My mom and I have been watching the new series on HBO, The Newsroom, for the past few weeks since I came home. The speed and real feeling of the show has brought me in and shown me a different side of journalism. It shows a cable newsroom trying to present the news that needs to be known (National debt, elections, social problems) instead of the news that will bring in the ratings (Casey Anthony, political sex scandals, etc.) It shows the anchors, production team, reporters, researchers, bloggers and so on. While we were watching some of the old episodes tonight my mom asked me an interesting question; would I want to do this type of news?
I've thought about some of the different sides of journalism; television, radio personality, newspaper/magazine, entertainment and photo. After going through a very helpful journalism class last semester I decided I would not be able to do photo. Taking a picture that would push my boundaries of whether or not I could publish it, is not a struggle I can do daily. Radio never stood out to me so I did not look into it as much. Entertainment... this is a part of journalism that can be questioned of whether or not it belongs. As entertaining as it would be meeting movie stars and musicians, that is not the line of work I want to be in. That leaves two options: newspaper or television.
Television... I never pictured myself as being a person that would be on camera. I think I would do fine but it's just not what I wanted to be when I grew up. The people behind the scenes though... the reporters in the show that get the quotes and do the research, I feel like my whole life has been preparing me for that job. Being an English Literature major I do a lot of research and I truly enjoy it, so why not be a part of something that will possibly be around longer than newspapers at the rate technology is moving us.
Newspapers... Always been a dream of mine; writing about something and seeing it in print for people to read. The issue from here is what type of writing would I want to do. I am planning for sports journalism as I stated in my last post. It is something that appeals to me and I can see myself doing for a job. The only other type of journalism I can picture is being an overseas correspondant. War journalist. Right in the action. My mother automatically tried to take me off this idea the one time I mentioned it. That is also the only way I would be on camera to recant my earlier statement. I watch documentaries about war and troops all the time, that is something else I would do. It is an interesting thing that appeals to me, I know sometimes I do not know how it catches my interest. I do not like gory things, I am not super vocal about any ideals on war or military. It is just something that came into my head one day and no matter how much I think I'll be writing about a football game, a little voice pops in and reminds me of this.
So as I come onto my senior year with a English Literature major and Journalism minor I have to start making choices. What part of journalism will I go into? Should I bother with graduate school (realistically if I graduate college and cannot write interesting pieces, is that something I can learn)? Will I try right for a big sports group? Should I try just a local newspaper (or maybe TV station) and work my way up? Should I move to wherever I can find a job, even if it is a great deal away? I guess that is something I hope to learn over this next year since I will start needing answers soon!
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