Nigerian freelancer Linus Unah who studied mass communications at the University of Nigeria was last December named the Journalist of the month of the International Journalists Network. In an interview on the network’s website, he offered his advice for young journalists.
The key is to keep knocking on doors and [to] never get tired. It’s really hard but you have to be passionate about what you’re doing. The pay might not be good, but with passion, you’ll always be driven to tell stories that matter.
Sometimes you fail, sometimes things don’t work out as you planned, but you have to keep pushing. It helps to network with people around you. Don’t work in isolation. Look at people around you.
Ask questions. Network. Get contacts. The more contacts you have the more useful you become for the beat or area you’re covering.
Some of the stories that I’ve done come from conversations with people I meet or the places I go to. I just sit down and get to know them. Learn to be someone that is willing to talk to people.
You have to be happy to talk to people because that way you will understand the problems afflicting them, and they will become very open so that they will tell you almost everything about their lives and about their problems.
[Opportunities also] really help a lot, and journalists should put much more effort towards [them]. I’m saying that because I really don’t apply for opportunities.
Some of the forms are too long and the time you invest in filling out those forms you could put into a very quick short story. But we should really find time to put effort into those kinds of things. Because in the end, when it comes out and we’re successful, we’ll really be happy that we applied for it.
