Axel Serenity posted:

Gotta start somewhere.

In all seriousness, traditional print journalism is still pretty heavily set in old ways. Start at a small paper -> work towards a larger venue. The internet and blogging has changed some of that since you can find good writers by surfing around the net a bit, but then you run into the problem of people who are good writers but not necessarily good journalists (see Gaming "news" in its current state).

Sometimes working for a smaller paper shows you know how to handle reporting crime, business, politics, and a variety of other things you might be assigned while still remaining objective and without risking a major company's credentials in a national spotlight. Keep in mind, most of the big names in National Geographic's photographer pool started by working together at tiny-rear end regional papers in Kansas and Nebraska.

Big News like CNN or AlJazeera aren't going to hire some random blogger unless they are extremely talented. They still want reporters that have shown they can do this on a daily basis and not just on big Feature stories.