Medical journalism
This page outlines opportunities in medical journalism, including the skills you will need and how to maximise your chances of getting in.
What opportunities are there?
- there are opportunities in press, radio, television and on-line journalism
- there is fierce competition (from people from both media and medical backgrounds) for a limited number of posts
- many doctors take on these roles as an addition, rather than an alternative to their clinical work
- there are benefits to working as a clinician as well as a freelance medical journalist; you can maintain professional credibility and recognition as well as keeping your knowledge up to date by researching and writing news articles and features
What skills and qualities do I need?
You need to be able to write clearly and quickly, and adapt your style to suit a variety of publications. Ways to develop these skills include:
- getting research papers published
- writing articles for medical journals
- copy-writing or journalism courses