How To Become An Investigative Journalism
There are many different paths to becoming an investigative journalist, but the most important thing to remember is that you need to be curious and passionate. You should enjoy asking questions and looking for answers, and you should be willing to do some digging to find those answers. If you’re interested in becoming an investigative journalist, it’s important that you consider your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your career goals before beginning your journey.
Education Requirements
The first step towards becoming an investigative journalist is getting a degree in journalism or a similar field. There are also many post-graduate programs available for aspiring journalists who have already obtained their bachelor’s degree. These programs often focus on teaching skills like writing and reporting, which are essential for anyone hoping to work as an investigative journalist someday.
Skills And Abilities Required For This Career Path
It’s also important that you have certain skills and abilities necessary for this type of career path. First off, it helps if you enjoy working independently because there won’t always be someone around who can help with research or answer questions about story ideas or upcoming stories when needed! In addition, being able to work well under pressure will allow new reporters time flexibility while developing their skills over time without feeling rushed into production deadlines too quickly.
How To Become An Investigative Journalism
If you’re looking for a career that is challenging, competitive and rewarding, investigative journalism might be a great profession for you. Investigative journalists offer society an incredible service by uncovering and reporting on important issues and events. In this article, we explain what an investigative journalist is, describe their primary responsibilities, explore the steps you should take to become one, list the average salary for an investigative journalist and review the skills needed for this career.
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What is an investigative journalist?
An investigative journalist, also known as an investigative reporter, performs many of the same functions as a traditional journalist, the main difference being that that they create analysis and news pieces by conducting in-depth research about a specific lead or topic. Most investigative journalists work as freelancers, but you can also find them working in an agency or under an editor at a television station, radio program, website, magazine or newspaper. These professionals analyze trends, perform research and organize news stories into an easy-to-read narrative structure.
This role often requires investigative journalists to travel and work irregular hours. In some cases, reporters place themselves in dangerous environments, like war zones, so they can pursue a story. Aside from well-developed investigative techniques, investigative journalists must possess strong communication and writing skills.
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What does an investigative journalist do?
Investigative reporters often focus on serious issues, such as social trends or political events. In most cases, a news director or editor assigns them a specific topic. After receiving their assignment, they then research, find and contact experts on the subject and other sources, coordinate interviews and fact-check the information they gather. They then organize the information and craft an easily accessible story that communicates their conclusion and provides supporting evidence. Before submitting their piece to the news director or editor, investigative journalists review their work to ensure the proper use of style, spelling and grammar.
In the past, investigative journalists strictly worked for print newspapers, but with the development of technology, many journalists now create stories for social media platforms, blogs or podcasts. Some of the subspecialties in this field include:
- Political journalism: Investigative journalists that work in politics strive to keep voters well-informed about national and local political matters and politicians so that their audience can make wise decisions during elections.
- International journalism: When investigative journalists work in global and international journalism, they investigate, research and write stories about current affairs happening around the world, such as major criminal cases. Though they can create content for news bulletins, websites and television, they sometimes present their stories by creating documentaries.
- Broadcast journalism: This broad category of journalism includes any investigative stories that are reported through electronic mediums, such as the internet, television or radio. Broadcast journalism’s primary goal is to quickly communicate important information and news to a wide audience.
- Print journalism: In print journalism, investigative journalists report their stories via books, magazines and newspapers.
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How to become an investigative reporter
You can follow these simple steps to begin your investigative journalist career:
1. Obtain a bachelor’s degree
Most employers require candidates to have at least a bachelor’s degree in journalism or a related field, such as broadcasting, communication, English or political science. When studying journalism, the required courses usually cover topics like law and ethics, visual journalism, communication, writing and editing and reporting. Additionally, many journalism programs have begun including courses that focus on digital media platforms, such as multimedia news reporting.
Employers typically prefer applicants who have relevant experience, and schools often offer opportunities to develop your industry experience and journalistic skills. For example, you could:
- Enter competitions. Students and graduates can enter their articles into investigative journalist competitions. Investigative journalism organizations, such as the Online Journalism Awards or the Center for Investigative Reporting, often sponsor these undergraduate competitions. If your article wins an award, you can include the credential on your resume and add the writing sample to your portfolio.
- Take advantage of workshops and courses. Colleges and universities often provide all kinds of resources that are designed to aid in their students’ professional development. By attending the courses and workshops that journalism schools and investigative journalism organizations offer, you can supplement your undergraduate program and learn from industry professionals.
- Complete extracurricular activities. As a student, the best way to gain industry experience is by working for the school paper and/or completing an internship. If your school has a career center, they may be able to help you find and apply for a journalism internship.
2. Develop a portfolio
When applying for positions as an investigative journalist, employers usually request samples of your work. A portfolio showcases samples of your best journalistic pieces, giving prospective employers the ability to evaluate your newsgathering skills, technical proficiency and writing style. You can use pieces that your wrote for your school newspaper, journalism courses or internship until you gain professional experience. In fact, most journalism programs include portfolio creation as a graduation requirement.
Keep in mind that your portfolio is something that you should constantly update with your latest work and accomplishments.
3. Gain experience
As you’re beginning your career as an investigative journalist, you should focus on gaining experience and developing your skills with a smaller radio station, television program or newspaper. Finding work with a larger organization is usually easier once you have obtained experience and built an impressive portfolio of your work.
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Investigative journalist salary
Though a journalist’s compensation can vary depending on their employer, geographic location, years of experience and specialty, the average salary for a journalist in the United States is $35,439 per year.
Key skills for an investigative journalist
In order to be successful as an investigative journalist, you should possess a few key skills:
- Communication skills: Investigative journalists must be able to communicate important information in a way that is clear and concise. Aside from requiring excellent written communication skills, this profession involves interviewing sources, so verbal communication is equally important.
- Analytical skills: In this role, you must gather and evaluate information so that you can discover trends and hidden truths.
- Organizational skills: While writing a story, investigative journalists use large amounts of research. They must keep all of this information organized and then craft a story that allows readers to understand the significance of their findings.
- Research skills: Investigative journalists spend a majority of their time researching topics, which is why this skills is so important. They must be aware of the best researching methods as well as the proper fact-checking protocols.
- Time management skills: Regardless of whether you are a freelance investigative reporter or you work for an organization, you must be able to manage your time so that you can meet deadlines.
- Interviewing skills: As with most careers in journalism, one of the main ways that investigative reporters gather stories and information is by interviewing experts and witnesses. To do this well, you must possess well-developed active listening and note taking skills.
