Hello everyone! How are my job seekers today? So I know you guys have been eagerly waiting a new blog post from me...so wait no further. I've decided to bring this blog home. Who am I? and What's my profession? For those who don't know me, I'm Nicholas Ramcharan and I work as a Journalist/ News Reporter for a radio station based in San Fernando, Trinidad.
And yes you've guessed it, I'm going to focus on Journalism for this blog. (the title didn't give it away or anything...) So what really is Journalism? In a nutshell Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.
To me Journalism and Broadcast News is one of the best fields ever! If you love the rush of getting the story first, if you really love current affairs and love to write and investigate, I think you may fall in love with this field. I'm a bit young in the game, I stated the profession at the age of 18 and I've been doing it for two years so far.
In Trinidad & Tobago you must have the ability to write, you MUST have that skill, if you want to go into broadcast news you must be able write and read for broadcast. So basically all you need is the skill and an Associates Degree in Journalism and Public Relations to join the field. That's the basic requirements. If you are currently studying Journalism and you have the skill you'll also be accepted into the field.
The job of a News Reporter is a very high pressured one. You don't know when the next big story is going to break. You usually don't have a fixed working time. You are ALWAYS on duty. You may need to know some history and must be able to communicate. But put all that aside it's a great field...(maybe a biased statement)
A topic in T&T that usually turn away potential journalists is the saying that "Journalism doesn't pay" which is somewhat true. You may earn a basic salary of $3500.00 - $5000.00 when starting the field, however this will increase with time. Most of the people in T&T who are journalists do it because of the passion for news and reporting. It's all about the love for the field.
Here are some official duties a Journalist may have:
- Interviewing people in a wide range of circumstances
- Writing copy for publication on a tight deadline
- Building contacts and sources for use in future stories
- Fact-checking the information given to you by a source
Ending the blog with a quote on Journalism:
"I am grateful to journalism for waking me up to the realities of the world." - Eduardo Galeano
I also work in Media, I'm a writer and proofreader and I totally agree...it's a great profession. Very flexible and you get the opportunity to meet awesome people and sometimes not-so-awesome people.
ReplyDeleteGreat read!! Totally agree..
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