Your job as a trainee reporter

When you land your first job in journalism your role is most likely to be a trainee journalist. 

Assuming you have passed all of your preliminary journalism exams (in the UK the NCTJ Diploma is the recognised prelim route into journalism) you will be hired as a general news reporter at trainee level on a salary of about £13K or £15K.

Being a trainee is the first rung of the ladder and a job usually offered to new reporters coming in at entry level on passing their NCTJ prelim exams. 

Occasionally new reporters are hired without completing all of their prelim exams but these are the rare exceptions rather than the norm and candidates usually have a lot of work experience under their belt or have passed equivalent qualifications from another country. 

But if you are fortunate enough to be hired without completing your NCTJ Diploma in full, you will most likely be expected to pass any outstanding exams as well as doing your day job. 

Likewise, if your qualifications are from another examining board or country, you may be required to study and pass any exams deemed non-NCTJ equivalent. 

Some large news organisations offer trainee journalist apprenticeship schemes but these they tend to be few and far between and very competitive. 

So what will you be doing as a trainee journalist? 

You can expect to be thrown in at the deep end to cover virtually anything from the local jumble sale to serious crime. 

You are likely to be one of several reporters on the reporting team, which is usually headed by a news editor and sometimes a deputy news editor, depending on the size of the news channel or newspaper. 

As a new reporter you will be given reporting tasks and guidance on how to do them. However, there is no reason why you can’t offer up your own ideas for stories or angles on a story. 

Showing initiative at this early stage and finding your own stories on a regular basis will certainly impress your boss and could set you apart from the competition if a promotion comes up.

But despite your career aspirations most everyone starts out in journalism as a general news reporter, answering phone calls that come into news desk, writing and/or following-up stories issued on press releases and covering news events such as press conferences, calls to the emergency services and police incidents, vox pops and other similar reporting tasks.

Unless you have passed your shorthand at 100wpm it is unlikely that you will be able to attend court hearings so it’s really important to pass your shorthand as soon as you can as this could put an editor off hiring you over another candidate who has passed shorthand.

Now although many journalists do eventually specialise in a certain type of journalism such as being a sports reporter, feature writer or even go on to be a news editor like I did, being a general news reporter will give you a solid grounding into the profession.

It is also your opportunity to practise and perfect many key journalism skills that will be required throughout your journalism career including story finding, interviewing, article writing and broadcasting if you work in radio or TV.

However, even newspapers do recordings for the Internet these days, so don’t be surprised if you are handed a video camera to record an interview.

Of course, you will receive training in recording and editing but the Internet and social media has drastically changed the role of the traditional newspaper journalist and these media platforms tend to be just as important as the core newspaper publications.

You are likely to remain as a trainee reporter for a good year-and-a-half before being put on a further course of study geared toward becoming a senior journalist.

Once you have passed your senior exams (which are normally paid for by the news organisation where you work) you can opt to remain as general news reporter, but on a higher salary, or specialise in a certain type of journalism that interests you.

But all the journalism experience you gain as a trainee reporter will remain with you for life and you’ll find yourself using tried and tested tactics for finding stories, interviewing and reporting when you are a senior or specialist journalist.

So my best advice would be to really get stuck in to your job as a trainee journalist and use your time to cover all types of stories and build up a good portfolio of work.
 
Learn from senior reporters that you work with and don’t be afraid to ask their advice on how to do a report or interview people. People generally feel flattered if asked for advice so take advantage of it to help you improve your reporting skills and be a good journalist.