So you know you want to be a journalist but you don’t know how to build up a strong portfolio and get the experience you need to secure a job in the industry? Get ahead of the game and read along to find out what the five most common mistakes early-career journalists make are, and how you can avoid them.
Shying away from being in person
The internet is great – you can find exciting scoops, new stories and great people to interview – but this doesn’t mean you should solely rely on it.
Early-career journalists might feel a little awkward asking for in-person interviews and think it is a better option to carry them out over email or Zoom, but shying away from these traditional methods can make for less interesting journalism.
In person, it can be much easier to build a rapport, ask follow-up questions and analyse body language, which can give you more details to embellish your story to make it a more interesting read.
You can find out more about how to effectively interview here.
Ignoring submission guidelines
Submission guidelines are there for a reason, so make sure you pay close attention to them. If a publication is asking for a 400-word pitch, don’t write much more or much less. A pitch is a show and tell of your piece and your ability to write what they are looking for.
Imagine it is a test of all your skills as a journalist. Even if your content is great, if you go over the word count, you won’t have proven your other skills, like being able to write succinctly and follow instructions.
If you are looking for more advice on how to create strong pitches that will get your pieces published, read more here.
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Not verifying sources
Seeing a TikTok video about an exciting news story happening in your area might inspire an article you choose to write, but it shouldn’t be your only source. Social media platforms like TikTok are famously unreliable, so fact-checking your work is essential.
When you are establishing yourself in the industry, you want the publications that your write for to trust that your work is well researched and accurate. Start as you mean to go on, so cross-reference your sources to verify them, use fact-checking websites and pay attention to what you are reading and writing.
If you want to learn more about why fact-checking is important and how you can do it properly, read more here.
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Say Yes more
Anyone with a successful career in the media never says no to any opportunity to learn more. Even if you think you exclusively want to be a broadcast journalist, don’t say no to learning a little more about magazine or newspaper journalism.
Putting yourself in a box of one type of journalism won’t diversify your portfolio and give you range – which is what a lot of publications will be looking for. It widens your scope of the industry and might introduce you to a sort of journalism you hadn’t considered before.
Proofreading
Bad spelling makes for no bylines, so a great journalist never underestimates the power of reading aloud. Taking the time to double-check spelling and grammar will make your editors life a little easier – making them like you a little more.
Featured image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay