Becoming a Newspaper Freelancer

How to Find Work as a Correspondent with the Local Newspaper

Jan 13, 2008 Lucinda Gunnin

A good way for most freelancers to enhance their writing and their resumes is via writing for their local newspapers. Here are some suggestions for getting the job.

Writing for the local newspaper can be very rewarding and a great way to boost your resume, but getting the opportunity is never easy. Here are some easy tips for journalistic writing and getting more freelancing opportunities.

First, read the paper. This may seem obvious, but if you have never read a publication, you may make an utter fool of yourself in the query. The old standby example of this that every journalism graduate has heard involves a photographer querying the Wall Street Journal. At the time, the Wall Street Journal never used photographs, relying on sketches and charts as its form of illustration. There might not have been a job for him anyway, but the lack of information made the photographer look unemployed and foolish.

Second, study the writing style. If you have never written for a news organization before, learn the style. Be able to discuss the five Ws intelligently and know that a reporter almost always writes in the third person. Direct address is right out and contractions are generally unacceptable. To paraphrase Mark Twain, you should also know that city works just as well as metropolis.

Newspapers don’t want literary masterpieces filled with formal, stilted language. They want something everyone is comfortable reading over breakfast.

Third, understand the newspaper’s target market. Many papers are still very specialized in the community that they serve and trying to sell a conservative religious piece to any of the family of alternative newspapers nation-wide would result in that still unemployed and foolish problem discussed earlier. Likewise, many small town papers do not want you to write like the New York Times. They want stories about chicken dinners at the fire station and special programs at the local church.

Writing the query. Once you have mastered the first three steps, read the paper again. If it’s a daily read a couple weeks’ issues. If it’s a weekly, read at least a month’s worth of papers. This time you are looking for story ideas. If you live in this community, then you know what is important to people who live here. Is the newspaper writing about things that matter to you or your neighbors? If not, find out why not?

Better yet, do some initial research and write a proposal for the local editor. Be sure to check ahead of time and find out what editor to send your query to. This may depend on the type of project you are proposing or there may be one editor who handles all correspondent submissions. Generally, features, also known as human interest stories, will go to a features or lifestyles editor and news will go to either a news editor or city editor.

When you make your query to the newspaper, be sure to include your background and make sure that you explain why you would be the appropriate person to write the story. As with any other writing inquiry, make sure that your query grabs attention and tells the editor why you would be better than any of their staff writers at doing this project. You should also include a potential list of sources and a time frame indicating how long the project would take. You may also increase your chances for a sale by including ideas on how to package your story, i.e. what photographs or other artwork can be used to make the story more visually appealing.

The copyright of the article Becoming a Newspaper Freelancer in Newspaper Publishing is owned by Lucinda Gunnin. Permission to republish Becoming a Newspaper Freelancer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.