Job Responsibilities
Seek out breaking-news stories, make sure competing outlets
don't beat me to a breaking-news story on my beat, write feature
articles, maintain relationships with sources, stay up-to-date
on beat's industry trends.
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Job Requirements
Undergraduate degree increasingly is necessary, and the
reputation of a higher-quality institution can help you. This is
largely a function of more people trying to break into the
industry. However, I'd find it hard to imagine anyone would care
what grades you got. Take just enough journalism courses to
understand the basics of reporting, but you'll get a second
education (and a third, and a fourth) when you start in the
business and then rise through jobs of greater responsibility
and sophistication. Take classes that interest you, because a
wide view of the world will help you convey nuances or technical
points to readers. To get started in the industry, network (make
contacts and stay in touch; most reporters are happy to help out
aspiring reporters, and most have the ability to put you in
front of their boss for an interview) and don't be afraid to
cold-call an editor, not about an immediate position but just to
say you're out there working hard and would like to stay in
touch. There is no hiring cycle in the newspaper industry, so
most positions are filled when they are vacated. This means you
already must be at the newspaper (in an entry-level role), have
a pre-existing relationship with the editor (by cold-calling and
then keeping in touch every few months) or be a rock star who
went to Columbia undergrad and interned at the New York Times.
And even if you're the last, the job generally still goes to the
person who is the most committed, most serious and easiest to
get along with.
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Uppers
You have a lot of flexibility, particularly if your job fluctuates on an annual
schedule, in which case most editors will leave you alone to take "unofficial"
leave during down time. The thrill of writing breaking news and competing is
addictive. And the level of independence can't be matched by most other
jobs--basically, success or failure is on your shoulders, and when you're
successful you get to see it in print the next morning. There also are many
interesting relationships to build and, if you follow your interests and
creativity, interesting stories to write. Finally, you develop fantastic
communication skills to take to other professions if you ever decide to do
something else.
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Downers
Your butt is on the line, every day. This is thrilling at first
but rather wearying over time. This is why most reporters aspire
to be columnists: as a columnist you have a high profile and you
get to write your opinion, and you never can be beaten on a
story that's simply your opinion. You win every day. As a beat
reporter, you could lose on any given morning when you wake up
and read the paper. And no matter how good or experienced you
are, you will lose from time to time. If you can't take that, if
you can't extract positives out of bad experiences and then put
the experiences behind you, don't get into this profession.
Finally, keep an eye on what you want to do next. Reporting can
be a "trap" job--it's immensely challenging and interesting
until one day you wake up tired of it, and then you suddenly
realize that there is no clear next step. You don't get promoted
to manager or V.P. one day. You simply keep on reporting, doing
a better job at what you're doing. So if one day you want to
transition to another element of the profession, you'll have to
swim against the tide to do it.
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Lifestyle
Hours are extremely varied. One week you could work very little, the next could
be a string of 15-hour days. It just depends on what's going on. Nice elements
are that you often can work from home, and when you become more experienced on a
beat you can hedge your time by ducking out to, say, play golf without
compromising your work. Just bring the cell phone with you. Of course, the bad
part is that, even when you're technically not on, you're always worried that
news will break on your beat and then you'll suddenly be on again. There is no
dress code. Diversity is something that most newspapers are committed to, meaning
minority candidates might have a slightly better chance at a given job, all other
things being equal.
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Compensation
Compensation is mediocre, largely a function of the industry's
popularity and relative paucity of jobs. If you're good, you'll
make more than enough to live comfortably in a two-income
family. If you're willing to freelance, you'll make more. If you
can convert your personality into a radio or TV gig, as well,
you'll make big bucks. However, all too many people struggle
along at a relatively low salary given their education and
abilities. My pay estimate would range from the $30,000 to
$75,000 at a non-union or mid-size paper and $50,000 to the low-
$100,000s at a big union paper.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Once you develop a long-term plan, it is actually fairly easy to
accomplish what you want to accomplish in this industry. Most
reporters are short-sighted and don't start looking for the next
job until they're sick of their current one. By being proactive
and networking, you can rise progressively to beats of more
responsibility, gain a higher profile and work at bigger papers.
And once you establish a track record of doing that, you'll have
the ability to capture any job you want.
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