"Journalism can never be silent; that is its greatest virtue, and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air."
The 27th of February, last Monday evening, was my very first lecture at university. I'd been told about all the horror stories of university and what it can lead to... Weight gain, severe stress, excess alcohol consumption... (One person going so far as to say that the 'HSC was a walk in the park compared to university.') Comforting words to have whizzing around your head on the first day of a new adventure, I know. Having said that, I braced myself and entered the lecture room with a positive attitude and an unconvincing 'I'm really not intimidated at all' smile.
I sat in the front row next to a girl sipping a grande latte and a boy who wouldn't stop drawing cartoons in his book. (They were quite good actually but I tried not to focus my complete attention on them.) Dr. Bruce Redman, our lecturer, presented to us a slideslow outlining the course, our assessments and what is to be expected this year. Finally, my nerves calmed. I realised I was going to love this course. I know it's 'early days' but still, I knew what I was going to learn about would be right up my alley and my nerves made a quick changeover to feelings of excitement and anticipation.
Dr. Redman's slideshow was also really entertaining; he had compiled a few quotes about journalism, all with varying perspectives about the profession itself. One of my favourites was "the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shits into law." Okay, so it might be a little biased, considering my lifelong dream and ambition has been to become a journalist... But that doesn't matter, the point being that the quotes about journalism Dr. Redman included in his powerpoint, whether they be satirical, uplifting, controversial or inspiring, all furthered my ambition and made me extremely excited about what lies ahead of me this semester and in the future.
"I know of no human being that has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter."
Dr. Redman also presented to us the current challenges faced by journalists today, the main factors being:
- Technology: potential death of newspapers (its replacement being the Internet), Paywalls, Social media
- Public perception of journalists: i.e. The News of the World scandal. How journalism is often seen as 'gossip' or 'exaggerations.' - "I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it out to be." (Tom Rogers)
- User generator content: Citizens journalists
- News with a purpose to entertain, rather than inform
In additon to this, Dr. Redman asked us 'Why study Journalism and Communication?'
Although I think Dr. Redman's question was rhetoric, I liked being in the position where I got to think and make a decision for myself. Drawing on Dr. Redman's points, I summarise the pursuit of studying journalism and communications like this:
Journalism is part of everyday life, we are intrinsically linked and are exposed to journalism on a daily basis. It is a compilation of what makes up social foundations and values. Journalism is always there, readily available to us, presented through different eyes each time. Journalism also speaks to us in different ways, and can reflect our own ethics and values, as well as those of others and of society. Finally, journalism has a profound influence on us, and competes with other elite compartments of society (religion, education, government) to maintain their influence.
"A news sense is really a sense of what is important, what is vital, what has colour and life - what people are interested in. That's journalism."
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