How to Become a Journalist

The journalism landscape is changing and fragmenting rapidly: the decline of newspaper readership, the growth of online channels, and the creation of new roles in broadcast and social media journalism.

Many students and graduates wonder how to become a journalist in this evolving industry. In this guide, we take your through the different routes into a journalism career, including university options, building your experience and portfolio, and applying for jobs.

We also discuss Dukes Plus’s Young Media Manager Summer Experience, a media summer school for ages 15-18 in London designed to immerse students in careers in digital and broadcast journalism.

Do you need a degree to become a journalist?

The short answer is that you don’t necessarily need to have gone to university to become a journalist, but in practice, most journalists today do have a degree or a recognised professional qualification. Journalism has become a largely graduate profession in the UK, and many employers require both university qualifications and practical experience.

Undergraduate

One of the most common pathways is to study for a bachelor’s degree. While a journalism degree is an obvious choice, it is not the only option. Many journalists begin with subjects such as English, media and communications, or other essay-based disciplines that develop strong writing and research skills.

Some undergraduate journalism degrees are accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This accreditation is highly valued by employers, particularly in local and regional media, because it ensures the course includes key industry skills such as shorthand, media law, public affairs, and news writing.

Alternatively, you can study a non-journalism subject and move into journalism later through postgraduate training.

Postgraduate

A postgraduate journalism course is a popular route to becoming a journalist, especially for graduates of other subjects. These courses typically last one to two years and are often accredited by the NCTJ.

Many employers look favourably on candidates who have completed an NCTJ-accredited postgraduate qualification, as it demonstrates both academic ability and practical newsroom skills. For some roles, particularly in competitive areas of journalism, postgraduate training can significantly strengthen your application.

Apprenticeship

If you prefer to earn while you learn, an apprenticeship can be a strong alternative to university. Media organisations across the UK offer structured training programmes that combine hands-on newsroom experience with formal study.

Common options include the Journalist Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship and the Senior Journalist Level 7 Professional Apprenticeship. These routes allow you to build experience from day one, which is highly valued by employers.

Apprenticeships are particularly appealing if you want to avoid university fees or enter the industry straight after A levels.

Other qualifications (NCTJ in the UK)

The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) plays a central role in journalism training in the UK. Its qualifications are widely recognised across the industry and are often a requirement for jobs in local newspapers and magazines.

You do not have to study full-time at university to gain an NCTJ qualification. Flexible options are available, including part-time, online, and fast-track courses. The NCTJ also offers shorter courses in areas such as digital skills, media law, feature writing, and freelancing.

While some national publications may prioritise experience over formal qualifications, many still expect at least two years of relevant work on a newspaper or magazine. For this reason, combining NCTJ training with practical experience is often the most effective route.

In summary, while a degree is not strictly required, most aspiring journalists benefit from a combination of academic study, professional qualifications, and hands-on experience.

How to become a journalist: the ideal pathway

There is a ‘textbook’ route into journalism – and then there is the way it actually happens.

On paper, it looks neat and orderly. In reality, it often starts with you standing in the rain outside a council building, notebook in hand, chasing a quote about lukewarm meals in a care home because your editor needs 600 words by 4pm.

A typical progression

If you map it out, most budding journalists would say that the traditional pathway looks something like this:

1. Start in local journalism – newspapers, online outlets, or radio
2. Move up to regional publications or larger digital platforms
3. Progress to national publishers or major broadcasters

Local journalism is where you earn your stripes. Here, you learn the habits that define a good journalist: spotting a story where others do not, asking better questions, hitting deadlines, and earning the trust of both your editor and your sources.

Any job will also teach you the importance of building trust with your audience and the responsibility you have towards your community – whether that’s the readers of West Devon Fly Fishing Monthly or the local Advertiser. You’re reporting on people’s lives, their communities, and issues that directly affect them.

It is also where you learn resilience. Not every story is glamorous. Some are routine, some are frustrating, and some feel insignificant. But taken together, they build the judgement and credibility you will need later.

A more realistic view

How many careers in journalism nowadays actually follow that clean progression? Probably not many.

Modern journalism is messy. Journalists move sideways, switch formats, freelance, jump between industries, or carve out niches in areas most people have never even heard of.

If you’re wondering how to become a journalist, what actually matters is not whether you follow the ‘ideal’ pathway, but how you handle opportunities when they appear. The journalists who progress are usually the ones who are proactive, willing to take less obvious roles for the experience, consistently building their portfolio, and able to deal with uncertainty.

In other words, you need a bit of persistence and a bit of edge. You take the assignment no one else wants, you follow the lead others ignore, and you make yourself useful in every newsroom you enter.

If you do that consistently, you might find that your career – however unpredictable it looks at the start – takes care of itself.

Getting your foot in the door

But how do you land these early-career jobs in the first place? Almost all advertised journalism jobs will require prior experience. It can feel like a vicious circle: you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without experience either.

This is where many people who want to become journalists struggle. Not because they lack ability, but because they are waiting for a formal opening – a job advert, an internship listing, a clear invitation. In reality, journalism rewards people who are willing to be proactive and persistent, including at the very beginning of their careers.

Start small – and local

Your best chances are almost always at the local level. Community radio stations, hospital radio, and local newspapers are far more accessible than national outlets, and they are often actively looking for contributors.

Smaller publications, particularly those publishing daily content, need a steady stream of stories. That creates an opening. If you can provide clear, usable copy on time, you become useful very quickly – and usefulness is what gets you invited back.

Pitch, don’t wait

Rather than waiting for roles to appear, a more effective approach is to pitch your own ideas.

Most local news websites list an editor’s email address. A concise, professional message introducing yourself and suggesting a story can be enough to get started. The key is not to overcomplicate it. At this stage, editors are looking for reliable coverage rather than staggering exposés or exclusives.

That might meant that you offer to cover a local event, a new opening, or something happening in the community that readers would want to know about. The local history museum has a new exhibition, or there’s a memorial for veterans where the MP is giving a speech? You can report on that. These are straightforward stories, but they demonstrate that you can identify what matters to an audience and write interesting, reliable copy.

If you can also take photos or provide additional detail, you make yourself even more valuable.

Build experience that counts

Early on, your focus should be on building a body of published work. Editors will want to see that you can write to a standard, meet deadlines, and produce content that fits a publication.

This usually means contributing wherever you can. If you’re at university, joining the student newspaper as early as possible is a good idea. If you outlast your peers and show more commitment, you could have a senior or editorial position by the time you graduate.

If you’ve graduated, then research community newsletters or niche magazine where you could volunteer to write. Submitting articles, reviews, or short features helps you develop your journalistic skills and build up a portfolio.

You can also create your own platform, such as a blog or social media presence, to show initiative. However, work published by established outlets generally carries more weight when you begin applying for roles, as it signals that an editor has already trusted your work.

Freelance alongside other work

For many people who want to become a journalist, their career in news begins alongside another job. Freelancing allows you to build experience without relying on it for immediate income, which can take some of the pressure off in the early stages.

As you accumulate published pieces, you can start applying for internships or junior roles. It is normal for this to involve a high number of applications: making 20 applications before your first commission or paid job is completely normal. Progress tends to come gradually, built on a growing portfolio rather than a single breakthrough moment.

Take the first opportunity

At the start of your career, it is worth being pragmatic. The first role you are offered may not be glamorous. It might be a small publication or a niche title where you had never dreamed of working.

If you really want to become a journalist, then you need to accept this. You might have pictured yourself bringing down the government when the Times publishes your earth-shattering investigative story, and now you find yourself writing articles about the latest developments in screw fittings for the North East Carpentry Gazette.

What matters is that you are gaining experience, learning from more experienced journalists, and understanding how stories are developed and published. Those environments where you can find your feet while getting mentored are often the basis for long and successful careers.

Show commitment early

Finally, it is important to show that you are serious about journalism before you formally enter the profession.

That means seeking out experience early, even before applying for jobs or university courses. Editors and admissions teams alike are looking for evidence that you have taken initiative, developed your skills, and committed to the field.

In practice, getting your foot in the door is less about waiting for the right moment and more about proving, through consistent action, that you are ready to take it.

Journalism job application tips

We’ve discussed how to become a journalist from the point of view of qualifications and experience. But how do you practically turn these into a steady career? The key is your job applications.

A journalism application should not read like a love letter to the profession. Editors already know you are interested in journalism – you would not be applying otherwise. What they need to see is evidence that you have started behaving like a journalist already.

That means your application should feel less like ‘I’ve always loved writing’ and more like ‘Here are the stories I found, the ideas I pitched, the audiences I understand, and the work I can do for you.’

Treat your application like a pitch

A strong application has a clear angle. It tells the editor who you are, what kind of stories you are good at spotting, and why you would suit their publication rather than just any publication.

This matters because employers are often looking past generic CVs and trying to work out whether you have the instincts journalists require. One recent Reach internship application, for example, did not even require a CV. Instead, applicants were asked how they consume news, what they want to write about, and which news story had affected them.

Show that you understand the newsroom you are applying to

A surprising number of weak applications fail on one simple point: they could have been sent anywhere.

If you are applying to a local newsroom, show that you understand the patch. Know the area, the readership, and the kinds of stories the outlet takes seriously. That is why it helps to be concrete about the stories you would pursue for that outlet.

Not vague themes like ‘I care about social justice’ or ‘I’m interested in culture’, but actual stories: the housing development locals are fighting over, the employer shutting a town-centre branch, the court case people in the area are following, the youth club everyone says is under threat but nobody has properly covered yet.

Your portfolio matters – but not how you think

Published work is important, of course. It gives employers something tangible to judge. But good editors also know that a published piece may have been heavily edited before it went live. So what employers are looking for is not (just) the quality of writing, but the quality of thinking.

Do you notice the interesting line in an ordinary story? Can you explain why an audience should care? Do you have a unique perspective that no one else could have come up with? If your portfolio answers ‘yes’ to these questions, then employers will have a reason to hire you specifically over all the other candidates.

Interviews are where you prove you are switched on

You’ve landed an interview: your dream of becoming a journalist is just one step away. By the time you reach interview, the editor is usually asking a more practical question: could I trust this person in a newsroom? You should expect to be tested on your grasp of the news, your judgement, and your ability to develop ideas under pressure.

In practical terms, that means arriving at your interview with two or three fresh story ideas in your back pocket, an informed view of what the publication is doing well, and a clear sense of how you would go about reporting something.

If they ask how you would develop a lead on a story about the local economy, do not say you would ‘speak to businesses’. Say which businesses and why. Say what documents you would check. Say what the follow-up might be if the first line of reporting stood up.

That level of specificity is reassuring to editors because it suggests they would not need to drag the story out of you with a fishing rod.

The best applications show that you would be useful

That, really, is the thread running through all of this. The strongest applicants make an editor’s life feel easier.

They have ideas, they understand the audience, and they know the publication they are applying to. They sound like people who would notice details others wouldn’t, sniff out an interesting story, and file clean copy before the deadline becomes a problem.

Editors are not necessarily looking for the finished article; they want someone who already has the habits of a reporter – curiosity, initiative, and a willingness to get stuck into the unglamorous work as well as the flashy stuff.

Experience a Career in Journalism

If you’re interested in a career in digital or broadcast journalism, take a look at Dukes Plus’s incredible Young Media Manager Summer Experience, an immersion into the career of a media professional for ages 15-18.

During this summer school, students:

• Step inside a real news studio to present a mock broadcast
• Manage comms in a simulated PR crisis
• Design a social media strategy for a public figure
• Meet top journalists, publicists, and media strategists

Learn more about the Young Media Manager Summer Experience or book your place today.