Just Not What I Thought....

Most of us in JMS 1 are only 18/19 years old. What do we really know about the world other than liquor and cigarettes and tri-varsity behaviour? Even with the will and the ambition to write hard-hitting news and blog pieces, how can we really achieve this when we have barely any life (or journalistic) experience compared to the ‘grown up’ journalists out there?

I started Journalism because I wanted to be thrown into the middle of all the world’s chaos. I wanted to be a part of covering wars and exposing politicians and saving society one hypocrite at a time. I’m sorry to say I have been disillusioned. Journalism nowadays is something almost anyone can do. We don’t need a degree to become one and we certainly don’t need to go into countries ourselves to get the scoop on a current war or disaster etc. We could sit at home for the rest of our lives, typing out bogs and embroidering the internet with our opinions and be considered journalists. Just for commenting on a political situation on a popular blog.

This doesn’t mean though, that I have anything against my peers in the journalistic field, nor my lecturers. It’s just important to be honest about how one feels about journalism and I’m not going to write lies here just to impress my lecturers and my tutor.

Life as a journalism student runs you into the ground. Assignments, blogs, tutorials, articles for local and national newspapers, building a portfolio, being forced by your course work to look deep into your ‘self’ and dredge up what you find. Then there are your other three subjects that demand work from you. Life as an actual journalist can’t be that different. “With great power comes great responsibility” said Tobey Maguire. Journalists are responsible for influencing the opinions of the masses. How can we possibly justify wielding this kind of power without applying the strictest possible rules against bias and prejudice. No human being alive can write a few words on a subject without peppering it with their own opinions, however subliminally, and considering that each individual blog, magazine and newspaper has their own prescribed agenda, how can anyone ensure that the writings of journalists aren’t negatively affecting impressionable citizens? Its just too much responsibility and I am just too much of an opinionated person to take on the job of a journalist.

Blogs offer a retreat from traditional journalism though. With a personal blog you don’t have to worry about unfairly influencing other people’s opinions. You are simply exhibiting your own. Blogs also allow the freedom of being able to write about whatever you like, whenever you like and in whatever tone you choose to write it. This is not possible when working for a magazine or a newspaper.

So, its here in our blog, that we choose to chew up and spit out the media we consume and bring to you our honest opinions, not what we were told to write by our seniors.