Philosophy of journalism- first year, semester 2

“Journalism is the first rough draft of history.”

To be a reporter is to constantly challenge yourself. Challenge yourself to find the best story, to find the truth, to find sources.

To be a reporter is to challenge yourself to never settle for ’good enough’  and to always strive to write the best and most inspiring story you can.

To be a reporter is to overcome challenges, when one door closes, another opens.

Challenge.

This is what this semester meant to me.

I never saw myself as ‘news paper’ or ‘hard news’ reporter. To be honest I went into this course with the hope of becoming a writer for a magazine or in my wildest hopes and dreams- a television reporter or radio host.

Yet News Room Practice has been the best and most rewarding subject yet. It has opened my mind up to the possibilities of journalism and sparked my passion for news reporting.

This semester was filled with a new challenge every week that helped me grow in my role as a reporter.

Tracking down stories and sources, experiencing on the scene reporting and learning new and creative ways to write stories- This is what journalism is all about.

Although at first the thought of having to come up with a new idea every week was a bit daunting, I soon learnt that it is really not as scary as it sounds!

However, once my train of thought began to change, I found that stories were everywhere and sometimes found me instead!

The night I drove to Helensburgh to have dinner at a friends house turned out to ultimately be the night that changed it all.

We were just about to sit down to dinner when the phone rings- A house in the new estate had caught fire!

We hurried to the scene to see a crowd of people, all staring up at the flames. It took me a minute or two to register- THIS IS A STORY!

Immediately I began interviewing onlookers, however lacking any recording device, paper or pens for that matter, it did prove difficult to document direct quotes.

I did manage to gain contacts that I followed up which taught me the inherent need for persistence in journalism.

 The next day I rang the fire station a number of times, as well as emailed in an attempt to organise an interview time. After numerous failed attempts to gain contact, I drove down to Helensburgh to take some photos of the scene. It was then that I decided to simply make a visit to the fire station, it was early in the morning and being a volunteer fire station I was surprised to see someone at the station.  

Les Kiddle, the volunteer fire fighter was more than helpful and more than happy to give me the information I needed.

Furthermore, reporting on the protest in Helensburgh was a similar experience.

I found it so exciting to be there, watching the action as it happened  and knowing that to an extent I had the responsibility of informing others of what I was witnessing. To be writing ” the first rough draft of history.”

“Journalism is in fact history on the run.”

I don’t know how to describe it, but its exhilarating- and this is only on a small student scale. I cannot even imagine the adrenaline that professional reporters must experience!

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”

As for the theoretical perspective I felt that my mind was opened and challenged to new and different ways of writing news stories that developed my writing in many ways.

 The very straight technical style we were taught last semester left me feeling bored and constrained. But I now feel that I have much more freedom and room for creativity in my writing.

“A news sense is really a sense of what is important, what is vital, what has color and life – what people are interested in. That’s journalism.”

Similarly, my biggest challenge I feel was reading the newspaper day in and day out.

To be honest, before I began this course I never read the paper. Yes- shameful I know. 

 So I subscribed to the Sydney Morning Herald and I am slowly breaking my bad habits.

“We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.”

Consequently, I loved that we had an opportunity to try feature writing. I enjoyed the freedom of length, topic and style of writing involved and the chance to be more creative in my approach.

I chose to write about detox diets as I was considering starting one myself. Once I began my research I was overwhelmed with the vast amount of information available.

The biggest challenge, I felt was accurately representing all perspectives, while remaining objective in my writing.

The challenges I faced this semester increased my passion for journalism, and developed myself as journalist.

I am still unsure of exactly what career path I want to take, but that is what I love about journalist. Its so broad and exciting, there are so many opportunities! 

I am so excited about my future in the media- no matter what area I end up in.

“Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.”

Philosophy of journalism- first year, semester 1

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” Henry Anatole

If there is one thing this first semester has taught me; it is to expect the unexpected. 

The past few months have been a whirlwind of new ideas and new concepts, late nights and early starts, new friends and experiences. My original perception of journalism as a professional field and body of knowledge has been completely transformed.

The first time I knew that I wanted to be a journalist, I was in year eight. I was thirteen years old and it was during practice for the cross country that year. My friend and I were staggering in the middle somewhere and while we jogged a long we discussed what we wanted to be when we left school. We both were pretty good at English and were your typical teeny bop-per girls who loved reading Dolly magazine. So that’s all it came down to, we decided then and there that we both wanted to be journalists and write for Dolly.

Six years later… a fair bit has changed. Not only do I no longer want to work for Dolly but my friend left her dreams of journalism behind with the cross country for a career in commerce. However, as for me… I still very much want to persue a career in journalism.

 When I first applied to be considered for the Bachelor of Journalism course at the University of Wollongong I had no direction or real perception of what I was getting myself into. All I knew was that I had always wanted to be a journalist, filled with naive hopes of travel and the prospect of making a difference in peoples lives. I love to write and to be creative. What else did I need?

These hopes were very blatantly shattered after the early entry interview way back in September; all I could remember thinking was how much I didn’t stand a chance in getting into the course. Everyone else around me seemed so aware of current events, news values and even had work experience in a field of journalism.

It came to great surprise to me when I was actually accepted! It was defiantly one of those moments I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Yet once the course actually began, I was surprised at how much there really was to journalism- it wasn’t as simple as I once thought. The many hours I spent on e readings and chapters of McKane are evidence of this!

Through this I began to read  more newspapers, listen and watch the news, become aware of the world around me which began to transform my entire perecption of journalism.

I realised that creativity was not as important as I once thought, that journalistic writing can be a much more technical form (Chapter 4, Anna McKane).

 As a result my writing style began to change as it was constrained to the inverted pyramid style of writting explained in chapter four of News Writting by Anna Mckane while my thought processes in relation to nenewsworthiness transformed as well.

This first became apparent in the first chapter of Anna Kckane News Writing, What makes news?

It came down to two main points-

1. It has to interest readers

• 2. If they know it, its not news

The chapter pointed out that a journalist needs to understand their readers.

As I read further into the textbook it became apparent what actually makes a story “news worthy”. Mckane sums these news values up into seven main categories.

Conflict

Celebrities

Human Interest-> relevance to reader

Human Interest-> ordinary people

Quirks

Science/research/discovery

Throughout the duration of the semester I was challenged to utilise these news values as I developed my own news stories in task 1 and 2 of Jour111.

 At times I found this difficult as I felt these values enhanced the view that journalists are manipulative and that some journalts are only interested in the truth if the truth is interesting .

Consequently when I completed my music blog (sounds of the shire) I found it difficult to remain objective and not appear to be promoting any bands or venues.

Yet I end this semester with a new hope and passion for journalism, I believe it does have the power for social change, though only when those traditional values expressed in the ethics code are put into action.

To sum it up, journalists must seek truth and report it, minimise harm, act independently and be accountable.

I have always loved the quote from the MEAA-

Journalists describe society to itself. They seek truth. They convey information, ideas and opinions, a privileged role.

They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, suggest and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. Many journalists work in private enterprise, but all have these public responsibilities.
They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be accountable. Accountability engenders trust. Without trust, journalists do not fulfil their public responsibilities.
MEAA members engaged in journalism commit themselves to:

• honesty
• fairness
• independence
• respect for the rights of others

My favourite line is that “they give practical form to freedom of expression”. To me, this line sums up what journalism means to me.

It is because of this that I believe I am much more suited to broadcast or magazine journalism, which allows more creativity, freedom of expression and more specialised areas such as music or fashion (my two other passions apart from writing).

This is one of my original reasons for aspiring to be a journalist is its endless opportunities and versatile nature. There are so many fields to be involved in and I love  that it can be so individualised.

Similarly, although I’m am not the most outgoing person out there- I have always loved to act and perform. Ever since I can remember I have been involved in the performing arts at some level or another. I came first in my HSC drama class, and danced in rock Eisteddfod almost every year of high school- This is another one of my passions and a reason that I would like to get involved in the broadcast/entertainment side of Journalism.

So therefore although I do not see myself as an investigative or ‘watchdog’ journalist, I still want to consider the possibility, the last semester has taught me that both styles of journalism have their place within society and I would like to be involved in both at some time or level.

Furthermore the fashion journalist Elsa Klensch is one of my inspirations. Klensch is Australian born and has worked at Women’s wear daily, Vogue, W and Harper’s Bazaar before she became the producer and host of Style with Elsa Klensch on CNN.

A New Yorkerprofile of Klensch said that she “created the gold standard for television fashion journalism.”

Elsa Klensch’s straightforward reporting and her reputation for integrity built her the career and portfolio she has today, one that I hope to aspire to live up to in the future.

As I am completing a double degree, in five years I expect to be graduating. However, in the two and a half years after then I hope to have built up a portfolio working within an array of fields. Possibly some freelance writing for a music, fashion or arts magazine, as well as beginning to building a career in television radio. Where ever I end up I want to follow notions of truthfulness, honesty, fairness, creativity and passion; this is my philosophy of journalism.

     “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”

However, I worry that following my passions will not be as easily done as said. I understand that once I graduate that I’ll have to take whatever job is out there. It won’t be my place as a journalist with little to no experience to be picky when it comes to jobs.

Similarly, I’m currently completing a Bachelor of journalism and Arts. I did plan to do a double major in sociology and philosophy for arts and specialise in broadcast journalism. However after this last semester I feel that neither sociology or philosophy will be too helpful in my future career paths. I’ve considered swapping my Arts degree to a Communication and Media degree and major in marketing as I feel this will complement my Journalism degree more so then Arts would.

Consequently, I have also read an array of material that questions the value of degrees within the journalism field. Since it is not a field that has traditionally needed a degree, but rather people completed cadet ships there are many who question the value of University courses. Therefore, I am considering simply completing the Bachelor of Journalism, graduating in three rather then five years and gaining some work experience and building up my portfolio, before returning to complete my Masters. Perhaps this will be more valued in the field over an Arts or Communication degree? I’m not sure as of yet.

 Throughout the next few months I think that I need to develop and refine my writing styles, I don’t think that I have quite acquired the proper news writing style as of yet. I also need to retain a high work ethic, I found that as the semester went on I got lazy when it came to my readings each week. I want to keep a high level of work continuously though out the next semester.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

     “May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future”

This blog is for the purpose of the Bachelor of Journalism course at UOW.

Links to my other blogs for this course:

www.knowyourenvironment.wordpress.com

www.soundsoftheshire.wordpress.com