When I left the Navy nearly two decades ago, I thought I was ready for a journalism career. I had a journalism degree and years of experience producing stories about the military in video, radio, photo and print. I had even built a strong portfolio during my military service. But when I returned to civilian life, I applied to dozens of newsrooms — and didn’t get a single interview.
It was a rough awakening.
Eventually, through freelancing, a lot of hustle, and a little luck, I built a journalism career I’m proud of. I’ve reported for The New York Times, The Associated Press, and others, covering conflict and national security in places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. But I never forgot how hard it was to break into the field and how invisible veterans seem to be in our country’s newsrooms.
That’s why I co-founded Military Veterans in Journalism (MVJ): to make sure the next generation of veterans doesn’t face the same closed doors I did. And it’s why today, I’m proud to share the results of a year-long research project, Bridge the Divide — our first-ever deep dive into what’s actually happening to veterans who try to enter the journalism industry.
Our findings are both unsurprising and concerning.
While veterans bring valuable skills — discipline, adaptability, leadership, resilience — they remain dramatically underrepresented in journalism. While vets make up about 7% of the nation’s population, they only represent about 3-4% of journalists in newsrooms across the nation.
But it’s not just a numbers problem. It’s a cultural one.
In collaboration with the University of Alabama Veterans and Media Lab, we conducted multiple surveys and focus groups with veterans and newsroom hiring managers. We found that veterans face widespread stereotyping and misunderstanding.
Our lead researcher Rich Dolan, an Army vet and former journalist, heard from one vet about how a newsroom editor assumed they had a plethora of contacts of suicidal veterans to help source a story.
Forty percent of the veterans we interviewed are no longer working in journalism. Many said they loved the craft but couldn’t endure the cultural mismatch or the lack of opportunities.
Hiring managers acknowledged to our researchers that they don’t always know how to recognize the skills veterans bring. They noted that veterans often struggle to advocate for themselves in job interviews, because self-promotion feels foreign after years of military service focused on team success. Others admitted that newsroom leaders aren’t trained to see the potential in veteran candidates, and sometimes overlook them entirely.
This is a huge loss — not just for veterans, but for journalism itself.
Veterans bring vital skills that every newsroom needs: the ability to work under pressure, to navigate chaos, to stay calm in crisis. They know how to lead and how to take feedback. Many, like me, also have firsthand knowledge of conflict, national security, and the human costs of war — topics the media covers, but too often without the depth of real experience.
Veterans are also citizens from every walk of American life: every race, religion, political belief, and background. Including veterans in journalism isn’t just good for coverage of military affairs. It’s good for every beat, from politics to public health to local news. Veterans offer unique perspectives shaped by service, sacrifice, and leadership — qualities we need in our nation’s storytellers.
At MVJ, we’re already working to bridge this divide. With support from organizations like the Knight Foundation and the Ford Foundation, we’ve created mentorship programs, fellowships, workshops, and direct hiring pipelines into major newsrooms. We are also working to improve the quality of military and disability reporting. We believe in empowering veterans — not just to land jobs, but to thrive in journalism careers.
But we can’t do it alone. Newsrooms need to step up.
If you work in a newsroom, here’s where you can start:
- Teach your hiring managers about military experience — and how it translates directly to journalism skills.
- Create outreach programs and fellowships for veterans, the same way many outlets have programs for other underrepresented groups.
- Offer flexible entry points like part-time or freelance gigs that can help veterans balance transition challenges.
- Train your staff to understand military culture, not just through stereotypes, but with real nuance and respect.
- Highlight the veterans already in your newsroom — show that there’s a place for those voices to be heard and valued.
I’m proud of the work we’ve done with Bridge the Divide — but it’s just the beginning.
We owe it to our fellow news consumers and our industry to make journalism truly representative of the country it serves. That means recruiting, hiring, and supporting more veterans in America’s newsrooms. Journalism needs us.
Zack Baddorf is the co-founder of Military Veterans in Journalism.
