Starting at the Bottom

When you prepare to start your first journalism career, keep in mind you might not experience the excitment and rush of adrenaline you were hoping to.

A starting career in journalism is often far from glamourous and looks more like the bottom of the food chain, even when for the biggest names in journalism.

Top journalist and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for example, had a rough start to his later very successful career. Cooper's first job was a fact-checker for Channel One, a network who provided news to schools around the country.

Cooper soon became bored with his desk job and after being unable to obtain an interview with any major news network, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

With the help of a friend, Cooper forged a fake press pass and flew to Myanmar, Vietnam. Here he covered student riots that had taken place against the Burmese government. This coverage was later picked up by Channel One and aired, thus leading to Cooper's gradual climb up the food chain.

Anchor Katie Couric also had a slow start to her career. Her first job, an assistant at ABC, allowed her to do no more than brew coffee, answer phones, and make sandwiches for the network's anchors.

Couric then left ABC to work as a field reporter for the Cable News Network but was later released because a CNN executive found her "squeaky" voice to be annoying.

These two famous journalists show that while often you have to start at the bottom, hard work and overcoming obstacles like rejection usually will pay off in a successful career that you enjoy.

Journalists must have a true passion for what they do, and a dream that they are not willing to let go of without a fight. They must prove to themselves and to others that they have the ability to be a successful journalist.

For more information on how Anderson Cooper and Katie Couric climbed to success, visit the links on their names above.

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