Why a Journalism Background Helps with Communications

When I was a reporter, every time I sat down for an interview, I had two jobs: find the most compelling angle of the story, and pull out the facts so viewers could make their own assessment. The problem is, most people are giving you their polished version that they rehearsed over and over before the camera started rolling. My job was to find the story underneath. That instinct did not go away when I left the newsroom. Now I just use it on behalf of my clients instead.

What are You Trying to Say?

Kim Fischer Interviewing a Panel on Abuse.

When I was at ABC 4 Utah, I had a producer who understood good news. He knew how to stack a show so one story played into the next. Where he occasionally struggled was writing copy. People have short attention spans. They want to hear exactly what they need to know, then move on. He would write scripts that were 45 seconds to a minute long but a 20 second script was always my goal, so I would cut back his writing regularly. He would actually call me “Edward Scissorhands,” as he held his hands in the air above his cubicle, fingers doing the cutting motion. I know he was annoyed, but thankfully, he’s like a little brother, so he tolerated me.

That experience made me really good at honing in on the information that mattered. The rest was noise. What were we trying to say? That is the same question I now ask with every client before we begin our work together.

For example, a few weeks ago a founder sent me her company’s proposal. She has been doing sales tax auditing in Texas for 22 years. Her firm has helped government districts recover millions of dollars they were legally owed but not collecting. Her jargon-filled proposal was trying to be impressive but it was just a mess.

I called her and asked her my favorite question: What are you trying to say? That you help businesses find their money and get it back?

She paused, almost shocked. “Well, yeah. I never thought about it like that.”

That is what happens when someone spends years inside their own expertise and loses track of what it sounds like from the outside. My job is to go find it.

What a Journalism Background Trains You to Do

The reason a journalism background matters for this work is not that journalists are better writers, although scribbling in my reporter’s notebook at a breaking news scene definitely sharpened my skills. Most communications consultants are trained to advocate for a message while journalists are trained to interrogate it. We ask the questions the people inside the building are too close to ask.

What This Means If You Are Working on Your Message

If you are working with a communications partner and they have never pushed back on the story you came in with, that is worth examining. I hate to say it, but we should be a little annoying. The best communications work starts by asking if you have the story that's actually worth telling.

Here's a useful test: explain what you do to someone who has no connection to your industry. If they look at you blankly, that means you've lost them. That moment is more useful than any messaging document.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does a journalism background translate to communications consulting?

Journalism and communications strategy require the same core skills: finding the real story, making it clear to an audience with no prior context, and asking the question that cuts through the version being presented. The difference is that a journalist uses those skills to report on an organization. A communications strategist uses them to help an organization tell its own story more clearly.

Is communications consulting just a career pivot from journalism?

Not if you look at what the work actually requires. Both disciplines are fundamentally about clarity and truth. A journalist who has spent years finding the story underneath the story, writing for general audiences under deadline, and asking executives the questions they least want to answer is exceptionally well-prepared for communications strategy work.

What does a journalist know about business communication that others do not?

What it looks like from the outside. Journalists spend their careers observing how organizations communicate with people who are not already invested in them. They see what lands and what does not. They know the difference between a story that holds attention and one that loses it in the first paragraph. Most communications consultants are trained to advocate for a message. Journalists are trained to interrogate it.

It is also worth saying: companies that only hire communications help from within their own industry may be missing their secret weapon. Unfamiliarity is an asset. Someone who does not already know your field asks the questions your customers are actually asking. They are not fooled by the insider language. They will not let you hide behind it.

Why do executives struggle to explain what they do clearly?

Usually because they are too close to it. When you have spent years building something, the vocabulary of that work becomes natural to you and invisible to everyone else. What reads as clear to an insider reads as jargon to an audience that has not lived inside the problem. The fix is not always better writing. It is having someone stand on the outside and tell you where the story breaks.

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About the Author

Kim Fischer is a strategic communications consultant and Fractional CCO with 16 years of experience in journalism and nearly a decade working with founders, executives, and leadership teams. She helps leaders understand how to talk about what they do, whether that means writing messaging, sharpening a pitch deck, or finding the story that was buried in the one they already had. She is based in Dallas-Fort Worth and works with clients across the country.