The media — and journalists in general — have gotten such a bad rap lately with all these ideas of “fake news” circulating and biased news stations. This negative attention has made me question what it really means to be a journalist. Journalism is taking other people’s words and experiences and sharing those stories with an audience. It has to be grammatically correct, with good transitions and respectable information,but most importantly written honestly. There are many different lens that you have to look through when you write a piece, and before I started writing I never realized any of these very intricate layers.
After writing my very first piece that got published on Memorial Day, I knew that this is what I wanted to dedicate my time to. I interviewed teacher Ed McNamee on what the day meant to him and constructed an entire page including a sidebar and an advertisement with a picture that I took myself. When I finally saw the page in the Stampede, it was like Christmas morning. It felt surreal; I sat there and read the page, analyzed every aspect of it. I saw things that I loved, things that I could’ve improved on and everything in between. I was astonished that I could sit there and talk to someone for a couple minutes and then write a whole article on it.
Rereading it two years later, I have found more mistakes and have learned how to create more interesting layouts and the differences in multiple sources, but seeing that page for the first time was euphoric.
Student journalism isn’t easy, but it comes with many benefits. I am more informed about what is going on around my school. I get to meet interesting people. I learn real life skills, like how to talk to people and create conversations along with the difference between hearing and actually listening. I also have learned how to make photographs tell stories as well. Before I was in newspaper, I thought that pictures were just moments captured through a lens, but I have now learned that it is so much more than that. You can take a posed picture of someone that helps your story, but a well thought through picture tells a story of its own; it captures the feelings and thoughts of the person or object.
I started in journalism thinking, this teacher seems nice and the room is cool and my sister had fun so maybe I will, too. I am thankful for those initial thoughts because yes, the teacher is nice and the room is cool, but just as in writing, there are so many different layers that I have discovered in journalism.
It really is an art, an art that doesn’t get to be put in shows or hung up on walls. The effort and skill that it takes to make a presentable page is so underrated, especially in the time we live in today. Going out and talking to your peers and then putting it on a platform for people to read and judge is scary, but I am so thankful for it.