7 skills you should develop to become a journalist
Want to become a journalist and wondering what skills to develop? This article may help you.
Being a journalist is not everyone's cup of tea, as it requires a lot of love, passion and dedication towards the job. It involves a lot of activities; from reporting in the field to writing scripts, reports or features, from anchoring in front of the camera to working at the desk, from taking interviews to editing video footages etc. So if you want to become a journalist, make sure that you have full confidence in yourself and then, develop the following skills.
Open mindedness: The first quality a journalist must possess is that he has to be extremely open minded. As a journalist, you have to keep your own opinions aside and focus on the entire situation. Also, you always have to respect the policy of your media house and whatever political ideology you have, it shouldn't reflect on your work.
Knowledge: A journalist is supposed to know at least little of everything, if not everything. Read everyday newspapers, blogs, articles and always stay updated about what's happening in your surroundings. Although a formal education is not mandatory to become a journalist, but you should know all the basic fundamentals and ethics of this profession.
Research Skill: Whether you're writing an article for a newspaper or a script for a TV channel, it needs to be detailed and full of facts. So, do a proper research, collect data from different sources and use all the information in your writing.
Writing Skill: It doesn't matter whether you're working in a print media, broadcast media or audio-visual media, having an excellent writing skill is a must for a journalist. You have to write very quickly and make sure that your writing should be detailed yet to the point.
Communication Skill: As a journalist, you have to interact with a lot of people to collect informations. So, having a strong communication skill will help you to do your job more easily. Also, build a strong network and stay connected with all the sources and other reporters.
Investigation Skill: In Journalism, there's a thing called 'Investigative journalism' in which you have to investigate on a topic and prepare a report on the basis of your observations, facts and proofs. So as a journalist, you're expected to have a curious mind, great observation skill, analytical mind and critical thought process.
Technical Knowledge: In today's world of journalism, it's important for a journalist to know basic technical knowledge such as photography, videography, graphic designing, editing etc. A technically sound journalist doesn't depend on anyone else and stands out from the others.
So, develop all the mentioned skills and then, no one can stop you from being a perfect journalist.
