Is Journalism the Right Career for You?

“The whole ecosystem of journalism is built on trust,” said Charles W. Stevens. He reported and edited at The Wall Street Journal for 16 years and edited at Bloomberg for 22. “If trust breaks, the whole institution of journalism breaks down.” Research shows that journalists have already lost that trust. Over the last several years, the media has fallen short of its promised role. They covered the Iraq War assuming government sources were truthful. They blindly trusted sources as they covered the rise of Theranos, only to later find its leader exposed as a fraud. They covered the Atlanta spa shootings as being only gender-motivated when the violence was explicitly racial in nature. And they continue to enter communities to report on heartbreaking stories, only to move on to the next one days later, rarely checking back in with those still experiencing grief, shock, and loss. Good journalism matters more now than ever. The profession is in need of young journalists eager to help rebuild this lost trust through fair and comprehensive reporting. A career in journalism, however, isn’t right for everyone. If you’re wondering if journalism is right for you, I asked six professionals in the field to weigh in on what it takes to be a great journalist. Here’s what they had to say. You must be inherently curious. David Fahrenthold, an investigative journalist at The New York Times and a former reporter at The Washington Post, said that curiosity is a make-or-break quality for journalists. “Being a journalist is exciting,” he said. “You have a mystery out there that you don’t want to go to bed without solving. Being a journalist is being given a license to get to the bottom of things. We get to tell the truth — no matter who it upsets or disappoints.” As a journalist, what you do with that curiosity matters. You must question everything. “Part of our job is finding out if what people are saying is actually true,” said Paula Span, a columnist at The New York Times. She reported at The Washington Post for more than 15 years. “No person’s word is a gospel. We have to act judicially with a keen discretion for evidence.” To put it simply, a good journalist understands that you must investigate and question everything — business leaders, police reports, agency statements, government officials, judges’ decisions, legal arguments, public policy, medical records, and even sympathetic victim statements. It’s up to journalists to question their truthfulness and make sure that these institutions are serving the function they have promised the public they will serve. “You just don’t know where the story is going to come from,” said Stevens. “Read a lot. Be vigilant. Observe and always question things.” He added that being curious about the smallest things around your own world is what leads to great stories. You must be persistent. Fahrenthold explained that a journalist’s curiosity should naturally lead to persistence: “There will be roadblocks, and there will be people who are putting them there. Overcome them. Find out what you need to.” He added that a journalist’s commitment to discovering the full truth must guide their steps of reporting. “Commitment to the full discovery — let that guide you to be persistent.” Journalists of color often must have even more grit. “The reality is that some people you talk to are going to be dismissive, rude, racist, or sexist,” Danielle Belton, an editor-in-chief at HuffPost, shared. “But you can’t let that deter you from getting the story.” A big part of reporting is managing your own emotions, triggers, and experiences. “If you get discouraged by some people just not wanting to talk to you or discriminating you, you aren’t going to make it,” she added. You must be comfortable talking to strangers. Part of being a good journalist is being eager to talk to strangers. So if you hate stepping out of your comfort zone, journalism might not be the right path for you. Span shared, “[Journalists] tend to have [their] favorite sources — people who are knowledgeable, speak in simple and declarative sentences, and can explain things — and we go to them over and over again,” she said. “But what this tends to do is to reinforce the use of a small number of people, and they are often people like us: If you are white and educated, they are white and educated. We need to make the effort to go beyond the usual suspects and talk to people who don’t usually get on the air.” Michelle Lee, president of Asian American Journalist Association and Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post, reiterated that good journalists go out of their way to find people of certain backgrounds that don’t get quoted often. “If you are always talking to sources where you know what they’re going to say, you aren’t doing your story justice,” said Lee. You must have humility and a thick skin. As a journalist, “humility is a non-negotiable,” said Lee. “It’s so important to come into the story with an attitude of learning rather than the attitude of you already know what’s happening.” In this profession, you must also be ready to have your work analyzed and critiqued, not just by your colleagues, but by the world. You will have to be humble, willing to learn, and eager to challenge your own assumptions. As a journalist, here’s how you’ll be expected to put humility into action. You must be critical—not just of power and institutions, but of your own beliefs. “It is easy to get carried away criticizing others. But are we being as critical of ourselves?” asked Jelani Cobb, the dean of Columbia Journalism School, and a longtime journalist at The New Yorker. Being a good journalist is about checking your own biases and beliefs and challenging your assumptions. He added, “We are people responsible for criticizing people in power and institutions, so we often lose the sight of ourselves and stop being self-critical,” he added. “The entire institution of journalism is made up of human people. Being self-critical is important if you want the institution to be better.” You must invite and accept constructive criticisms. As a journalist, you must learn how and when to accept (often harsh) critique from others. “You have to have a thick skin,” added Belton. “Part of being a journalist is being criticized,” she added. “Editors will take out your entire lede, tear apart your draft, reject the pitches you thought were brilliant, and explain to you, sometimes in detail, why your idea sucked. The public will email you and tell you why your writing is bad.” Belton said that this job isn’t for the faint of heart. “You need to keep your focus at ‘I need to be the best I can be at this job,’” she said. “You have to be able to put your ego aside. If you can’t take criticism, you’re not going to make it.” But you shouldn’t accept harassment. Journalists’ work is subject to public scrutiny, but not all criticism is created equal. “There will be trolls,” added Belton. “And trolls are confused fans. Why would anyone spend any time reading or talking about people they actually hate?” “Trolls have no rationality behind them,” said Lee. “I am constantly harassed online. All the time.” Lee has dealt with intense harassment, stalking, and online abuse all throughout her career in journalism. “Journalists entering the field must be aware of this,” she said. “Everything about you is doxxable, searchable, and weaponizable,” she added. She said that she’s become very careful about posting where she is and when after being stalked. “It is a tough environment. You have to understand what you’re coming into,” she said. Lee added that cyberbullying, though, isn’t enough — and shouldn’t be enough — to knock anyone out of journalism. She said that when it comes to online harassment, journalists have to look out for each other, talk to each other about it more often, and put the competitive aspect of journalism aside. “It can get very isolating. It was for me when I first was targeted,” she added. “Journalists aren’t necessarily known for looking out for competitors, but I think in this case, we have to stand up for each other.” You must have empathy, for your sources and yourself. Being a diligent investigator doesn’t mean that you have to be cold with people. Journalists cover stories that impact human people, so not having respect and empathy for humanity can be detrimental. In short, having empathy matters — not just for the people you’re covering, but for yourself. You must be kind to, but skeptical of, your sources and subjects. Journalists must treat all characters in their stories fairly, even when the subject is being accused of something. It’s important to give everyone a fair chance to respond to anything that’s said about them. However, journalists must also be careful not to believe everything people say. Sometimes, people are mistaken. Sometimes, people lie. Often, people’s experiences differ because we travel through the world with the lens of our own traumas and limited perspectives. “No one is a disinterested party in the reporting process,” said Cobb. He said that if you are easily swayed by one side of the story without doing due diligence for the whole truth, you aren’t going to be able to produce fair reportage. “Our approach isn’t to just believe the victims. Our job is to find out what actually happened.” Journalists often must speak with sources who are sharing difficult stories, which can make it challenging to push for the proof they need. Lee shares that getting into the practice of being honest with sources from the start is a good idea, especially the sources who are stories in which they were victimized. “I always tell them that I will need documentations and other evidence that back up their story. I also tell them that I’ll talk with others who can corroborate their story,” she said. “I also tell them that my job isn’t to side with them. It’s to find out what has happened.” “We don’t write for them. We write for the public,” Fahrenthold added. “Our sources should know that.” Fahrenthold cautioned that journalists often have to resist stories that seem “too good to be true.” He added: “We aren’t there to disprove people. But if the story is too good to be true, don’t ignore your instinct to maybe talk to 20 more people to find out if the story lines up. Sometimes we’re afraid of killing a good story, but it needs to be killed if it doesn’t add up after our due diligence.” It’s also important to remember that as a journalist, you will likely end up coving heartbreaking stories, coming face-to-face with people who have experienced recent tragedy or loss. For your own mental health, it may be tempting to write your story and move on, but good journalism requires follow up. “Checking back in after you’re done covering a story of a grieving community — that’s a good idea,” said Lee. “Following up with your sources who were impacted by a tragedy gives you a fuller reportage, because your sources are more likely to trust you and tell you human stories all others have missed.” After the Atlanta shootings, Lee made it a point to revisit families impacted. She added that she encourages all journalists to remember the sources in grievance. “They are people. How did their lives change after the incident? Our audience should know that.” You must be responsible for your mental health. Journalism isn’t a nine-to-five job. The profession itself is very reactive, which can make it hard to balance your personal life with your career. All of this can take a toll on your mental health, and burnout is common. Knowing how to set expectations and boundaries for yourself is a must. You will also often be required to deal with upsetting or triggering materials. Belton and Lee, as women of color, have experienced firsthand taking on traumas while reporting — and they both add that it isn’t easy. “You have to be on top of your own mental health,” said Belton. “It’s a rewarding job—it isn’t an easy job,” she added. “Take care of yourself. We are in the business of helping people understand the world more clearly. That can’t happen effectively if you are struggling,” Lee added. . . . Despite the challenges of the job, journalists get to, at the end of the day, go to bed knowing that they are making the world a better place. A mentor once told me, that, by and large, journalists are sensitive and rational people. We’re sensitive because we have empathy for our sources, human sufferings, and societal problems — and rational because we see through what doesn’t make sense and deliver the truth. There is purpose in knowing that our job matters to the larger institution of democracy and society. It’s also a good feeling to go to work with decent people you know are similarly committed to a better world.

Is Journalism the Right Career for You?

Summary.

Partner Center