Reporter's Notebook

Before I took Journalism

Taking this journalism course has changed my perception of journalism in many ways. Before I took this course, I did not believe that there were so many different kinds of journalists.  I had barely any idea of what a journalist was or that there were different types of journalist under different classifications.  I’d never classed anything having to do with the radio as journalism before this course. The purpose of journalism hasn't changed in my mind one bit: getting information across to people. I had no idea about journalistic ethics before I started doing this journalism class. In fact, I didn't have much interest in journalism until I started this class. I knew opinion was not allowed and very unprofessional in anything you write as a journalist, unless it’s an editorial. Before this course, I never thought of doing journalism as a career, and even after taking the course, I’m still not leaning towards pursuing it but the thought of doing a career in journalism would be a fun experience to have.

After I took Journalism

My definition of a journalist has changed after my experiences in this class. Now I see that journalists are people that cause news to be heard, spread, and inform the people on things relevant and important in different ways. For instance, now I know much more about journalistic ethics and I believe journalist now are people who write for newspapers or magazines or prepares news to be broadcast on radio or television. It’s different than what I knew before I took this class because now I know much more about journalist on how they should stay impartial and honest with the public. I knew most of the ethics before I started the course; it’s pretty much common sense. I learned about editorials being opinion writing. The future holds journalism in almost a permanent place in the world, because the people need to know things and know what is going on about and around them, so I do not think it will ever die. Freedom of speech isn't going away and neither is peoples want for news.