There are different journalism courses for you to choose from, depending on where you want to study thought of course. Journalism jobs may be slightly scarce because most companies have their journo’s and don’t need more, but there will come a time when they do need another journo. However, of course you can’t wait around for a company to need you, so you can freelance in the meantime while you are looking for someone to work for. You can do freelance writing full time if it works for you, maybe get a column in one of the local newspapers and hopefully one day work yourself into a television journo.

Getting into internships should be your priority if you don’t have a job lined up right after studying, at least it is somewhere for you to begin and it will put some experience under your belt which is good for your CV. Finding employment as a journalist is a task, but once you are in somewhere or once you have gotten your name out there, the journalism courses you did will have been the best decision you made and with the more experience you get, the better positions you will be able to apply for.

If you are looking for employment that keeps you knowledgeable about the world, then a career in journalism might just be the best bet for you. If you enjoy writing or taking photographs then working online or with newspapers or with magazines is an avenue that is open for you. Most people get their news online in contemporary times. This means that they want information in bite size chunks, and they want it quickly. Learning to write for this particular type of audience can be quite difficult but you will find that you’ll adapt easily. Television is another type of journalism that is extremely popular. Most people around the globe have a television, and if they don’t then they have a radio so these are two safe bets. Internships may involve a lot of grunt work, so prepare yourself for doing odd jobs and filing. Nevertheless, it is all experience.

Take the time to consider the various internships online, and see whether they look good for you. Experience is everything in this world. Whether you want to work at a newspaper or on television or on the radio or online, you’ll find that there really is a lot you can do to have a journalism career.

A great place to start looking for journalism careers in Cape Town is at www.BizCommunity.com. This useful site provides a summary of all of the jobs in that industry and can alert you to employment from all the major media houses in the Western Cape. Some of the country’s leading media companies like Touchline Media, Primedia, Media24 and Naspers are located in Cape Town so if you are looking for writing, design or new media internships these are some of the places you can get started. Several major newspapers also have their offices there including the Argus and the Mail and Guardian. Television and radio journalists can also feel confident that they have a chance in this dynamic city. There are a number of National and local radio stations looking for presenters and producers such as Haart FM and KFM. South Africa’s only free television ETV has its head offices in Cape Town which makes it the ideal place to look for internships. It may feel as though you are spoilt for choice.

Many companies are looking for people with experience which can make it seem impossible for the just-graduated young person. However, there are a huge range of junior positions and internships with the potential for promotion and growth. Simply hop online and have a look at journalism careers in Cape Town.

You could even go for internships first as that will give you more experience and you will more than likely find it easier to find a career in journalism. Writing isn’t as easy as it may seem, so make sure you know what you are doing when you apply for jobs. Many journalists go into television when they have had enough experience in the newspapers, so you could have the opportunity too. Employment might not always be easy to find, but you could always try out internships before actually going into full time journalism. The decision is yours, but you should know that it is a job that takes a lot of skill and requirements are that you can be available at any time, day or night. Whenever there is a hot story you have to be able to follow it.

You have to be able to interview different people and go into dodgy places, but you also get to go to lovely places and see wonderful things. You should be prepared to deal with all of the aspects that come with following a career in journalism if you wish to be successful in the business.

Writing Articles for a Newspaper

Writing articles for a newspaper requires a new style of writing and this is not the same as writing non-fiction or fiction. The same applies when writing for the web. When writing for a newpaper – this applies to fiction writing – the first line will make or break you. You want the reader to get involved immediately and the reader must remain hooked for the duration of the article. In article writing, the first line is the most important. Not the second line or the second paragraph. You must be able to hold onto the reader until you are ready to let go. The word count of the first sentence is crucial. Twenty-two words should be it. Just like this one!

What you should look at next when writing articles for a newspaper is the structure and style of your sentences. You want your sentences to be short. You want to make sure that your reader remains hooked and not dragged along until you finally introduce a full stop. You also want to make sure that you have white space in your article. This is something used to break up text that will make it appealing.

When you introduce quotes in your article, the reader will remain interested, because an expert opinion matters. When you introduce quotes, make very sure that you are relaying that quote accurately. Make sure with the source about the quote to avoid misquoting. The rules for fiction writing are nothing compared to article writing. Article writing has adjectives and adverbs scattered throughout, the same for similes and metaphors. Fiction writing concentrates on getting rid of adverbs and not using metaphors too often that can distract a reader.