Is journalism the right career for you?

Perhaps this booklet can help you decide. The group that put it together, from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, hopes it also will encourage bright young people from all sorts of backgrounds to chose newspaper work.

On the following pages you’ll find practical advice and straight answers to questions students often ask. You’ll also meet 18 fascinating people who work for newspapers of all sizes. Their essays reveal a lot about the life of today’s journalist.

It’s a wonderful life, most journalists discover. You get paid to do what other folks do for pleasure: read; write; travel; meet all kinds of people; learn a lot about things that interest you.

It’s true that newspaper work can be hard, sometimes tedious. But there’s this payoff: It’s work that matters. Newspapers make a difference.

-- from the book's "Note from the editor" by former Charlotte Observer editor and chair of the ASNE Education for Journalism Committee Jennie Buckner.

Click here for the Why Choose Journalism? main page.