Note to budding journalists

I recently wrote an arts feature and sent it to over 30 newspapers.

It was a good story, or so I thought, about the 'selling out' of Berlin's sub culture and the closure of the squat-turned art house Tacheles. I had a very interesting interview from the art house, an interview with the bank who were getting the place closed down and an interview with the mayor's office who wanted the art house to stay.

Several people I know read the story and said they found it really interesting. Okay, I know that friends have to say that, but as a journalist with more than 10 years experience, I really thought it was a good story.

As the number of emails in my sent box steadily grew, I was left scratching my head as to what could have possibly gone wrong. Granted, this was my first contact with a lot of these papers, but come on folks, from the 30 newspapers from England, Ireland, Australia, US, Canada... surely someone must like it! No?

After spending copious amounts of hard cash ringing the respective newspapers on my mobile to ask if they liked my story proposal, a few told me they only use their one correspondent for that particular city. This struck me as a shame to lose out on stories because of a loyalty to just one journalist. Wouldn't this put a dent in the whole freedom of press ideal?

In the end I was forced to shrug my shoulders and admit that this is simply the nature of journalism in the year 2010. With local papers around the UK closing at an alarming rate and nationals cutting back on staff, I know that there are many more journalists like me doing the rounds with more than interesting stories, just looking for someone, anyone, to take them.

I have more than 10 years experience as a journalist but much of that time has consisted of me working for free – for the sheer privilege of getting my name into print. My many work experience stints early on in my career, consisted of me moonlighting as a bar maid by night and going to work the following morning for a full days slog for me, and some nice free labour for the newspaper.

To find myself turning once again to the student journalism circuit to keep my CV ticking over, is a sad day indeed. And yet every year thousands of fresh faced hopeful journalists enter the job market, eager for a slice of the exciting career of their dreams.

If I could dish out any words of wisdom, I'd have to say 'fly far, young journalists' and a very general, 'don't do it!' True, I love what I do, but journalism can be a cut throat, soul destroying profession full of rejections and let downs.

On top of that you need to be rich... very rich to see your career take off. Speaking for myself, those first few years spent working for free left me massively in debt – a debt which at the age of 30, I've only just managed to repay.

Being one of the many journalists who was recently made redundant, I now find myself back in the 'I'll do anything for free' type of mindset. This time around I'm fortunate to have the support of an understanding boyfriend who wants to see me succeed but without this cushion I'd have been back behind the bar long ago.

Journalism is steadily becoming a profession only the wealthy can afford to indulge in. It takes a whole lot of money to give your time for free. And if you don't know of anyone living in the places you need to be like London, you will need to fork out for rent on top of living expenses. For me at least, the only way to pay for these things was often with many a credit card.

It seems sad to witness the nation's press being slowly taken over by society's most privileged. What will the ramifications of this be for freedom of the press that democracy so tentatively hinges on?

Journalism certainly isn't a career where the saying applies that if you really, really want something, then if you work really, really hard and have a deep passion for what you do, you will succeed. This just isn't the case in the field of journalism. In this profession, if you really, really want something, you need to be really, really rich, own a home in London, have friends in high places, an uber-resilient spirit and the ability to shrug your shoulder when after 10 years of floundering, you're right back to square one.