Journalism related job

An Gaiscíoch

Howdy all. I am a journalism and media communications graduate and I'm lookin for work in the media sector. I would like to work in sports journalism, be it tv, radio, internet or newspaper. It's a tough area to get into but getting your foot in the door is half the batle. If anybody can help me at all or has any info I'd really appreciate it. I'm getting desperate !!!
Thank You

jrey1981

Your best bet is to keep in touch with the sports sector as much as you can and look for alternative angles to the news you read, see and hear.

If you can come up with one and pitch it to a newspaper, magazine or website, then you will prove you have what it takes and they might invite you in to make tea, hang out in the office, shadow one of their staff or help out now and then.

Where did you study?

Judt

Only way to get in is to whore yourself in the freelance market. For one you need the experience, and secondly most jobs either won't get advertised or you just won't have a chance anyways unless you already do work for 'em. Almost everyone who works for my company are, including myself, people we know and whom we've worked with in the past. The good news there is that we've picked guys up straight out of secondary school and turned them into good writers - to an extent it's a case not of what you know but who you know.

flogen

Whore yourself, prepare to work for free, be the runner, the gofor etc.

Plead with different papers/stations etc. for some wk exp, and once someone agrees work your arse off to the extent that they can't do without you, prove you're worth paying.

Freelancing from a beginners POV in sport always confuses me, the majority of sport, like news, would be covered by the media outlet staff... probably more so.. if a match/event is worth covering they know about it weeks in advance... I guess one of the easiest routes is to go for a feature angle; except in rare situations (which are probably even rarer in sport), anything you know is probably known by every newspaper and radio station in the country.

An Gaiscíoch

I did my degree in Griffith College. Which seems to be a problem for alot of people !!!

flogen

An Gaisc&#237 wrote: »

I did my degree in Griffith College. Which seems to be a problem for alot of people !!!

As in media outlets? I've always been suspicious of Griffith College, never wanted to go there, even if I'd had the money... That's all based on someone a friend knew who got his law degree there and is now working a manual labour job..

Do you mean it's a problem for other journalists or wannabe journalists or for the actual papers/stations you approach?

An Gaiscíoch

Alot of papers etc seem to have a very anti-griffith attitude. Something to do with a Sinn Fein element. Therefore we all get tarred with the same brush

Judt

An Gaisc&#237 wrote: »

Alot of papers etc seem to have a very anti-griffith attitude. Something to do with a Sinn Fein element. Therefore we all get tarred with the same brush

So don't mention it, write freelance for 'em and then drop the G-bomb after they've hired you full-time

flogen

Judt wrote:

So don't mention it, write freelance for 'em and then drop the G-bomb after they've hired you full-time

Yeah, write as a freelancer, prove you're worth it and they won't care where you're from.

The fact of the matter is, if they see a talent they won't care if you studied at DCU, Griff, Dhulaigh, or if you didn't even finish your LC. If you can write, or if you can do something better than the average joe in the media your qualifications become pretty worthless... just like you could go to DCU, study for 4 years, then do a masters then do a PhD, but if you can't put all the theory into practice, you've wasted your time.

jrey1981

flogen wrote:

Yeah, write as a freelancer, prove you're worth it and they won't care where you're from.

The fact of the matter is, if they see a talent they won't care if you studied at DCU, Griff, Dhulaigh, or if you didn't even finish your LC. If you can write, or if you can do something better than the average joe in the media your qualifications become pretty worthless... just like you could go to DCU, study for 4 years, then do a masters then do a PhD, but if you can't put all the theory into practice, you've wasted your time.

I would agree with Judt and flogen. Pitch a piece to them first and then if they are interested, they will call you and ask about your background and experience.

I did this - spent some time investigating a local issue where I lived in the UK - found an angle no-one had looked at, and whored the piece around to a number of the nationals.

As it turned out, the issue was related to a public enquiry into an environmental issue, and the environmentalists won, which was obviously a good thing, but it kind of killed my angle on the story.

The one good thing was that I got a call from the environment editor at one of the nationals in London who said I was welcome to come in and shadow him and perhaps help out with some research or tea-making.

Sadly I was skint at the time and couldnt afford it, and then had to move back here due to being a bit too much in debt after uni.

But it proves if you put in the effort you can catch the eye of the right person and then create a chance to prove your abilities.

Back to the Griffith College matter, I have recently done some work for a charity and my project supervisor did a postgrad in journalism there...she didnt have any bad words to say about the place.

Larissa Nolan who writes for the Sunday Indo studied there, and I believe the Sinn Féin rumours emerged in one of her columns.

There are other grads from there working on other newspapers, again proving if you are good enough, it really doesnt matter where you studied.

You just have to try not to mention it before showing your experience or abilities, so that whoever you are talking to doesnt have any reason to make the kind of presumptions you are worried about.

I studied at a place that became known as "The Destitute" or "The Substitute" (in the UK) among many alumni, but again many of us are in decent jobs, some with their own media-related businesses despite any perceived disadvantages we might have because of where we studied.

Judt

flogen wrote:

Yeah, write as a freelancer, prove you're worth it and they won't care where you're from.

The fact of the matter is, if they see a talent they won't care if you studied at DCU, Griff, Dhulaigh, or if you didn't even finish your LC. If you can write, or if you can do something better than the average joe in the media your qualifications become pretty worthless... just like you could go to DCU, study for 4 years, then do a masters then do a PhD, but if you can't put all the theory into practice, you've wasted your time.

*holds up hand* Yep, Managing Editor, formerly beauty queen dropout. Or whatever it is they call it these days. Same goes for a lot of the old hacks I work with - it's less common these days, but certainly not unheard of. I think the main reason most guys & gals go into journalism after a degree is because either A. They didn't know what they wanted to do pre-uni B. They didn't know they could be a journalist on (shock, horror) skill alone or plain old C. They just enjoyed the experience.

Mainly B, I find, with the rest being in the A category. But at the end of the day when was the last time you were asked for a CV before clips?