I love writing and want to be a journalist

So you want to be a journalist because you’ve always loved writing? Great! But have you got reporter skills too? 

Many young people want to be journalists because they love writing, but journalism requires skills and abilities far, far beyond a love of writing.

In fact, I'd say that the writing part of journalism is just an incidental rather than the most important skill required to be a good reporter. 

I've known many journalists who were rubbish at writing but made great careers in journalism down to the fact that they were brilliant at finding stories and nailing juicy leads.

Likewise, I've seen many reporters come and go who could write an award winning novel but couldn't see a news story if it smacked them in the face! 

Journalism isn't about having the ability to write like Shakespeare, it's about finding good stories, having an inquisitive mind and not being afraid to question and probe even the most plausible. 

Yes, writing is an essential journalism skill, especially if you want to work in newspapers or magazines but certainly not the only or most important skill you need to be a journalist, especially at entry level.

So if you have always loved writing and want to be a journalist make sure you don't neglect to practise or learn other key journalism skills (read my posts under the "Journalism skills" label) as no editor will be impressed with a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who can't find a news story.

Likewise, if writing isn't your strongest point but you still want to be a journalist then put time aside to improve your writing skills.

Read books, newspapers and anything you can lay your hands on to help you widen your vocabulary, brush up on your sentence construction, grammar and story writing skills.

Either way you should read as many newspapers as you can every day and tune into a decent news channel such as the BBC where you’ll find in-depth news coverage.

Absorb the sort of stories that make the news and how journalists put them together. Read or listen to the type of words being used and if you don’t understand frequently used words such as ‘defendant’ ‘president’ or ‘inaugural’ (eg) look them up in a dictionary or go Google them!

But trust me, having a passion for writing is great if you want to have a career in journalism but it is by no means the be all and end all of being a reporter.

Few journalists are honoured, promoted or even headhunted for the wonderful way they write a story but by the type of stories they uncover through good investigative reporter skills and for always being on the ball.