What Journalism Means to Me
I started wanting to be a journalist when I was in eighth grade and 13 years old. This was probably because the teacher of the journalism class at my middle school told me I couldn’t be in his class. I was so disappointed that I made it my mission to write for my high school newspaper. I went to a brand-new high school and got to help build the newspaper from the ground up. It was during the three week summer school course that I took to prepare me for actually being on the newspaper staff that I really fell in love with it. I feel in love with the AP style, the design books that we were required to read, the deadlines that made me want to pull my hair out, deciding on a mast head, learning what a mast head was, I fell in love with it all and boy, did I fall hard.
I wrote all throughout high school and continued through college. I’ve been a photographer, a reporter, opinions editor, online editor, editor in chief and am currently arts and entertainment editor. I’ve learned how to write, how to photograph, how not to get hit by a hockey puck while shooting a hockey game, how to encrypt a video to work as a flash video, how to create videos, interview, get over my shyness… I’ve learned so much since I was 13 about the industry and what it means to be a journalist.
To be a journalist is to stand up for those who for some reason or another are not able to have a voice. This can be in news articles exposing some injustice or human interest pieces bringing to light a part of a person that no one else can see. I’ve never had any doubt about wanting to be a journalist.
This blog will follow me. It will keep track of my thoughts and feelings about the news, music, journalism, anything I can think of. It will be my outlet when Im not writing other places. I am going to enjoy writing it and I hope anyone reading it enjoys it as well.
See you on the journey.
Tags: college, editor, growing up, journalism, journey, newspaper, reporters