Journalism’s face has changed over the past couple of decades. That is mostly because of industry changes brought about by social media’s rise. You also have to take into account how many news sources there are now.
There are thousands of websites that report the news, as well as podcasts, newspapers, and TV channels. All you need for freelance journalism work is a smartphone and a YouTube channel.
Despite the amateur influx into the field, it is still worth your while to get a journalism degree. There are many different profitable positions you can hold with it. Let’s go over a few of those.
News Producer
You can become a news producer with a journalism degree. Your job will be to:
- Gather news
- Select broadcasting stories
You’re the one who chooses what stories to cover during a TV show, podcast, or in a print publication. There is a limited amount of space or broadcast time, and you have to figure out what’s the most newsworthy and what’s going to fall by the wayside.
A news producer writes copy, and they conduct interviews. They create interactive web content for social media and the web, and they approve news scripts. They also might edit news audio, assist news anchors in various ways, and commission graphics.
You might expect a starting salary of between $40K and $50K per year.
News Editor
- Overseas publishing processes
- Might work for an online media company, publishing firm, media outlet, or some other news entity
You might research or plan publication content. You will probably create in-house style guides and commission writers to produce the type of content that interests your audience.
You’ll make necessary editing decisions and check all content for style and consistency. You’ll write headlines as well.
You might also implement or plan an offline and online communications strategy. You will draft press releases too. Expect a starting salary of between $40K and $50K per year in most instances.
Copywriter
A copywriter can work for many different news organizations in 2020. Your job is to develop creative concepts and to write persuasive and innovative content.
You’re trying to write content that connects with the typical or average individual who reads, watches, or listens to the entity for which you are writing. That might involve writing brochures, emails, blogs, or advertising campaigns.
The most successful copywriter is very versatile, and can quickly change their writing style whenever the situation calls for it. You need to know how to adapt and maintain a cohesive, consistent tone. You’ll often work as part of a creative team that will provide you feedback on how you’re doing and asks for any changes they need.
You can sometimes make as much as $50K per year as a copywriter or more, but you’ll usually start below that unless you can instantly impress someone in a prominent position.
Social Media Planner
This is a job that did not exist until relatively recently. However, if you don’t think much of social media, you’d better adjust your attitude. You can make some real money if you have the skills for this position.
A social media planner usually works for one company, but they might work for multiple business entities if that doesn’t stretch them too thin. Your job is to plan social media content and campaigns.
You often have to execute paid advertising campaigns. You’ll have to build mutually beneficial client, investor, and vendor relationships.
You’ll need to know how different social media platforms work. You can make between $50-$60K per year if you’re good at what you do.
Public Relations Specialists
Some journalism majors go on to become public relations specialists. In this position, you oversee, plan, and implement a business entity’s public relations strategy. You create things like talking points, presentations, website content, and reports for many purposes.
For external use, you also create press releases, articles, blogs, op-eds, etc. You reach out to the local media to try and control your company’s narrative.
To succeed in this job, you need to be good at putting out fires. When anything goes wrong with the company, it’s part of your job to try and put a positive spin on it. You can often make upwards of $60K per year doing this job.
This is some of what you can do with a journalism degree, but there’s plenty more. You can also become a corporate communications specialist, a product marketing manager, or a traditional journalist.
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