Emerging Occupation: Digital Journalist
Journalism is simultaneously a declining and emerging field. Oh great, you may say, just what I need: more uncertainty in my life. The mainstream print and broadcast media continues to shrink. Newspaper employment, for example, is down about 5% over the past year.
Paradoxically, however the number of employed journalists is rising. Over the past year, the number of “news-analysts”, reporters and correspondents is up 23%, according to analysis by South Mountain Economics and 21st Century Career. For this blog, we’ve defined digital journalism to include: reporters, news analysts, correspondents, web and social media editors.
The print journalism jobs have been transformed by the advent of the internet and mobile apps. Roughly half of want ads for news analysts, reporters, and correspondents contain the words, digital, online, internet, or mobile. Roughly a quarter of the ads include the phrase social media. These jobs demand a different set of skills from traditional journalism.
The instantaneous access to information and the analysis to sort the data enables reporters to be much more interactive with their readers in the form of conversational blogs, radio, etc. Multimedia technology also opens up new ways of telling stories. Digital reporters supplement written words with audio, video and digital photos.
Patterns of journalism employment have tagged along with the ups and downs and ups of publishing. During the downfall of print journalism, many older more expensive workers were pushed out. In their place, came the texting, social media, and tweeting generation willing to work with technology –mobile, social media, visual tools and different distribution channels. They were also willing to work for lower salaries than the older workers. For a medium-sized website, a reporter with a year or more experience might expect to earn $35,000 to $55,000.
For example, take Alana Horowitz, the Web/Home Page Editor at the Huffington Post, a totally online publication. Two years after college graduation, she still finds media a delight. She said, “Media is great if you like learning and being in the forefront of the news 24 hours a day.” She sees the two largest challenges to beginning digital journalists as multitasking in an environment of constantly breaking news and showing a sound news judgment. Alana notes that it is a competitive field and applicants need solid college and internship reporting experience.
Your prospects for becoming a digital journalist improve with a BA degree, 1-3 years reporting experience in a variety of channels—web, radio, mobile, social media, blogging, tweeting. The number one skill is fast interviewing and compelling writing.. Employers are looking for what they’ve always wanted—a flair for storytelling and critical thinking..
Who might enjoy being a digital reporter?
If you’re a curious writer comfortable with using and integrating new technology with news content, digital journalism might be your ticket to success and satisfaction. People who are intuitive yet accurate, thoughtful and thrive under pressure are more likely to enjoy the work and environment.