COVID-19 has hit our world real hard and things are fast falling apart. Apart from this, economic distress, joblessness, insecurity, bad leadership, etc, are now the lot of both developed and developing countries.
So, in the name of survival, companies are firing, while few are hiring. There is down-sizing, right-sizing, folding up, or relocations online or offline for most companies.
For workers in the private and public sector, these tumultuous times are bad as some sacked workers have now join the already saturated labour market.
In Nigeria, where the economy is in distress couple with insecurity from all fronts, job seekers are in for a raw deal.
Like other profession, the media is in bad shape and media owners are hustling for survival. Journalists are not being paid for months or even years.
Most media houses have fired some of their workers, journalists inclusive, while those who survived now depend on the social media and other online platforms to source for stories.
Also, newspapers are shrinking by the day, adverts not flowing in, while the daily running costs for hardcopies are rather high.
In the midst of these tumultuous times, a distress journalists need to survive beyond collecting brown envelope, Ghana-must-go and doing PR stories.
This is the time when skill, expertise, knowledge, experience come in. It is the time to begin to look at the business side of journalism, the business side of our reporting our beats and jobs that are related to journalism, one way or the other
Though the list is endless, but let’s look at some of the survival jobs to that could earn distress and other journalists some income, no matter how residual.
Freelancing
Freelancing is not only limited to journalism alone. It cuts across other profession. But, a good writer could freelance with newspapers, online news portals, directories, newsletters, radio stations, television stations, etc and earn income.
Do Google check to see the many opportunities online and offline, across the globe.
Editing
A skilled journalist, who is well versed in sub-editing or copy writing, is a potential income earner, any day, anywhere. The person could edit books, newsletters, news features, documentaries, videos, specialized publications for and agreed fee.
Ghost writing
There are lots of people out there who either do not know how to write or do not have the time, mindset and the focus to craft sellable articles for publication. This is where good writers, good journalists are needed to fill this gap.
Blog/website
Get a professional to build a fantastic media or e-commerce blog or website for you. This is where you will write original, value added articles and post them regularly on the site
With time, you will begin to get traffics which will eventually translate to money in the long run. In online journalism, networking, traffics, Google ranking come first before money begins to come in.
Training
There is nothing wrong for a good journalism to establish training school online or offline for aspiring and professional journalists. The social media is a fantastic point to market the school, through networking and link-up.
Private investigator
Who says a crime reporter cannot become a private investigator? I worked for three months as a contract private security officer, after under-going one week training at a security training school here in Lagos.
I am been a crime reporter for about 18 years working for full-time and freelancing for some national newspapers and online news platforms within and outside Nigeria. Today, I know better after working for years as a journalist. A private investigator earns good money.
Research/tracking
This is another opportunity for journalists to earn income. Use Google to track or carry out online and offline jobs for people, groups, and corporate bodies and get paid. It takes time and pains, but it is rewarding for journalists or writers who want to earn extra income.
Photography
Are you a photo-journalist? Good. Use your camera-digital, analogue to make money along the way. Set up a studio and click your way to the top.
Udom is the editor of www.csomedia.com.ng
