Breaking into Local Journalism

Internet journalism is a wonderful thing -- how else can a person receive payment, however modest, by typing out words while sitting in his or her underwear and surfing the Internet?

Still, there's no substitute for newspaper experience. There are things a journalist learns by hitting the pavement or working the phones that he or she can learn no other way -- how the real world actually works, how to "read" people face to face or by listening to their tones on the other side of the telephone line, how to coax a reluctant interviewee into providing the information needed. The newspaper also writer gets a "feel" for meetings (he or she generally must attend enough of them) -- how they work, when they're working, and when they've gone wrong. All this is best seen in person.

Although there are often deadlines for those who write for Internet, there's no motivation like having to face an angry boss in person if a deadline is missed. Not only that, because the way newspaper reporters gather information is so "hands on," the story cranked out on deadline may often be better than an Internet story on the same topic, with more of a live "feel" to it.

As a newspaper writer, one of the areas I covered was "niche" technologies and small business. In doing these, there's nothing like seeing how, for example, a massive organ is built or old batteries are restored. For "people" stories, there's nothing like hearing the anger in a resident's voice during a zoning hearing or a student bringing her concerns to the school board.

But how do you break into local journalism? Of course having a journalism (or related) degree helps, but its not always necessary. What is necessary is that the would-be reporter knows how to write.