Journalism is a profession that aims to find news and information for society to always be aware of what is happening amidst and around them. The function of Journalism is basically to inform about current events that are relevant to a particular group of people or the general public. The primary interest is to locate events, character or an event. An individual who undertakes journalism as a career is said to be a journalist. A journalist authors articles for the newspapers, magazines and websites as well as make reports for radio and TV (Allen, p.12).
How to become a journalist?
For journalists there is an important college education: the college education Journalism. This training can be in a limited number of places in the United States. In most colleges one can do full-time training only in Journalism. Colleges also offers part-time variant. The courses all have a practical approach, the execution of orders is central. There are many courses in languages, history, society and politics, media and mass communication, legislation and economy (www.amic-wjec.org).
There are various specializations such as newspapers, radio and television, photography, design or digital media. One can work with the major / minor structure: in addition to one's main specialization (major) and a minor. The courses take four years, has room for about a half year period and during the final year one can work on a specific product.
The college education Journalism is also an excellent basis for professions in the field of communications, PR and information and media (Carey, p. 42).
Training for journalists
When one as a journalist or editor gets started, it is an advantage to have practical experience in communications. If one already has published articles in a newspaper or magazine that in turn increases the chances of finding a job.
College education aids in enhancing communication. College education provides a broad development of language skills. At the start of such a college education it is good to know what kind of editorial features one would like to opt for. Media-oriented studies are essential especially for a profession like Journalism.
Functions of a Journalist
Process information: Journalists are real information gluttons. The journalist gathers data, processes it according to the acceptable standard and then releases it to the news agencies like the Reuters.
Investigation: Before deciding on the subject to tackle a Journalist needs to ensure that he has a strong base of it. In order to ensure whether the journalist is on the right track he has to ensure that he takes proper guidance of the experts.
Contacts: A journalist needs to have skills to develop public relations so that the respondent is at ease when answering the questions.
Write: A journalist has to be expressive when writing so that he is able to put his point across to the readers. If a journalist works for the television then he needs to be skilled verbally and should have an edge on the audiovisual aspect of the Television.
A journalist needs to be specialized in fields ...