In a world ruled by the media, it’s no surprise that the journalism market is expanding. So, as a 16 year old aspiring journalist, I took a look around the internet to see what’s out there for teens who just want to write...
Blogging seems to be the most obvious answer: it has no boundaries and it’s free. With sites such as blog spot and MySpace being available to everyone, many teens are seeing it as the easiest way to express their views and publish their articles on the internet. However these sites have their faults:
• The number of people reading your articles will be very limited – namely just family and friends
• Once your work has been published anyone who does happen to read it can steal your work
• Anyone can read what you write – and I mean anyone
• It’s not really something you can put on a CV; “I’ve blogged on MySpace” doesn’t really count as work experience in the real world.
Work experience is perhaps the most advised option. The majority of universities running journalism degrees ask about work experience, as do all job applications, so getting involved with a local publication is highly recommended. This is likely to be unpaid, but there may be perks as to free tickets to local events. However, finding a company willing to publish articles by someone under 18 is harder than one would think...
A brief search for “under 18 journalism” on Google will provide you with plenty of opportunities for websites run solely for teenagers to publish their articles. However, some time later it becomes apparent that these opportunities are only available in the US and that, once the “pages from the UK” button is selected, the results are far less amiable. In fact, one of the top links is to a site that states it is “not intended for readers or contributors under 18 years of age”. Many top journalism sites read similarly, with websites that are practically begging for articles on local news refusing to accept articles by under 18s regardless.
It’s not money that teen journalists are interested in; they merely want the experience of writing something to an audience wider than the friends they force their blogs upon. The UK needs to provide a gateway for teenagers aspiring to journalism. Websites such as myvillage.com create opportunities by requesting specific articles for their website, yet they – like everyone else – decline the help from teenagers because “we may want you to write about pubs and drinking and all sorts of stuff, and even though we know you no doubt are very knowledgeable about such things, we have to keep things legal!” It’s fair enough that we can’t write about pubs and drinking but surely there are a lot more stories in this country than those about alcohol. Sadly lines as this are echoed throughout the internet and so it remains that there is no outlet for teenage journalists who wish to be published.
There is one website that does open its doors to teenage writers; youngwriterssociety.com is a site designed for young people to post writing that they’ve been working on. However only a small section is devoted to non-fiction writing and there aren’t any links between that site and journalism publications. So, once again, the search have I undertaken has hit a dead end.
At school, students are being pressured to make decisions about careers, yet it appears that the journalism industry is yet to catch on that talented writers are losing interest as opportunities simply aren’t being offered. Without these opportunities young people are being denied the chance to develop their writing, get published and to ultimately evolve into more experienced writers.
