Julianna: Finding a Place in Journalism

Happy summer, everyone! It feels as though the days until the start of the semester are whizzing by. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was writing up features for World Travel Guide in London or spending a weekend in Prague? Now, I’m two months in (and exactly one month to go) at Time Out New York where I’m interning in the travel & guides department. As I prepare for my last year at BU (yikes!), I’m starting to see how past decisions and goals are stringing together into my future. I came to BU knowing that I wanted to pursue print journalism, but was unsure of my direction. Should I write about politics? Music? Or both? And so, along the way I’ve reported on various topics – fashion, concert reviews, neighborhood hard news from a school board meeting to business stories. In the spring I had my “ah-ha” moment at my London internship when I realized that I want to pursue a career in travel, life&styles  journalism.

Just as my future career became a clearer vision I was offered my dream internship at Time Out New York. I’ve been reading and using TONY as a source of NYC recommendations since the beginning of high school. Plus, I read Time Out London religiously in the spring. To have my own desk at my favorite media company feels surreal even if it’s just for three months. I work under one editor who has assigned me to several projects such as fact-checking listings for an NYC guide book and writing up pieces that will be published in the coming weeks. This internship has been a change of pace from previous ones where I was doing extensive reporting and writing. At TONY I’m honing my editorial skills, which will prove vital to my dream job in magazine journalism.

The point of my ramblings is make some suggestions to other aspiring journalists. If you’re looking to pin-point what drives your desire for journalism then work your way through writing about different topics for on-campus publications and consider an internship at a newspaper so you can experience reporting as a trade. It’s okay to be “all over the map” in terms of figuring out your place in journalism because after all this is a vast, ever-changing industry. As the semesters roll on you’ll start to see your role as a student journalist take shape into visions of your ideal beat, company or editor position. My path in journalism at BU isn’t over just yet, but at this point I could already say that it’s been so exciting. So embrace bouts of uncertainty, feel the pressure of deadlines and as always, stay curious.

 

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