Saturday, December 8, 2007

Do You Really Want To Be A Journalist?


A PBS FILM CREW followed the staff of Penn State University's student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, for one year. The documentary airs on Tuesday on PBS.

Watch it. It sounds fascinating - the students deal with all the various difficulties (and triumphs) of professional journalists.

"The thing I love about newspapers is you have," one student says, "to do the work they give you every day, and every day is a new opportunity to do that."

"My favorite part of school was working at the paper. My senior year, I realized that. Our lives were the Collegian. My best memories are from it."

The paper's editor agrees, "The Collegian was my life."

But the editor, according to today's Philadelphia Inquirer, laments the public perception of journalists, characterized in the film by the paper's full-time adviser as lower than politicians, used-car salesmen and prostitutes.

"It really stings at first," he says. "But you get used to it, this us-against-them mentality on the part of the people you're trying to serve."

Do you really want to be a journalist? Think about why.

We have the greatest jobs in the world. But not everyone appreciates us.

Why do you want to be a journalist?
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

People always say journalists write the first draft of history - and what's better than witnessing events firsthand and meeting the people involved, then having the opportunity to write about it? You're right, it is the best job in the world.

For me, I don't know what I love most about it. I think it's a combination of everything from having the chance to meet new, interesting people and go new places and then being able to write about it and tell the stories. It's a perfect balance of experiencing things firsthand, always broadening horizons and writing/storytelling - I think these are two of the best things to do. And to make a career out of it? I can't see myself doing anything I would like better. I think journalists have the rare chance to get the best of every world - you can make a career reporting on anything you want, really, and one of the most exciting parts is finding a way to make things interesting and appealing to a wide variety of people.

I read once that Henry Luce said, "I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world."

I think that sums it up perfectly. What's better than that?

December 9, 2007 at 1:09 AM
Anonymous said...

Oh, and so what if not everyone appreciates us? I don't think a profession that everyone appreciates even exists.

December 9, 2007 at 1:13 AM
Anonymous said...

Yes, I'm absolutely sure I want to be a journalist. Even in my failures, there's not a day I doubt that this is really what I want to do with my life. I want to give people the opportunity to have a voice, and I can't think of any better way to do that than through journalism. The only way we're going to find out exactly what's going on in this world, especially in third-world countries like africa, is if we give those people who are experiencing these events firsthand a voice. I spoke to someone about this when I first began attending temple, and his first remark was, "Wow, that's very admirable of you." But the truth is no, no it's very admirable for these people who have to live these tragedies everyday. The very least we could do is give them a voice.

December 9, 2007 at 2:08 PM
Anonymous said...

Um, Chris. You didn't answer. Kinda left me hanging there.

December 11, 2007 at 12:51 AM
Anonymous said...

I want to be a journalist because it seems like the only job where you make a career out of seeing, learning and doing new things everyday. You can go from covering the White House to reporting about Hollywood. I also like that fact that people still do rely on journalists to inform them of events that happen out of their seeing or hearing range. Even if people are skepticial, everyone still has to rely on some sort of information given by journalists to become more aware.

December 11, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Geo said...

Did anyone watch the show? Any thoughts? Still want to be a journalist?

- George (the teacher who watched the show and still LOVES journalism)

December 11, 2007 at 11:43 PM
Geo said...

I read this every day. It hurts me that you think we don't have a following.

Just kidding, of course.

But scroll down and check the site meter. We're averaging about 100 hits per day, and not just from Temple folks.

- George (the entrepreneurial blogger)

December 14, 2007 at 1:00 PM

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