Final Draft

Journalism Is Almost Anything

Every person may have a different meaning of what journalism is.

By: Montana Stephens

Journalism is not something that can necessarily 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.

A class of students most being a Communications major 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 these students were brought together what matters is what came from the semester class. 

Vic Wilbur a Communication and English double major student 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 are 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 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 how Jack Allsopp, a fellow Communication major, views journalism. 

“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. 

Along with Jack, a fellow Communication major student, Harry Wardwell has learned to define journalism over this semester. 

“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.”

Harry knows that the point of journalism is to get information out to inform the public of what is happening or what happened. Ravin Davis a Neuroscience major in a minor in writing looks at journalism differently than Harry and a little like Jack. 

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.”

Ravin sees the emotion and creativity that is created and formed through journalism. 

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.”

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.” 

Along with being able to have an interview with someone and taking the story in the direction of the information there are other key points that should be kept in mind. 

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 adds on, “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 wise to take the advice each one of these students has given because they have gone through the vigorous writing process of what it means to be a journalist. They have learned from their mistakes and have gotten better throughout the semester. 

Not only have they all gained more knowledge of what journalism is and are able to give advice to new journalists. Each one of these students will take something away from being in the Intro to Journalism class. 

Vic is taking away from this class being able to approach people, having a backup plan, and being able to adapt. She mentions having a source fall through and having to do something else has taught her to always have a backup plan. 

She also made it an important point being able to adapt, “That can be like for anything in life. Especially right now, everything is changing, articles about the coronavirus they constantly have to update them because there’s more and more information.”

Jack is leaving the class more confident in his interviewing skills and knowing what it means to be a journalist. He knows what he needs to prepare before interviews in order to succeed. Jack knows that the most important information should be at the beginning of an article to ensure the reader wants to keep reading. 

Creating a story is one of the main points Jack is going to be taking from this class. “Storytelling is everything. Crafting a story is hard but extremely rewarding when the

narrative becomes engaging, your voice comes out of the paper and the read becomes easy and effortless.”

Not only has Harry developed respect for news crew and journalists he is taking away the “importance f acquiring reliable information.” He shines light on the fact, “A story can’t be written on something that may or may not be true.”

Ravin is one person that knows detail and feedback is everything being a Neuroscience major. The big idea she is taking from this class is the workshops. 

“The workshopping model was much more productive and authentic. I will always encourage a similar model to that moving forward.” She feels the feedback from the workshops is actually genuine compared to just peer review. 

Intro to Journalism has taught students what journalism is, enabled them to advise incoming journalists, and be able to take away factors that will help them later in life.