This article was written by Camryn Yi of Richard Montgomery High School
Do you enjoy writing? Are you interested in literature or publication? Do you have a passion for writing about current events and spreading awareness about what is happening in today’s society? Enjoy researching and reading about the latest findings in the world? Then you might be interested in studying or going into a career focusing on journalism.
What is journalism?
According to Britannica, journalism is the occupation of researching, gathering, preparing, and distributing news and current events in print and digital forms of media. These media can include newspapers, magazines, television, radio, books and social media sites. Although, journalism seems like another form of communication that everyone sees or hears in their day to day lives. It is actually very different than other types of communication and is extremely important to our society. According to the American Press Institute, the majority of today’s online media is filled with opinion, advertisement, entertainment, and propaganda-based information. While true journalists focus on the verified facts and the truth behind them, they want their publications to benefit society, especially since the news and media itself have a huge impact on society. The main purpose of journalism is giving the public the truthful information to help them make decisions that will impact their lives.
What do journalists do?
According to Purdue University, journalists’ main goal is to inform their readers, meaning they must be extremely open-minded when interviewing, researching, writing, and reporting stories. They focus the majority of their energy on primary sources—such as interviewing different people who each have experienced something different—in order to create their stories. Their stories are very different from other nonfiction writing one might see online, as many are based on secondary sources (like books and other articles), and focus more on persuading the reader to hold an opinion.
In addition, there are many different types of journalism. According to Indeed, there are many common types of journalism that one may see in daily life these include investigative, watchdog, online, broadcast, opinion, sports, trade, entertainment and political journalism. Each type of journalism is different and they focus on different aspects of both media and their main subjects. For example, investigative and watchdog journalism focus more on exposing and monitoring large companies, corporations and politicians for corruption.. Meanwhile, other types of journalism focus more on a particular subject or category. For example, entertainment journalists focus on celebrities and entertainment events, while political journalists focus on government officials and activity.
Interested in journalism?
If you have an interest in journalism and wish to study or major in it, there are many different careers you could choose from. People with a journalism degree are able to work as content marketers, copywriters, specialists (corporate communications, social media or public relations), editors, grant or technical writers, and sports information directors. People interested in journalism do not have to settle on a specific career, as there is a variety to suit everyone's interests and wants. People interested in working at a large company or organization can choose to become a public relations specialist, who works to create a good public image for the company through the media. Those who enjoy sports may become sports information directors, and work with sports journalists to cover different sports events.
Conclusion
In conclusion, journalism is a very important career in today’s society, as it is a career that impacts daily lives, giving everyone the objective truth and understanding of the events around them. Without the discipline of journalism and open-minded journalists, news and nonfiction would be more opinion-based, instead of stating the information. It is a degree that has a variety of different career paths for those interested and choose to go into the field, and overall impacts people’s actions they make towards not only their community, but to society as a whole.
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