What I Learned Today
From my CF class: Seeing is believing. But that doesn’t mean that it’s true.
Basically, eyewitness testimony is crap.
I also learned from a guy who works for Reuters (the news wire service) who visited my PLSC (poly sci) class, that if I want to break into political journalism as a writer, I should quit school and move to Zimbabwe as soon as the government eases up on their media regulations so that I can cover the first steps of the burgeoning government. Everybody wants to cover Obama. Who wants to cover an African nation? Exactly. Less demand for the story–more chances I’ll get picked up by Reuters, like he was.
Oh, and I shouldn’t be studying journalism to be a journalist. I’ll admit, I’m a bit miffed at this comment.
I can kind of see where the guy is coming from. I should be studying what I want to cover, not how to cover it, so I can cover it better. It makes sense.
But I refuse to believe that a degree in journalism is as useless as his tone made it out to be. I made a list:
The List of Reasons a Degree in Journalism Has Its Merits:
- Critical thinking skills: A j-degree lets you develop your skills
- Media Ethics: If you’re going into a field, you should be able to see the basic problems and challenges you’re going to face
- Communication Law: Along with Ethics (which I already took), I’m going to have to take this class. And hey, isn’t it a good idea to not get yourself thrown in jail or sued? Isn’t it also a good idea to know how you can get information within the law?
- Practice: Yes, you can work and get practice at news agencies without a degree. But a j-degree just gives you more practice. Which doesn’t hurt.
- Professors: They’re most often veteran journalists. Who better to forge relationships with and use for advice? They’ve been there! At SMU, we’ve got some fantastic professors. They know what they’re doing, and they can help you out.
So those are my reasons. I hope the Reuters (For the record–I’ve always preferred The Associated Press) guy can realize this. I mean, I’m interested in going into the media industry. I might be a writer. I might be a producer. I might just become the girl who brings everyone coffee. But I think a journalism degree is useful in all elements of the industry. And in other careers as well.
