Non fiction writing?

[Paran]

I'm still a college student hoping to work in journalism.
I am mainly interested in long-form journalism, or literary non-fiction, and have also taken some creative writing courses to improve my writing as well, on top of reading anthing I can find by well known authors/journalists.
But my profesor is teling me that I need to first focus on writing/mastering straight news, since if I apply and get hired by any newspaper/magazine, that is what I'll be doing for the first few years.
Now, I am currently in S.Korea, so things may be a little different here. But I am thinking of going on exchange to further pursue my studies. Is he right in advising me to work on straight reporting first?

thank you

[lee_stevens]

Hi

By straight news, I guess you mean hard news reporting? Any form of journalism is tough to get into but I agree with your professor. When starting out, you'll find it easier to get a job reporting on hard news than you will on non-fiction writing. That said, getting a position working in any aspect of journalism is by no means easy. Persistence and determination is crucial.