Read Lovely Books

Is Writing for Newspapers Still a Good Career Path?

For anyone who saw All the President’s Men, dreaming of being a journalist or newspaper writer

It’s no secret that the internet has changed how people consume information

More and more people are turning to online resources to get their news, stories, and information

While more and more newspapers are including a digital element, there are still some that are holding

You’ll also have to decide what kind of writing you want to do for newspapers

Let’s go through the pros and cons of jumping into this industry

Whether it’s used to tell stories, inform the public, or keep people up-to-date on a certain

It may or may not take different forms as time goes on, which is why people might

While people can debate whether The New York Times still has the same reputation as it did

According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a journalist there is currently $80,278, which is higher than the

Across the United States, there are currently 46,700 news analysts, reporters, and journalists with a predicted 6% increase in

Now, something to keep in mind is that not all people who write for newspapers are necessarily

Along with writers, there also editors, photographers, videographers, and so on

All of this is to say it’s not exactly a career that has disappeared off the

One of the most obvious pros to writing for newspapers is that you’re able to stay

You’ll be able to find and report on stories that matter to either your local community

You can write general news or you can specifically report on a certain industry or niche

For some people, getting to work with the big-named papers is enough of a reason for them

Having major bylines can also help you get better writing gigs in the future

For example, major book publishers are more likely to give a book deal to someone with credible

newsroom employment has fallen 26% according to the Pew Research Center

Countless journalists have been sharing stories about not being able to make it work on their low

This article, which includes a story from David Rosenfelt who was a journalist for two decades, couldn’

Even if you choose to go the freelance route, for smaller publications you will often find that

Some magazines can take months to not only publish your piece but to pay you as well

You’ll often have to talk to people, hit close deadlines, or write after hours and on

You might also need to do internships and find ways to work for free to get your

There are constant layoffs and major companies buying out different papers

With all of the above being said, if you’re still interested in getting into the industry,

If you simply want to write articles for newspapers without necessarily being a journalist, you want to

For example, you could become a brand journalist (also called corporate journalism or corporate media) where you

The most important thing is to start building a body of work to send to editors so

“I had a column in a weekly community section of our local daily paper

He thought it would make a great follow-up to an article his local paper did 40 years ago

That paper (for a moderately-sized city) no longer works with freelancers so I pitched the regional lifestyle

And, FWIW, in the Den, I tell newbies that newspapers are not a viable way for freelancers