Five tips for journalists who want to work in TV news

1. Know that many, many journalists want to become TV anchors. Fame and high salaries are just a few reasons why. Many will try, but few will succeed. Not succeeding doesn’t mean you are a bad journalist. “We can’t work without our news writers!

2. Get educated. TV Anchors must be knowledgeable about history and politics. No one expects anchors to be political analysts, but they must be informed about key issues. Aljazeera has a research center that prepares in-depth papers for the team, since most of anchors don't have time to do it themselves.

3. Be patient. Becoming a TV anchor, either for news or talk shows, requires lots of training and hard work. Being a TV anchor will come after years of working in journalism, and lots of training is required. If you are expecting it at the beginning of your carrier (or even at the mid-way point), then expect a rude awakening and frustration.

4. No one is above training. In a rapidly-evolving industry like media, there is no one point that a TV Anchor can confidently say, "I’m good enough and don’t need more training."

5. Feel the news. The news should be told--not read. This is an essential skill journalists have to learn. You can’t smile while you reading news about an airplane crash. Most of the skills anchors need can be learned by training, some of them required more in-depth training (reading tones, breathing technique) but others come from within, like expressing feelings.

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