How to go forward in the world of journalism?

tommy21

Hey all, didn't even know this forum existed until today. I'm finished my undergrad and doing a masters in my own time, both were focused in the area of health. I've always had a passion for writing, and throughout college I wrote (and will continue to write during this year) feature articles as editor of a section in the college magazine. I would love some advice from others on how to go forward from here though. I've tried to get printed in national and regional/local newspapers by these methods:

1) More rarely sending them finished articles in the hopes that it is something they would be interested in

2) Sending on a list of ideas/intros

3) Same as 2 really, akin to cold-calling with my CV, cover letter and list of ideas by email, and even pdfs of previous work.

4) When the above didn't work (though I got close until item was pulled at last minute), I began to send directly to editors by post with my details, enthusiastic letter, portfolio etc. to no avail.

All except for 2 or 3, did not bother to even reply. There seems to be no jobs advertised for any newspapers (national at least) hence my "cold calling."

I even approached one recently and offered to write for free to begin with but still turned down. It really is disheartening, but I'm hoping its downturn related and will pick up soon. Can anyone suggest how I should move forward?

The one thing I am lacking I guess is a blog of some sort. I have also concentrated mainly on health related items (to the detriment of my portfolio) but perhaps it is time to move on to current affairs directly (though of course neither are seperate and are linked in my work) Can anyone advise me re these two items, particularly the blogs? I'd like to put my work up somewhere and add to it as well as using it as another method to showcase my work, but I'm also worried individuals will plagerise (is it possible to protect my work online fairly easily?)

Anyhow, many thanks for reading this rather long plea for assistance!

OldJay

tommy21 wrote: »

Can anyone suggest how I should move forward?

Unless you've got contacts, I'd suggest you head out of Ireland and find a niche.
Unless you want to persist with limited prospects of foot-in-the-door roles in a local/regional newspaper.

Don't mean to p*ss on your chips but I do think a lot of the way it is now is down to two things: recession and the internet.

I was lucky.

tommy21

Justind wrote: »

Unless you've got contacts, I'd suggest you head out of Ireland and find a niche.
Unless you want to persist with limited prospects of foot-in-the-door roles in a local/regional newspaper.

Don't mean to p*ss on your chips but I do think a lot of the way it is now is down to two things: recession and the internet.

I was lucky.

To be honest I don't find that remotely helpful.

shellyboo

tommy21 wrote: »

To be honest I don't find that remotely helpful.

It's not remotely helpful, but it's the reality. Publishing is going down the pan, every publication in the country is essentially fighting closure. The very last thing on their minds is taking on new staff, for pay or otherwise.

What you're doing is the right thing. In any other climate, you'd have probably got work. But going in cold (with no contacts) is always difficult - at this time, it's impossible.

Keep plugging away, keep writing as much as you can. But until the industry improves, we're all fecked, basically.

OldJay

tommy21 wrote: »

To be honest I don't find that remotely helpful.

It would be helpful in telling you that, bar some luck, without any pull or contacts the status quo looks most likely to continue. Just being straight with you.

If I told you how many mainstream print media outlets basically re-hash wire copy without any journalistic or editorial input thus cutting out the middle link (the journalist), you'd probably give up.

Good luck though. Its not easy. If you get a start with someone, it is advisable to have it as a second job before it actually begins to pay off.

kpbdublin

If you can produce well-written features (and it's a very big if), you should get published. Even in a downturn editors are still looking for good copy to fill the pages. In fact they may depend more on freelance work, because there are fewer staff.
Keep practising until you get it right. I notice from your post that there a few grammatical infelicities. It is crucial that your spelling and grammar are are reasonably good.
Of course, perfect style is not absolutely essential. If you are not a good writer you have to fall back on another journalistic talent - an ability to break news stories and gain access to hidden information fast. It helps to have a brass neck.

tommy21

shellyboo wrote: »

It's not remotely helpful, but it's the reality. Publishing is going down the pan, every publication in the country is essentially fighting closure. The very last thing on their minds is taking on new staff, for pay or otherwise.

What you're doing is the right thing. In any other climate, you'd have probably got work. But going in cold (with no contacts) is always difficult - at this time, it's impossible.

Keep plugging away, keep writing as much as you can. But until the industry improves, we're all fecked, basically.

Thanks, that was a realistic also but nice response! Not good to hear exactly, but at least I know I'm doing the right thing. Moving for me isn't an option currently but don't think it would make much of a difference.

tommy21

kpbdublin wrote: »

If you can produce well-written features (and it's a very big if), you should get published. Even in a downturn editors are still looking for good copy to fill the pages. In fact they may depend more on freelance work, because there are fewer staff.
Keep practising until you get it right. I notice from your post that there a few grammatical infelicities. It is crucial that your spelling and grammar are are reasonably good.
Of course, perfect style is not absolutely essential. If you are not a good writer you have to fall back on another journalistic talent - an ability to break news stories and gain access to hidden information fast. It helps to have a brass neck.

Thanks for the response. The way I write here (akin to text speak) and the way I write in articles is completly different, but cheers for picking up on it just in case. Writing here is informal, but I always make sure that my content is as perfect as I can get it when I am writing.