I hope to get a handle on everything "out there" in modern (quickly changing) journalism; that is, the various ways of telling stories and providing information. Through the Georgetown program I've become acquainted with using audio, photos and video -- but just acquainted -- to add to my experience in traditional reporting and writing. I hope to get deeper into those new aspects, pull them together with my longtime strengths, and become able to really deliver strong stories to today's audiences. (Maybe I'm even looking to Carlos and my fellow students to make me a little less skittish about some of the more tech-y things out there.)
Overarching that, I also hope to learn how to weigh the many journalistic approaches, make decisions, and then manage to completion a given project (Web article, audio slideshow, video, etc.). Much of this will be more people- and personality-oriented than program-oriented, so I hope to learn how to assess talent, interests and other human factors that go into producing journalism.
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Tim-
ReplyDeleteI would agree that through the program I have become more familiar with the use of the equipment used in newsrooms which I love. I too am a little "skittish" about the tech-y things. I just don't really like them to be honest. I am not a fan of blogging and I know it is becoming very popular, but I don't read any blogs out there other then my bosses. I am just not interested in them and to me most of them are like online journals---why would you want to publish that? The news oriented ones --okay, but I would prefer read the paper or turn on Fox or CNN.
Hey Tim!
ReplyDeleteIt is just another way of telling a story - only the telling gets much more varied and the audience can get much more involved. I sorta' look at it like putting on a play in school before a live audience - and then inviting some of them up on the stage. Lots of fun!
Alan, I like your analogy! I am a bit shy about blogging, too. I hated writing opinion pieces for my college newspaper in undergrad. To this day, I hate the fact that all of those articles are out there on the Web. I think the new technology has really improved reporting, though. Every time I write an article now, I slave over the facts knowing there are millions of fact checkers out there ready to analyze my stuff!
ReplyDeleteI know that by definition (or at least by Webster's definition) a blog is "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer." However, I think that the definition of a blog has evolved and it can be many things, not just a personal journal.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about a blog is that it creates a free personal space for you online. What you do with it, is up to you. You could even use it as a place to post news that you write, your research, findings, etc. And then you could show it as your writing portfolio, don't you think?
As far as blogging, it just seems so much more geared to friendly (or at least nonprofessional) conversation than delivery of hard news and information. And blogs can seem more like bogs to me -- conversations can go on forever and get muddled and lost.
ReplyDeleteI see articles published traditionally and then a tagline like So-and-So will be discussing his article at X time, and then the person is expected to blog on the topic as well. How about reporters moving on and finding the next great story instead of going on ad nauseum with one?
Amazingly I always thought the term "journalists" came from the publishing of one's journals. I think of the Harper's writers during the Civil War who followed the troops and sent their diary-like posts back to the magazine to publish and mail to the world. Theirs was not only the first draft of much of that history, it was the only draft of much of it.
ReplyDeleteBut it was MUCH more of a personal, story-telling style. That made the history very rich in detail, color and - may I use the word - spirit.
I find so much of today's news writing much too sterile and automotronic (new word).
Maybe that is why I like blogging. People seem to get a tad more human to me. I hate automated news.