Pros and Cons of Being a Journalist

Journalism can be an exciting and inspiring career choice, offering lots of opportunities to share ideas, travel, learn and represent the wider population. It can also be a challenging job, however, and so it is important to weigh up the pros and cons.

Journalism Pros

Journalism offers lots of rewards and day-to-day benefits. The career offers lots of potential to unleash your creativity and plenty of opportunities to steer your work towards areas of interests. It also allows you to uncover new ideas and inspirations. It is also an important public service.

Journalism is a great choice of career if you like the idea of working in fast-paced, ever-changing environments. No two days are ever the same, and there are countless opportunities to meet new people and experience new situations. Journalism can open doors to different worlds and allow you to travel and learn about subjects that you may never have even considered before.

Journalism Cons

Many journalists who have completed a journalism degree with organisations such as https://schoolofjournalism.co.uk will tell you that there is no better job, but this means that competition for roles can be fierce. Great opportunities can be difficult to land without extreme commitment and patience. You may need to freelance or work in areas other than the ones you want to specialise in to gain the experience and contacts to get the perfect job. Even then, job insecurity is a reality with many journalism job cuts reported in recent years.

Journalism can also be a dangerous profession. You may have to visit unstable areas and find yourself in situations where you feel unsafe. You may feel unable to refuse to enter these situations, knowing that competitors will if you don’t, and this emphasises the demanding nature of the job. The old adage that you are only as good as your last story still rings true, and don’t even think about journalism as a career if you don’t want the demands of strict deadlines and the consistent pressure of bringing in the stories.

Nina Brown