No matter who you are, where you are, or what you\u2019re doing, one detail remains sempiternally true: The first semester of college is stressful. Values, work ethic, and even individual penchants are challenged by the labile nature of attending a university. When Allie Yazel and I discussed our beliefs of what journalism is and whom we hope to work for, our reveries flourished in our wide, dilated eyes. I believe my dreams didn\u2019t change, but evolved. I went into our class believing that the definition of journalism is to bring light to the issues that are still in the dark. I still have this belief, but I understand the difficulty in it and thus appreciate it even more. Talking about controversial issues like terrorism or politics or the latest big-news murder trial, using credible and factual sources, maintaining an objective voice and still being sensitive to your audience, is pretty damn hard.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andrew Jarecki\u2019s poignant documentary\u00a0Capturing the Friedmans<\/i>\u00a0informs its audience of the situation pertaining to their (the Friedmans) family: sodomy. And Jarecki does just that. Inform. The truth of the situation is still unclear and although Jarecki believes, with the information he has collected through the filming process he knows what is true, he still provides no personal opinion. No subjectivity, no \u201cspinning\u201d of the situation(s), nothing. Some critics were outraged. Some enthralled. I\u2019m also enthralled; journalism is founded on objectivity. Jarecki holds the same philosophy that we frequently discuss in class: Keep your opinion out. He proved to me that Journalism Is Not About You. As reporters \u2013 writers or broadcasters or documentarians \u2013 we accept the common belief that we are presenting the facts. Seems easy enough, right? I didn\u2019t realize how\u00a0hard<\/i>\u00a0it is to not voice you opinion on something until I took this class. As humans, we want to voice our opinions. As teenagers, we have to. It\u2019s difficult to humble yourself, but when done successfully \u2013 like in\u00a0Capturing the Friedmans\u00a0<\/i>\u2013 it\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n
Similar to Jarecki, Ryan Lizza\u2019s article, featured in the\u00a0New Yorker<\/i>,\u00a0How Chicago Politics Shaped Barack Obama<\/i>\u00a0is equally objective. A commentary cannot be successful (in my opinion, at least) if it\u2019s not simply stating the truth. Weaving out your own personal opinion while still being an interesting and exciting and awesome writer is a skill that\u2019s quite hard to master. Frankly, stating data\u2019s easy. But being apart of\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0The Chicago Tribune<\/i>\u00a0requires sheer talent in all aspects of writing, not merely displaying the facts effectively. Lizza proves that journalism\u2019s also about understanding. Nothing\u2019s really quite as it seems and it\u2019s our duty to uncover what\u2019s indeed genuine; a person can change\u2014like Obama\u2014and it\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. We need to understand that our president and celebrities and criminals are only human and that it\u2019s not our job to judge, but to inform. When presenting scandalous material, of course it\u2019s hard to not interpret what you\u2019re reading in your own cynical \u2013 or optimistic, what have you \u2013 viewpoint and perspectives. Lizza (and Jarecki) made my opinion of journalism stronger because everything has meaning, no matter what it is, and we have to present it factually and equally and that\u2019s difficult. I think they were both pretty successful.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s important to understand concepts of journalism \u2013 like objectivity and intention \u2013 that doesn\u2019t necessarily prepare us for what to do\u00a0before<\/i>\u00a0we can apply these statutes. Interviewing Ellen Carpenter was absolutely terrifying; I can\u2019t read in our textbook or watch a documentary on not only \u201cHow to Not Make A Fool Out of Yourself When Talking to A Source\u201d but someone who also happens to be an inspirational, powerful woman with the exact job you hope to have. Of course, interviewing and formulating questions to ask a potential source is a key aspect in journalism and thus indefinitely necessary to our class, but my first time doing it could\u2019ve been with a cat versus my hero. As the deputy editor of\u00a0Nylon Magazine\u00a0<\/i>and previously working for both\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Spin Magazine<\/i>, I was expecting Ellen to be a viciously intimidating, brilliant journalist. While the latter is true, I couldn\u2019t of been more wrong with the former. She indisputably changed my opinion on journalism. I\u2019ve always known writing is what I wanted to do, and since I was a little girl I was told journalism is a dying field. I won\u2019t find work. I\u2019ll work in McDonald\u2019s \u2013 my uncle actually said that this past Thanksgiving. Yet Ellen inspired me to do what I want to do because journalism isn\u2019t a dying field, it\u2019s a changing field. And that\u2019s a world of a difference. The fact that she\u2019s also the sweetest, coolest mom I\u2019ve ever had the chance to talk about Elliott Smith and fashion with also made me confident that journalism isn\u2019t the intense, cutthroat world that we\u2019re all so convinced it is. I mean, of course it is, but exciting-scary, not an I\u2019m-actually-terrified-scary. I only learned this through talking with Ellen. When you\u2019re on the outside looking in as a student studying to be apart of this said scary world, it seems like the claws are constantly out. But when you actually talk to someone apart of and thriving in this world, you understand the difference.<\/p>\n
Journalism is a tree with an infinite amount of branches. Suppose you\u2019re a kid again, climbing this huge and beautiful tree in the middle of fall. The only way you can get to the top of the tree is to touch every branch on it. You\u2019re probably thinking, \u201cWhy the hell would I do this? I just want to climb a tree!\u201d Yet I believe (in this extremely stretched metaphor) that you have to. You have to use every branch in order to be successful in your endeavors; you have to get your hands sticky with sap and stumble over the wobbly branches. You need to touch on law and morals and previous situations and ethics in your journalistic writings, or else you\u2019ll never be both true to yourself and to the integrity of journalism. What kid doesn\u2019t want to tell their friends, \u201cYeah, I touched every single branch on that tree, no big deal\u201d? Being able to include every aspect of journalism in an article or cover story is the same concept: a huge triumph.<\/p>\n
Now, what the leaves on a tree represent\u2026 Don\u2019t even get me started on that allegory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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