First Years of Your Journalism Career

FIRST YEARS OF YOUR

JOURNALISM CAREER

Quick Tips Do what you love as high up as you can Take chances, ask for forgiveness Need a boss that is invested in your

goals and your future, not just what you can do for them

Size of Workplace Bigger markets: bigger audience and

readership Smaller markets: can try different types

of jobs and will give you a sense of community

Grad School Not for everyone Undergraduate journalism degree is

fine Experience is most important

Important to be out working on your skills

Digital tools are the equalizer

Skills Interesting angles/ideas Headline writing (helps to sell it on

social media) Excel and math for data journalism:

Data reporters will get hired Be in love with storytelling and people Curiosity

Transitioning to Job World Fend for yourself: Nobody controls

every part of your job Negotiation: salary, expenses,

vacation Job is not your entire life, need a

balance

Moving Jobs Know your endgame, make sure

everything you do is a step on the way But, your endgame can change

Be flexible and open to opportunities Need to progress in both your career

and your life Support you and your family

Getting What You Want Get a boss who cares Prove that what you want to do works But, understand the business side

VIRAL CONTENT

Facebook Shorten posts:

Headline has a 100 character limit Use a link shortener

Description should keep suspense Can tell the audience to do something

(Like and Share if...) Image should be human or curiosity-

inducing

Twitter Include pictures

Breaks up monotonous text #Hashtags

1 or 2: Using more does not bring more people

Put at end of tweet (with links and other things)

Never in copy: awkward and choppy

Engage with Followers Questions: Do not use if it is not

engaging Use emotions to connect to people Be human

Garnering Attention Insert most interesting part in post But, leave suspense Make sure you are up-to-date on pop

culture

Garnering Attention Introduce controlled chaos

Words you would not commonly find Word things in an interesting way Pictures Anything to break up monotony of

scrolling ALL CAPS for WATCH:, VIDEO:,

PHOTOS:

Garnering Attention Timing: Use analytics or an app (such

as Crowdbooster) to post at best time Think inside the head of your readers

Short pieces in morning Long pieces at night

TINY TEAM VISUAL

JOURNALISM

Always Be Visualizing Think of how visuals will add to/tell

story Effective/simple is better than fancy Work in teams Avoid ambitious projects with

impossible deadlines

Insource When Possible Train your newsroom Resources:

Charting: Data Wrapper, Spreadsheets, High Charts, Charts.js

Survey: Google Forms, Google Monkey Mapping: CartoDB, Mapbox, Mapbox.js,

Leaflet.js, D3/D3 Datamaps Art department/web developers at the

organization Share skills

Reusability Dont do same work again Use open-source tools

Mother Jones: newsquiz, CYOA, simple vector mapper

NPR: Pym.js, App Template, Copytext.py

Can crowd source data

Think Mobile First Have users in mind Goal: make info easy to get Start small (mobile) to make sure it

works But, desktop-first works if it is simple

Projects to Build Skills Start super simple: quiz or map Think about what stories need, learn

how to do one thing at a time