Hi,

In the light of the aforesaid dissuasion, one can opt for journalism because of the features mentioned:

• A professional journalist is on the payroll of a journal, magazine, newspaper or TV channels. He can also be an employee of an internet website or a dot com firm. He works on a full-time basis for his employer. If he is self-employed, he works for a host of media organization on an assignment basis.
• He covers news, views, and events of various kinds. He is a generalist in most of the cases. However, specialists can also become journo.
• He is known by different designations, namely editor, sub-editor, special correspondent, assistant editor, staff-reporter, feature writer, reporter, TV correspondent, sports editor, columnist, news editor etc.

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• The field of his operation could include law, national polity, global polity, economy, sports, elections, crime, fashion, investigative journalist, arts and crafts, drama, literature etc. This list is not exhaustive. Most of the times media firms send only those journalists to cover news that is in tune with their backgrounds and qualifications. Those journalists can be called specialists, but by virtue of their exposure to the field, they may also be told to cover such news or topics as are not related to their major fields of specialization.

• The earlier concept, in the parlance of journalism, was- journalists are born, not made. However, nowadays, journalists can be made too. If they have the basic abilities and skills and also, if they burn the midnight oil, they can touch the peak of perfection in their respective fields.
• There are exceptions to the above point. Some people have innate abilities to excel in the field of journalism. They do not get formal training, but they start their operations from a scratch to grow. Example: T Sadanand, the founder editor of Free press Journal, never received formal training on journalism. In fact, he never attended any college!
• A professional journalist must master the language in which, he communicates. This is the basic prerequisite to become a journalist. He must also study mass communication as a subject during his academic stint.
• A journalist must protect the interests of his employer. This puts a question mark on his role as a professional journalist. The business of a firm can reach unknown peaks if the targeted audiences like the content of the media of that firm. However, the journalist can also spoil its business by writing obscene features, trite remarks, or indulging in mud-slinging exercises on TV or internet websites. In a private firm, he does not toe the line of the top brass, he is fired. Hence, he has to conform to the regulations and procedures of his employers.
• Journalism is being associated with ethics in more passionate manner nowadays. If the journalist tells the truth that is not digested by his employer, government, or the masses, he receives brickbats. If he does not tell the truth, he earns a lot of money, but his soul remains dead. If he indulges in the acts of cheque-book journalism and yellow journalism, he becomes effluent and perhaps, an apple of the eyes of his employers. The commercial world of today wants him to write or speak only those lines that are loved by all. True or false, the news or feature must be able to sell the media (so that sales of the newspaper or magazine could rise). Thus, we have two types of journalists those who make compromises (and earn in materialistic terms) and those who have the guts to call a spade (and face the wrath of their employers, the organs of the State, or politicians).

• Journalism is one of the many professions that are being closely associated with the environment, ecology, social transformation, and matters related to the entire humanity. Pollution, global warming, female literacy, women’s empowerment, scheduled castes and tribes, deluge, contamination of water, soil, food, and other life-giving factors, industrial wastages, exploitation of the poor by rich, conservation of natural habitat, and cruelty towards animals are some topics on which, journalists have written/spoken a lot during past decade. In the times to come, they would have to face grim challenges in reporting on such (aforementioned) topics. Commercial interests would clash with societal interests and journalist of today would be caught between two dilemmas- the pious dedication to the social and human causes and the lure of money that forces them to resort to immoral acts. They cannot come out unscathed out of this friction because monetary incentives always make a man tilt towards the negative side of the profession. Nevertheless, we have many committed journalists who would not let the noble causes drown in the sea of commercialism. I would request you to become journo with a dedication to factuality and social causes and not mere cogs in the commercial machines that churn out trailblazing

• This profession demands long hours of work, proficiency in computer operations, good knowledge of the Net, a pleasing gregarious personality, an ever smiling face, the ability to arrive at the event site at any point of time and perseverance. Those people, who do not have the ability to extract information from their targeted subjects or audiences, need not jump the journalism bandwagon. An extrovert personality is the key to success in this profession. Mastery of language of communication is a prerequisite for success in this profession. Above all, this profession needs honesty in news coverage. There must not be any bias reporting an event. In feature writing, the power to convert the facts (or data) into a powerful article can make the journo a legend in his lifetime.

For further information feel free to have talks with the Professional Experts at CareerGuide. Hope this will help you!