Tips and Tricks on How to Become a Better Political Journalist
A depth of knowledge about politics isn’t all you need to become a good journalist in the field.
Journalism is a difficult subject. It has a fashionable and glamorous reputation in terms of its representation in the job-field, but people don’t realise how much stress and anxiety goes into the process of creating news stories, to make sure your topic is recent, and that grammar and punctuation is impeccable. That goes for various kinds of journalism, especially political.
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Political journalism is more than just writing blogs for a publication. It’s all about discovering an interesting angle from a political story. Nobody wants to read a general overview of what Theresa May has said in the Houses of Commons, we want to be compelled by the interesting stuff. Like if Jeremy Corbyn has awkwardly high-fived any of his front-benchers, and how do we perceive that? Follow these tips and I think you will find yourself becoming a better journalist, in no time:
1. Reading news itself
Reading news itself is an important aspect of journalism. It is pointless to call yourself a journalist if you are not enticed by news and consistently reading articles. A good journalist will know what a good story is because they have read them, and stories come in all forms. Online websites, newspapers, magazines, etc. It goes beyond the protocol of having knowledge, but realising what angle will continue to make a political story interesting.
2. Having a life
Having a lively presence in the world is essential, you must live and endure news itself to know what will stand out. Having a creative mind and putting yourself outside your comfort zone is an important technique to grow as a journalist. If you’re not active, this could be detrimental as MP’s and political figures won’t remember you or may potentially not give you their time at all.
3. Talking to people
Talking to people is an integral part of journalism, as it’s essential to offer viewpoints from a variety of people from various demographics. Sources are essential to ensure that a news story is relevant and personalised, and provides an objective (or potentially subjective view, depending on the company you are writing for or angle you take) overview which incorporates an array of different opinions for readers to consider and engage with.
To summarise:
As a journalist, it’s imperative to be ready to write journalism in any frame of mind, excited or sad — you’re still in the mood to write journalism. Make sure that you’re ready to venture out and find news stories. If there is a news story in front of you, you must have the awareness that it is something you can delve in and write about. Similarly, reading and consuming news is a quick way to get ahead with writing political news. If you’re aware of vital details, or see an angle emerging from the story. Be the first to report it!
A good journalist does not necessarily come with experience, but being pro-active and adventurous could help you excite readers through your writing. News may come to you, but you must also move to news. Political news is everywhere and never stops, it comes in local and national forms. I’ve lived in small towns and big cities, and trust me, news is everywhere.
When writing political news, it is important to not stop. A journalistic environment is fast-paced and does not slow itself down for anyone, and that goes for any type of journalism — especially political. It’s a stressful process, but the outcome of a finished piece of journalism you have researched and established is worth it.
If you’d like some further reading on the synergy between politics and journalism. You can read more through this fantastic article by Jonathan Stray:
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