Journalism Writing: A New Take on What Can Be Done

Journalism writing works as a means for regular writers to earn a living. A career in the arts can be hard-especially in terms of pay. The novelist or short story writer will need to learn prose anyways. The career minded magazine writer will need the experience. The comic book or screenplay writer will just need the basics to pursue their dream. Journalism can be fun, even though it is work. We can explore fields that are typically not covered as much, write in the first person by bringing in our personal experience, and write with humor.

Some fields have been covered to no end. The basic arts and entertainment article will cover music, plays, novels, and other things. The sports story will highlight a particle athlete or team. The news article will cover things like political news. Instead of doing these basic articles, we can develop a system of finding new information. We won't look to MSNBC for new experimental journalism. Instead we will seek out independent news organizations. Perhaps we could bring up God, or our concept of a higher power, by interviewing someone with alternate beliefs. We could ask the sports player if he thinks drugs are affecting youth too much. Instead of making friends with the politician, we could write on all the mistakes they have made and why this career is not for them. Those are just a few of the choices. When we are afraid to write on the hard news, we lose our edge. We do not have to get ourselves fired, but we can toe the line on what is acceptable.

Writing in first person is a big no-no when it comes to journalism. The only places for it, most teachers will tell us, is in the editorial or opinion column. The fact is, many journalists who move onto magazine careers experiment with first person facts. Or, some newspapers desire first person accounts, perhaps because of a religious or political opinion. So there is nothing wrong with writing in the first person. It can garner more readers for a paper if done write.

Writing with humor is perhaps the hardest but most enjoyable of all these thoughts. A good opinion column will make the journalist appear to not take himself or herself to seriously. We can write of our troubles with loves and do so with glee. We can make fun of all the mansions sports stars have, while we wallow in the apartment complexes of a major city. The possibilities are endless for humor. In pursuing a journalism career, sometimes we mistake the rules as things that can never be broken. We might not be able to write a first person play review, but we can color the review with humorous details. Bending the rules is not always easy, but it can make the process of writing so much better.