Journalism is Anything to Everyone
One word can mean many different things to various people.
By: Montana Stephens
Journalism is not something that can be defined as being one thing to every person. However, it may be something that can be taught to establish a common ground. Jesse Miller’s Intro to Journalism class has enlightened students into what it means to be a journalist.
Students from different majors came together to learn more about being a journalist. Whether it be because a communication class was required for their major or it was the only class they had time for; It does not matter how this class was brought together what matters is what came from the semester course.
One student, Jack Allsopp, a Communications major has learned a lot from taking this class and is going to take away more than just 3 credits.
Jack feels, “Journalism is the art of collecting information from the world and outputting it into an engaging and informative story. It’s how to properly and factually pass information to people that need that information. Journalism is also how we keep people in positions of power in check with the public.”
This is something Jack learned over the course of the semester. Jack learned to have a deeper understanding of what journalism is and the amount of work that goes into the making of a story from taking the Intro to Journalism class.
Vic Wilbur who also has a Communication major along with doubling in an English major has developed a new understanding of what journalism is throughout the course of the class.
“Don’t get a closed idea of what journalism is because even from trying to define it in class even if you say one definition there is also other things you could include when you’re writing something.”
Vic understands that while you may be thinking of a few things of what journalism is there are always other definitions and tidbits that could be included within the meaning of journalism.
For instance something that could be added to the meaning of journalism as defined by Vic could be fellow Communication major, Harry Wardwell’s definition of what journalism means.
“I would describe journalism as an earpiece to the world for the public. A journalist’s duty is to keep the people informed, be it of controversial or everyday events. It’s an art form.”
Or if Vic feels that Harry’s definition of what journalism still does not fully complete the definition then she may feel that Ravin Davis’ definition may help, she is a Neuroscience major with a minor in writing.
Ravin sees “Journalism is more than a way of documenting a point in time. It takes a variety of observation types and storytelling methods to derive the feelings and emotions that surround a story or event. It should capture an audience and make them feel like they were present in the moment.”
*picture here*
There are different perspectives of what journalism is, just four people see it differently, just imagine what hundreds if not thousands think what journalism is.
From these various definitions comes wisdom into letting new journalists into secrets of what they should do when starting off.
Jack and Vic both see that it is important to have an open mind when being a journalist and when interviewing someone.
Jack advises having an open mind means, “To look at the world and understand that there are stories everywhere and the best ones come from taking risks and taking chances in your own life. There are fascinating people everywhere, and you’d be surprised how far a good conversation with someone you don’t know well can take you.”
Whereas, Vic advises an open mind means, “Keeping an open mind about everything especially when you’re interviewing someone. If you have a specific idea in mind and only focus your questions on that then you could lose the possibility of finding something else that was way more interesting than what you were talking about just from having the conversation.”
Harry and Ravin have different points that new journalists should know.
Harry feels that it is important to know, “One should remember the audience. It’s difficult in a field like journalism where there is not a direct line between the writer and reader. Make something informative that people will also enjoy reading.”
Ravin thinking on the creative side advises, “Don’t be afraid to write creatively. Maintain professionalism, but it’s the pieces in which the journalists’ voice shines through that catch the most attention. Digest feedback even if you disagree and, ultimately edit to improve.”
It is important to take advice from people such as these four students who have taken a journalism class such as Intro to Journalism. They have gone through the vigorous process of choosing a topic, hunting and gathering information, forming it all to make some sense, and getting feedback from fellow peers to ensure that the paper is written as well as possible.
