While Journalism majors do not have to hit the books as hard as a Bio major, it does not mean that a degree in journalism entails a life of slacking off and Instagram trolling. I mean, yes we do Instagram troll, but that's for article ideas.
Ultimately, no one truly knows the struggles that a journalism student faces, so below are 5 journalism problems that only journalists will understand.
1) You must always wear comfortable shoes
You truly never know where the day will take you. You might be sitting down with your tape recorder (aka the iPhone voice memos app) and notepad, or you might be hiding behind bushes. You truly just do not know where you are going to end up so make sure you stick to comfortable shoes that are also weather resistant.
2) Scheduling an Interview is harder than it seems
So you have an awesome story idea, but can't seem to land the interview. It can be because the person just doesn't want to speak, or genuinely has a busy schedule. To me, the wait for the person to get back to you is always the hardest. While people think you just sit around and wait for them to get back to you, you actually panic because you are deadline.
3) Using your Editor as an excuse
Every journalist I know has used the phrase, "sorry, my editor really needs me to ask this question." Is that true? Well no. But we do need someone to blame when the person being interviewed does not want to answer the tough questions.
4) It's a full time gig.
Wether you are busy studying for midterms, or taking care of your children a journalist doesn't put her work on the back burner. Journalist are always working (believe it or not). We are constantly following the news, scrolling through our emails full of press releases, and yes, building our social media presence, because yes, that is part of the job now.
5) Word count is not your friend
This is something that both journalists, and non-journalists can relate to. You are assigned to write an 800-word count article but can barely hit 400 words. You start to add fluff and the word "and". You even take tips from Spongebob and adapt the "word enhancer" rule, using bigger and more sophisticated word (or so you think).You also hope that your editor won't notice that you stopped making sense along time ago, or even that you are dragging your words across the paper to make the sentence last and look much longer than it actually is.
It's always good to remember that word count is not a big deal and most editors won't hang you if don't hit the required word count.
