Whenever someone finds out that I plan on majoring in journalism I always receive one of three responses:
1) Oh wow, that’s really neat!
2) Oh cool…what exactly is journalism?
or my personal favorite…
3) Is that like when you write in journals and stuff?
Not quite, my friend. But let me tell you what it is.
Journalism is a way to inform the public of what is going on in the world. There are different forms of journalism, such as broadcast, print, and online. Newspapers, magazines, and television news broadcasts are all examples of ways the media reaches out to the public.
So all you have to do is sit down and throw together a few paragraphs and then you’re done, right? Wrong. Journalism can be quite complicated sometimes. You have to make sure everything you say is not only 100% true, but also ethical. And that can be very difficult sometimes.
So what makes a journalist? Yes, many people practice journalism as a career, but are they the only ones?
With each passing day, the media and technology are evolving more and more, making it easier for people to allow their voices to be heard. Because of this, almost everyone has some means of informing the public, just as journalists do. Maybe you aren’t on TV or don’t have an article in a newspaper, but you still have ways to spread information, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. So as long as that information is both true and ethical, wouldn’t that make you a journalist as well? I believe so.
So then wouldn’t that make us all journalists? In a way, yes. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to identify between what is true and what is not. Therefore, we have to try even harder to gain credibility from the public, and once we gain that credibility we have to keep it. And how do we do that? Yes, by making sure what we post is true and ethical.
So in a nutshell, we all have the potential to become journalists as long as we are willing to take on the responsibilities that come with it and put the public first before searching for our own fame and attention.
