What I Have Learned

When I registered for Writing for News Media, I thought it was going to be easy. Yeah, it wasn't.
I thought we were going to write a few papers and look at news story or two and just have easy discussions. Little did I know that I would learn to write in a completely different way. I was taught to abandon what I had known about writing an essay. In order to learn how to write a story. At the beginning it was pretty confusing, there are just so many rules!  I had to learn how to write in short and abrupt sentences. I had to learn how to abbreviate states and use the right editing techniques. Learning how to write in a completely new way was challenging. Coming out of the class and seeing how much my work has changed over the past semester has been not only surprising but eye opening about the profession of journalism. I plan on majoring in communication arts and minoring in journalism. Taking this class has not only taught me more about a career in journalism but it has shown me how hard being a journalist is and how much criticism journalists get every day. These days everyone is a journalist. You can pick up your phone and send out a tweet and it could be considered journalism. I think the most important thing I learned is that you have to have a thick skin. You have to be able to read criticism and take a hit from readers and not let it ruin you. You need to believe in good journalism and not sink down to petty journalism. The one thing I will take away from this class is not to be a Sabrina Rubin Erdely. If you really want to be a journalist, be a good journalist.