A journalism degree is naturally going to be associated with a career in journalism. However, you may be surprised to learn that this isn't the only career option for journalists. With a digital journalism degree, graduates can go on to follow many different career paths. 

Teaching important skills for the modern world, journalism is a great option for students who aren't yet sure exactly what they want to do with their careers, making it a popular option on college campuses. 

Read on to get an idea of what a degree in journalism can prepare you for. 

Why Journalism?

Journalism is a great degree for people who want to have a varied career. Whatever your passion is, you can follow it through journalism. For example, if you are a huge sports fan, then you can become a sports journalist; if you love technology, you can focus on tech. 

Not only does journalism allow you to follow your passions as a journalist, but it can also prepare you for a variety of other careers. 

The skills you perfect in a course such as a digital journalism degree are highly transferable and can help you succeed in many different areas of life. Having a strong command of the English language, an understanding of media production, and research skills can help you stand out from the crowd in a competitive job market. 

Most of all, though, this is an exciting field! 

It is important we have well-trained journalists who are able to find truth and bring it to the people, and this is exactly what a journalism degree trains you to do.

Journalism in a Changing World 

The world has changed a huge amount in recent decades, and this has had a profound impact on journalism and the way we receive news. 

In the past, people got their news from newspapers, TV, and radio, but today that's not necessarily the case. Most Americans get their news online these days, and this has completely changed journalism. 

With the advent of social media, everyone has the ability to build a platform and report their own news, and this is a distinctly modern thing. For journalists, this represents a very different way of doing things, and their approach has had to change. 

This is reflected in a modern digital journalism degree, which has a much greater focus on how to leverage technology in journalism. This approach isn't just limited to journalism, though, and these skills have benefits across many different industries.

The world continues to change, and journalism will continue to reflect this. 

Different Journalism Courses

There are many different sides to journalism. You have got the written aspect, investigative, videography, and much more. 

This means when you study journalism, you've got lots of different options and lots of different skills you can learn. You may find you end up focusing on a specific area, but you get exposure to many different disciplines with a digital journalism degree. 

As with any form of study, the important thing is that you find the course that best fits your needs. Start by setting out some goals and deciding what you want to achieve. When you know what you want to achieve through your course, then it will be much easier to evaluate each program.

The decisions you make won't make or break your career, but they will help decide the path you take. So, make sure you're putting in the research and finding the right journalism course for your goals.

Skills You Need for Journalism

There are many different skills that make up a good journalist. Some of these might come naturally to you, and others might be something you have to work at, but with hard work, they are achievable. 

Some important skills for journalism include:

• Excellent communication skills - both written and verbal

• Determination 

• Confidence 

• Stamina 

• Interpersonal skills

• Enthusiasm

The most obvious part of this is communication. Journalism is all about communicating information, and there are so many ways to do this. As we mentioned, just twenty years ago, the way we did this was very different from how we do it now, and this is reflected in a digital journalism degree. 

Asides from communication, the skills needed for journalism are quite intangible. Being able to persist through difficult situations and having the confidence to follow your intuition are excellent skills to have in journalism, but they're also essential in a wide variety of industries. 

This is part of the reason why journalism can prepare you well for many different industries - it teaches many important skills that will benefit you no matter what career you choose. 

Starting a Career in Journalism 

The most natural path to take after completing a degree in journalism would be a career as a journalist. 

Courses such as a digital journalism degree will equip you with the skills you need to thrive in journalism, but it is still a competitive industry, and you will have to work hard to get your foot in the door. 

One of the things you can do to help with this process is to start planning early. 

If you spend time thinking about what you want to achieve in your career and come up with realistic goals, it will make your life much easier. Make sure your goals are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound), and this will give you a clear idea of the steps you need to take. 

Throughout your education, you will find there are opportunities to get hands-on experience in journalism, so be open to new opportunities and make the most of them. 

It may be daunting planning out your whole career, but if you're working hard and improving your skills, then it will give you more flexibility further down the line

Alternative Careers with a Journalism Degree

A journalism degree doesn't just prepare you for a life in journalism. It gives you lots of core skills that can be transferred to other industries. Here are some of the common job roles journalism graduates go into. 

Advertising 

Communication is at the heart of journalism, and this is also true for advertising. 

In both careers, you need to understand how to reach your target audience with your message, and hopefully, understand how to get people to take action. This is something you will learn in a digital journalism degree, and it can be a huge advantage in advertising. 

They might seem like very different jobs, but journalism and advertising share the need for excellent communication, an understanding of modern multimedia, and high-quality research. 

Digital Copywriter 

The world creates so much information each day. More than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were created every day in 2018, which is a staggering amount. A lot of that data is written information, and there's a huge demand for digital copywriters to create this content. 

This career combines elements of journalism and marketing to create blogs, whitepapers, case studies, product descriptions, and everything else you find on the internet. 

As you might imagine, a digital journalism degree is an ideal education for this position. Not only do you learn to write stories to a high journalistic standard, but it also incorporates the use of modern technology that's a big part of digital copywriting. 

We're producing more and more information every day, and we need people to write the copy. The great part about this is there are lots of opportunities for people with journalism degrees, and they're only increasing. 

Market Research 

When you read a newspaper article or watch a news report, it's easy to underestimate the amount of research that's gone into it. 

Journalism grads develop exceptional research skills, which can serve you well in a large number of industries. One career path where these skills are particularly useful is market research, where journalism students often find they excel. 

If you find you have a passion for research and are particularly good at it, then this could be the perfect option for you.

Multimedia Specialist 

Journalism's use of technology means degrees like a digital journalism degree set you up nicely for a career as a multimedia specialist. 

Multimedia specialists combine technical, design, and development skills to create multimedia applications. These apps are used to entertain, educate, and inform, so it's very similar to what journalists do, just with an added emphasis on the tech and multimedia side of things. 

This is one of the big benefits of a modern journalism degree - it incorporates the technological side with classes in areas such as coding and design. It's a great basis from which to build a great career no matter what path you choose. 

Public Relations 

Public relations is vitally important for modern businesses. When a company gets negative PR, it can greatly damage its operations, and they go to great lengths to manage its public relationships. 

Journalists are experts and finding information and bringing it to the public's attention, so naturally, they're going to be good at managing PR. They understand how to reach their target audience and how to craft messages that have an impact, so this is a natural progression for a journalism graduate. 

Again, this is an in-demand profession with great career opportunities, and it's something journalism can prepare you well for.

Social Media 

It's estimated that eight in ten Americans get their news from social media. This is one of the reasons why a digital journalism degree is so popular - the online realm has taken over. 

A modern journalism degree places a lot of emphasis on the role of social media in news distribution, and it prepares students to use these tools to their advantage. 

It's not only news organizations that recognize the power of social media, though. Businesses around the world understand the need to grow their social media profiles, and they need skilled people to help them do this. 

Journalism can give students a strong understanding of how to use social media effectively, and this can take you into any number of industries. 

Create Your Own Path 

There is no set path you have to take when you study for a journalism degree. These courses are designed to give you skills that are suited to the modern world, and this should leave you with lots of career options. 

Strong communication, multimedia, and research skills are key ingredients in many professions, and a journalism degree is an effective way to develop them. 

Some people go into degrees knowing exactly what they want to do with their careers, but there are lots of people that aren't quite sure. If you're not 100% sure, then that's no bad thing, and you should focus on developing a strong set of in-demand skills. Journalism is ideal for this and can allow you to forge your own career path. 

You may find you want your journalism degree to take you straight into journalism, but equally, you might also find you want to explore any number of career opportunities. 

Conclusion 

A journalism degree isn't just about becoming a journalist. It's about developing a set of core skills that are in demand in the modern world. 

Courses such as a digital journalism degree don't just focus on traditional journalism but also give you a good understanding of how to use technology to reach your target audience with information. This is important for any business, not just news organizations, so journalism students find careers in many different business areas. 

It's always good to have a rough idea of what you want to achieve with your studies, and setting strong goals can help you build your career, but at the same time, journalism is a degree that can take you in many directions. 

If you're not 100% sure of what you want to do in the future, then don't worry. With a journalism degree, you will learn the skills that can set you up for many different careers, allowing you time to figure out exactly what you want to do.