The Internet and rise of social media platforms has changed the role of the journalist. The best journalism and investigative reporting is more important than ever, particularly with concerns over fake news. People are now increasingly accessing their news through digital media and journalists are adapting their role to this new reality.

The biggest employers of journalists in Ireland are newspapers, TV stations and radio, but among the fastest growing sources of journalism employment are online only news organisations, where news is created in written or video format and distributed via apps, websites and social media.

This means that journalist's jobs are becoming more complicated; now they need to be comfortable not only with writing but also with speaking in front of a camera, recording audio and working to shorter deadlines. 

Journalism covers every element of society, if there’s an activity people are interested in then a journalist is covering it, whether it be music, literature, farming or any other aspect of our culture and economy.

Different forms of journalism include; advocacy journalism, broadcast journalism, investigative journalism and tabloid journalism.  

Having your finger on the pulse of up to the minute information is key and in some environments churning out content in a short space of time is crucial. Developing social media profiles is a feature of many of their jobs, building name recognition as a way to promote their work.

Rather than buying newspapers, social media platforms are the preferred platform accessed by millions worldwide daily as a source of news and articles. Journalists must now meet the challenge of creating content with that in mind. 

Routes into journalism are changing. Tenacity is needed to get your foot into the door and internships are almost a necessity. You will likely need to spend some time working as a freelancer, research assistant or sub editor as you build experience.