalism in particular. Will mention the NCTJ courses to him so thank you so much for letting me know about that. Sorry what specifically should he do at uni?

Yes he did some writing for the college paper but not in high school as they didn’t have one.

is it a good idea for him to try and get work experience?

I work for PA Media. He will need to look further than just print as it is dying out. PA does training courses for journalists and they're always welcoming work experience. We only have 2 offices here that hold the editorial teams so it would all depend on location.

Have someone in the family who's already a journalist

Have a rich family he can rely on to do unpaid internships

Have an NCTJ qualification, as the NUJ are still a relatively closed shop

To be a journalist writing has to be your passion and you have to learn to write pretty fast. There’s some pretty rubbish journalists around working for local papers so if he applies for some work he might strike lucky. Tell him to write up some reports some football matches or some interests of his own and send off samples. Or report on a local event also send it off to the local papers with photos. Jeremy Clarkson I know started reporting for the local rag and worked his way up and a lot of journalists have done that. Of course the other question to ask is what sort of journalist do you want to be? There are reporters and feature writers? You can report for a newspaper or write articles for magazines. The main thing he can do is to keep writing and writing and perfect his art. What I was told. You can do as many courses as you like but if you’re not a natural writer you will never make it. But many journalists have never done a course in their lives. The other thing I would advise is to read good writers who you want to be like. Just note their style. Reading excellent journalism is far better than going on some boring course of which there are thousands. First establish yourself as a writer and then do the course to polish yourself up

Some good advice on here.

I have many years' experience on newspapers and magazines (I was also a teacher of MFL in the middle!) and have been working in comms roles for the last few years.

Happy to answer any specific questions your son may have.

To add to what's said here; there are degrees in journalism, and you will often find people observing that many journalists working today don't have a degree in journalism, but rather in some other subject. This is often because journalism degrees are a relatively recent phenomenon. That's not to say you should or shouldn't do one. Some are very good (Sheffield, Derby) and I know a number of young people working in journalism who did a journalism degree.

OTOH there is no doubt that it will limit you, while a degree in history or English or biology may open more doors. If you are certain you want to be a journalist, then a specialised degree will teach you lots of useful skills and also offer you good contacts (most courses IME are taught by former journos who know a former colleague or two). If you are less certain, maybe look at a degree in a subject you enjoy and consider a post-graduate course in journalism.

But the most important thing to be doing and NOW is to write. You say he did some writing for the college paper - great ! What else has he done? Does he write a blog? theatre reviews? music or comedy reviews? previews of sporting fixtures? It has never been easier to get your work published - any actual printed newspaper is so short of staff that it will probably welcome your contribution - or you could get it online easily enough. As an example, I love athletics; if I were to write a profile of the summer season for the rising stars of a local athletic club, and submit it, with decent quality images, to my pet sports journalist on the local paper, I know for sure he would publish it. Has he done that sort of thing - because if I were looking to employ a journalist I would expect that as an absolute minimum.

To finish (sorry for essay! <gets out blue pencil>) I would echo those who say journalism is not well paid (no need when so many are so keen to do it) and it is competitive. If you want to work on the nationals, you have to be prepared to work long hours, do shifts no one else will take, be freelance with no certainty of work, and live in London (or be able to get there). If it is your passion then you need to show that. Best of luck to him and as I say, AMA.

There's a lot about writing on here. Print is dying. Print travel journalism is dying. Today's "travel journalists" are vloggers and TikTokkers. Doing a journalism degree isn't a bad idea but it's not a vocational route into newspapers. Newspapers are dying.

Step one is probably be inquisitive and curious enough to ask these questions himself.

How can anyone be unsure what degree to do for journalism?

He could already have made a start by blogging and submitting articles as a freelancer.

If he's interested in travel, he should be aware it's not just free holidays for an Instagram post. He will need to better than the competition at photography and video editing, social media management, and more. And again, there's no reason he couldn't already be doing this with a popular blog/Insta/TikTok brand.

I used to volunteer for hospital radio and quite a few have gone into broadcast journalism - both radio and TV.

I am a journalist - specifically an arts journalist, writing for broadsheets and monthly magazines (good ones - the type people keep back issues of.)

I read History of Art at university, which taught me both how to think critically (which is vital) and gave me the references for much of what I write about now.

I wrote for the university paper. I did internships. I started at the bottom, writing literally anything I could for anyone (mostly they wanted me to write about fashion, then) and writing a blog on the side about what I actually wanted to write about.

I got there, eventually. I LOVE my job. At times it's still exhaustingly full on.

What I would say is that you son needs to be reading the publications he wants to write for, and he should be reading all the travel writing he can find - from Goethe's Italian Journey, through Hemmingway, Sybille Bedford etc., to the incomparable AA Gill, to now.

Oh - and there are people who think they want to be a travel journalist because they want to travel, or a food writer because they want to go nice restaurants. This may well not be your son at all - but crucial is to want to write and to love writing. I love writing as much as I love art. I kept a diary from the age of 10 - which I now realise was an excellent means of finding my style.

Okay - finally.... I know nothing about video editing, Tik Tok, etc, etc. - but I'm probably the last generation to have the luxury of not having to know about it. The art departments of the magazines I write for are getting training in all the bells and whistles of social media.

Everyone likes travelling and eating so there are millions of wannabe travel journalists and food writers.

But can you write about local government, tax reform, washing machines, climate change, dog breeding, rugby, supply chains, latest news in the world of plumbing, new developments in dentistry? Those areas of life all have people who need or want to read about them and someone has to write the stories.

Journalism isn't writing what you want to write. It's writing what someone else wants you to write, and doing it very fast.

My husband is a national newspaper reporter, I used to work in TV and my advice is: it’s a dying industry and encourage him to consider other options.

Other than that:

• degree in a traditional academic subject at the best university he can get into
• try and gain work experience as a student, work on his student newspaper, possibly place a few freelance pieces
• journalism masters at City, University of London - this is pretty much the gold standard and will really help him make connections, gain relevant experience and so on
• try and get on a grad scheme or freelance (shift work and placing individual pieces) while applying for entry level jobs

Travel journalism is absolutely dead.

Best ways in are an arts degree from Oxford (English/history/PPE) or work a bit for a local paper (those that haven’t shuttered yet) and then move to a tabloid (they’re an incredible training ground) and from there go anywhere. Alternatively he could try a trade magazine (eg industry mags about law, medicine, advertising) and that’s quite a good way in.

Some papers do offer training but I imagine it’s incredibly competitive, badly paid and in London.

I would suggest looking into court journalism - it’s specialised, fascinating and excellent training. But shorthand is necessary for that.

Firstly, he needs to get a little bit more get-up-and-go than to have his mum do his research for him! But I'm sure you're just idly wondering how to help him.

I used to be a journalist (and am now a novelist). My route was that I went to a good university which is well known for turning out loads of BBC journalists and having an excellent student newspaper. There I wrote as much as I could and made contacts. This was in the late 00s.

In the university holidays I'd do work experience on local papers, for magazines and for anyone who would have me. When I temped I tried to work for newspapers/magazines/creative places to get paid yet have them on my CV - even if just telemarketing for then. There were a surprising number of jobs doing that.

Then I did an NCTJ in print journalism - the 18 week course actually has the highest pass rate as it's so intense, then I got a job straight from graduating. I already had bylines from half a dozen places then so it made starting out much easier.

I had no contacts at the start but he just has to make friends and connections. It's an industry built on who you know, so he has to get himself out there and get on people's radar. It's not well paid but it's fun, exciting and varied. I met my DH, made many best friends and had some brilliant times as a journalist.

A) Consider if you really, truly want a poorly paid career in a dying industry. Sure it's fun the first couple of years but after a couple decades of slog, unless you become one of the highest echelon and make decent money and/or get to travel the world, it all starts to seem rather pointless.

B) if the answer is still yes, develop an expertise in a non-journalism field, be that health care, economics, motorsports, politics, etc. And I mean real expertise, as in, get a nursing degree or work for a racing team or work for an MP or be a banker or solicitor or a priest or educator or whatnot -- so that in future you'll know what you're talking about when you cover the beat.

THEN study journalism, and work on networking with editors and publications and broadcasting arms. A degree is not as necessary as connections and an authoritative take on your subject. Be an expert, thn a journalist. As my former editor used to say, "We can teach people to write; what we need is knowledge and expertise."

You don't need to be a genius to work out my job. I did a degree in English, and have no journalistic qualifications at all. However, I can write - and if you keep badgering the kinds of publications you want to write for, someone will spot you if you are good enough. That's my experience, anyway.

Travel journalism is not dead. But it's true the competition is hot so you need to be very, very good. And have a point of view. And while yes, people can be taught to write for the political and news pieces etc. in a newspaper, travel comes under features, and you need to be able to write well.