Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Translate Non-Journalism Work?
Q. I am a communications director for an international non-profit and left journalism years ago. I've always missed it, and I take a lot of freelance assignments for newspapers and magazines. These sometimes have interactive elements that I love, but are designed and coordinated by editors, not me. I have been involved, though, in the planning. I've also worked well with the videographers and photographers when helping them set up shots while I interview.
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I would like to re-enter journalism but need a great deal of training in learning some of the things I've missed. I've proposed to my present employer that I learn some of these skills for our Web site (for which I write the content) -- incorporating videos, sending e-newsletters and other "new journalism" touches. Would a blog be better? I have a nice portfolio of print journalism from my freelance work. Will the interactive work done for a non-profit translate into evidence that I can work in this way? And do I actually need to learn to write the code, take the videos and design the page, or can I assume that I will have someone help me do it, as I do now?
The full-time job and freelance work take up almost all my time. It would be great if I could learn on the job, and it would be good for my present employer as well. I would make sure I stayed long enough so that the training was not a waste for them.
Thanks so much.
Needs to LearnA. You're approaching this transition in a smart way. It is far, far better to make the work you have to do every day double as a training experience than to carve a few more hours out of your sleeping or social life. It sounds like you're already maxed out. One of the big obstacles to learning new tools is just finding the time. That can be an even larger hurdle than money. You can beat this problem if you make learning part of your job.
Also, work that is done for a real-live site is going to be of a more professional nature than what you do for a personal space.
Multimedia work translates well from non-profits into journalism. Shape your work to be as journalistic as the work will allow, but don't worry that the skills won't transfer. They will.
You do NOT need to learn programming. That is a whole different job. But I would learn to use some simple tools to post content and edit audio or video. Look at
Dreamweaver,
Photoshop,
Audacity and
Final Cut. Shooting video is a good skill to have. You can learn some basics, but it can take a lifetime to master it. Coding is a whole other kettle of fish.
Coming Wednesday: This senior says she is no star like some other students. She worries she will not be able to land a paid magazine internship.
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