Here’s the list for the us https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_televi...
That can be turned into additional income through book deals, which in turn can be turned into movie deals, etc.
Also makes me wonder about my local news celebrities. But then my most easily brought to mind is a weather forecaster in a beautiful climate...
Most likely connections (and talent). They have also almost certainly done some journalism work, even if only freelance and student newspaper, so they have a resume to point to. The more common historical route was to work through a bunch of small market papers as the parent suggests.
>recipe for a very slow to grow or advance career
Not sure why--at least more than journalism generally. If I had a choice, I'd get on board the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times early on rather than spend a decade "paying my dues" covering high school sports and whatever else mostly passes for news in a 10,000 person town.
What an asinine remark.
Do you want the work? Do you want to be in the industry at all? Then you take the jobs that are on offer.
Who wouldn't skip to the top if they could? In all other cases, you take the long road, the hard way, the slog, and tough it out because you're made of thick skin, stern stuff, and strong character. You don't bail because it's hard.
Leaving aside the question of whether, say, Google is actually a great place to work or not, I'd say more or less the same thing to a would-be software developer who didn't want a job in the field unless they could get a top-paying position at Google HQ.
When I started out, small market media outlets would find ways to pay recent J-school graduates sub-minimum wage and make them feel grateful to even get that. A surprising number of journalists, even TV news anchors, will have second jobs in small markets.
A place that tried to recruit me in Indiana wanted me to report the news in the morning, then sell advertising for the news in the afternoon, and half of my pay would be sales commissions. Naturally, I turned it down. I dated a newspaper reporter who did her reporting second shift, then worked third shift at a small factory.
Once you get to a medium-sized market (30 and up), you can make enough to survive, if you don't have a lot of debt or expectations.
It really wasn't until I got into a top ten market that I was able to keep up enough to stop getting calls from bill collectors. Once I got into a top-five market, then I could live well.
I loved journalism. I loved reporting. I loved telling stories. I hated the pay and the industry and got out.