Journalism comes in many forms. The best known are investigative, sports, ambush, and gonzo journalism, and there are science, celebrity, and community journalism as well. Each one gathers information in its own way, so pick the forms that interest you most or that best match your skills.
Not everyone who dreams of making a living from writing wants to write novels, short stories, or other kinds of literature. And not everyone who prefers facts to fiction wants to write science papers. Many of them are drawn to the investigative kind of writing: journalism.
Newspapers and magazines are full of articles, reports, and revelations published by journalists. But not every article is the same, just as not every journalist is the same. Journalists differ in their writing style and in their preferred field, and also in the way they work.
If you want to become a journalist, this article tells you how each form gathers information and how its work is structured. Learn about the different forms, or genres, of journalism, and pick the ones that interest you most or that you think you have the best skills for.
Investigative journalism
An investigative journalist does one thing above all: investigate. The topics can range from economics to political corruption, from crime to reports about a certain country or social class. A journalist can spend weeks, months, or even years investigating a story and preparing the report. Investigative journalism is most common in newspapers and news agencies, and among freelance journalists.
Investigative journalists use many sources and methods:
- Legal documents, government reports, and official records
- Public reports and large databases
- Interviews with known, well-known, and anonymous sources
Sports journalism
As sports have grown in importance, sports journalism has gained more and more prestige in the world of journalism. Almost every newspaper has a sports section, and whole magazines report on nothing but sports events and athletes.
Some sports journalism could be called investigative as well: longer, in-depth reports are based on the same kind of research that "real" investigative journalists do. Mostly, however, sports journalism means recapping an event or a game. On radio and television, it also includes live commentary on a game as it happens.
Ambush journalism
Ambush journalism is a tactic used often, but by no means only, by television journalists. This aggressive kind of interviewing means questioning, and often pressuring, people who do not want to be interviewed, whether they are politicians, experts in their field, or eyewitnesses.
Many other journalists criticize ambush journalism for its unethical methods. Journalists who use it are often accused of valuing a sensational story more than ethics or proper research. Others defend it as the only way to get a comment from certain people in certain situations.
Gonzo journalism
The name may sound strange, but the idea behind gonzo journalism is quickly explained. The journalist gathers information mostly through first-hand experience. The article is mostly written in the first person, and it revolves around the journalist's own experiences, thoughts, and opinions. The American writer Hunter S. Thompson is its best-known example.
Newspapers publish this personal kind of journalism less often. You find gonzo journalism more often in magazines and online, and it makes heavy use of sarcasm, humor, self-mockery, and exaggeration.
Other genres
- Science journalism reports on findings in science and makes them understandable to a broad public.
- Celebrity journalism reports on celebrities and other well-known people. It often involves gossip, statements from the "stars" themselves, and comments from "experts" on the topic in question, for example drug abuse.
- Community journalism can take any of the forms above. What sets it apart is its strong local focus.
Finding your genre
You may already know which genre suits you best, or you may only find out by giving several of them a fair try. You also do not have to choose one genre and stick to it forever. Variations, mixtures, and new forms of journalism are just as common as the genres described above. If you like to argue a point, an opinion piece is one more form to try.
What all of them have in common is that they should inform or entertain the public, or both, without spreading false information. Every journalist has their own writing style, which shapes the genre as much as the methods used to gather information.
Whatever the genre, a journalist's text must be correct in two ways: in the facts it states, and in its grammar and spelling. Careful research takes care of the first, and the Spell Checker helps with the second.